Presser points | Villa 2-0 Spurs | Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at Villa Park on Friday night, after our 2-0 loss against Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Here's what he had to say...

Ange on Pape Matar Sarr's departure on 53 minutes, and treatment for Mikey Moore before he was substituted late on...

"Pape felt something in his back, so we took him off as a bit of a precaution. I don’t think it’s anything too significant speaking to him afterwards, but he just felt something in his back and I think Mikey was okay. It was fatigue as much as anything else. He hasn’t played that sort of amount of minutes before."

Ange on the performance...

"I thought up until they scored the boys had worked hard, they were really disciplined and organised. We didn't really let them create too many clear openings. We had our moments as well, going the other way, but once they scored we lost a little bit of belief. We got a little bit fatigued. A lot of those guys haven't played a lot and we looked like we were fatiguing and then the game just got away from us."

Ange on players 'giving him a decision to make' ahead of the UEL Final against United in Bilbao on Wednesday night...

"From my perspective, at least different to the Palace game, I felt that the lads worked hard and competed and at least made it difficult for the opposition. So from that perspective I thought that was more important for me than the individual context. It was good to get some match minutes into players like Sonny and Wilson and a lot of these guys haven't played a lot this year, so just to get them through another game was important."

Ange on Heung-Min Son's fitness...

"Well, he's ready and he's available. He started today. They're all ready to start so I think him playing 70-75 minutes today was important and you could see he opened up a couple of times and I think he's feeling... it's as much about Sonny himself, and feeling that he's getting back into a rhythm and I think there were moments tonight where he showed that."

Ange on Wilson Odobert playing in a central role...

"I thought Wilson was good. The issue with Wilson is he has just missed so much of the season. You can see he lacks match sharpness, but he is an intelligent player. I thought at times tonight, in tight areas, he found his way forward and a couple of things didn’t fall his way. He was unlucky with his finish which I thought was an outstanding finish but it fell straight at Emi Martinez. I think with Wilson, at least we have got him some significant minutes again. With the way we are in that midfield area, he might be one we need to rely come Wednesday, so it’s good for him to play."

Ange on leaving Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie out of the matchday squad...

"For us, there’s no point bringing them here, they weren’t going to play. They stayed at home, they did a really strong (training) session and come Wednesday, knock on wood, they are all available and that’s the most important thing. That’s the primary thing. When those guys play, that back four with Vic in goal, our chances of success significantly improve."

Ange on not risking that trio...

"Yes, I don’t know how else to say it. They are available (for the final). If something happened to them today then they wouldn’t be available and I just don’t think that be would the smart course for us to take."

Ange on having Sonny back...

"It's important, especially when we've lost some key players in recent times. Madders is also one of the leaders, and Deki, and Lucas, in the last three weeks. Now getting Sonny back at least gives us another experienced player. I think the last two or three fixtures our average age has been three or four years younger than the opposition. You can see that at times so just having another experienced player available is great for the team."