'Do better' – Ange Postecoglou dismayed by new nickname for Tottenham's young stars

Ange Postecoglou reserved high praise for her four teenage stars, but quickly scrapped the proposed 'Ange's Angel' tagline.

The Tottenham manager was delighted after his young team showed no fear in their 2-1 Europa League win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros on Thursday.

Goals from Pape Matar Sarr and fifth consecutive goal for Brennan Johnson ensured that Spurs continued their 100 per cent start to the competition.

Postecoglou gave debuts to academy stars Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear and the two combined to set up Sarr's first goal in the 23rd minute.

Summer signings Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray also earned places in the starting XI and Postecoglou was delighted with the quartet's contributions.

However, when asked if young people could adopt the name Ange's Angels in a similar way to the Busby Babes and Fergie's Fledglings, Postecoglou laughed: “No, no, no, you have to do better than that. No chance.

“The first thing is that they are part of our first team squad, not because I want young players, it is because they have earned that position.

“Then it's about how to help them develop and the moments we need to put them there, the moments we need to delay. And we can't rule out the fact that Archie is 18, Lucas is 18.

“I thought Archie was brilliant. We asked him to play two different positions and it's amazing how he adapts and can take his game wherever we place him.

“Lucas worked hard and Will was unlucky in a couple of moments where we could have scored.

“These guys are there because they earned their place, but they are an important part of our development.

“While we want to be a team that makes an impact this year, as I said before, it is important that we are developing players along the way so that any type of period of potential or opportunity for success that exists, is prolonged because of the players young people whom you surpassed.”

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Postecoglou reserved special praise for Moore, 17, whom they consider a great prospect for the future.

Moore became the youngest player to play in the Premier League in Tottenham's history in May, when he was introduced as a substitute in the second half of the match against city ​​of manchester.

“I thought Mikey was exceptional. “It's fantastic for a 17-year-old to play more than 90 minutes in a European away tie,” said Postecoglou.

“He just handled it magnificently, I knew he would and I think it will help his growth as a footballer once you go through an experience like that.

“I think he will grow and evolve and I didn't feel like I had to shake him off. In the end he still looked strong and was still contributing.

“If you look at the Premier League, how many 17-year-olds are really contributing and Mikey is already doing that, which shows he has something special, but we have to be very careful about how we develop him.”

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