Postecoglou adds three Tottenham wonderkids to Europa League squad plus a kind pre-match gesture

Budapest is a beautiful city but it probably did not feel that way for Ange Postecoglou as he stood barking orders in the middle of the Groupama Arena in the torrential rain.

We're talking heavy rain, not your bog-standard English drizzle. It was unusual in itself to see the Tottenham head coach leading a training session. The Australian's style is more to observe, to hand his coaches a philosophy and framework and then allow them to work with autonomy within that.

After each session, he will sit down for a long debrief with them all, going over everything he liked and didn't like about each session and they will all pour over every aspect of each player's performance during the session, both positive and negative.

However, here in Budapest, Postecoglou was slap, bang in the middle of the session, yelling instructions and encouragement to the players. That's not to say it was something completely unusual, the 59-year-old does take the odd session when he wants to get his hands dirty and ensure his messages get directly to his players so it wasn't something purely for the watching media, who were allowed to see the first 15 minutes of the session.

There were a few new faces in the Tottenham group. Postecoglou had added to his two usual academy players Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear with three talented youngsters in defenders Alfie Dorrington and Dante Cassanova, 19 and 20 respectively, as well as exciting 18-year-old winger Damola Ajayi.

Centre-back Dorrington has recently returned after a long recovery from hamstring surgery and is highly rated within the club for his comfort on the ball - think a junior version of Romero's ability to pass between the lines and Van de Ven's running forward with the ball.

Cassanova has proved to be an important and versatile defender within Wayne Burnett's U21s side in recent seasons with his ability to play in the centre of defence or as a right-back. Ajayi is a direct attacker, who can play down the right wing, or in an attacking central role either in midfield or up front. He's full of tricks and flicks and running.

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All three of the players have been added to the Europa League B list for youngsters, which had to be submitted by end of the play on Wednesday night. They will all be hoping to be included among the 12 substitutes on the bench for the game, but that's not guaranteed. Tyrese Hall and Luca Gunter were both added to the list for the home match against Qarabag last week, but Postecoglou went with only 10 subs on the night. You would hope that the travelling trio would get the nod for making the journey, although the experience so far with the first team will already have been invaluable.

There was also a more senior player involved on Wednesday, even though they can't play on Thursday, with Sergio Reguilon brought along for the training session in Budapest, while Djed Spence was left to prepare in the UK to be in the perfect shape if called upon on Sunday at Brighton should Destiny Udogie not be available to play with his quads problem.

The training session in Hungary, which would have been lighter pre-game one, the media were only able to witness running, rondos and that big full-sided attacking drill in the opening 15 minutes.

Before it all, both Postecoglou and James Maddison had taken part in separate press conferences within the stadium. Spurs have often held joint press conferences for European games in the past, but having them separate is far better for the media because sometimes players might be less inclined to say interesting things or have big opinions with their manager sitting right next to them.

Maddison is a great person to throw questions at. He's very thoughtful and articulate with his answers and is rarely far from bringing a touch of humour to proceedings. Don't bet against the 27-year-old midfielder becoming a television pundit when he eventually hangs up his boots.

He was great on his hopes of getting back into today's England squad but also on 17-year-old Mikey Moore, who he has taken under his wing this year, and you can tell he sees something special in the young winger.

"Mikey, when he first came up I had to remind myself how young he actually is. When he first came up he was 16 and more of like a man already when I watch him play, he’s very powerful, and he’s only going to get stronger as he develops into his body," he said. "It’s quite scary, he’s got a lot of ability, but I don’t want him to feel any pressure because he’s getting a lot of people talking about him, and rightly so, and that’s down to him training well, getting in the first team and getting exposure which is what he wants.

"Firstly, he’s a great kid… a really polite and well-mannered young man, which is a credit to his family because as a senior player with a young lad coming up that’s the first thing you recognise. You don’t want a young lad coming up with that arrogance, and that who does he think he is… And then his ability on the ball. We’ve seen it in training and the Spurs fans will be keen to see more in games.

"But we see it in training. He’s got bags of ability and it looks to me as if he loves the game, loves playing, gets tackled and sometimes falls on the floor and jumps up as if nothing’s happened and he wants the ball again. So I’m really excited to see how his journey goes and try to help him as much as I can.

"I always try to have a little chat to him because I think ‘what would a 16 year old James Maddison want?’ and he would want one of the senior first team players to put an arm round him and one, treat him like a man, but also give him to advice to try and help him, and accelerate that success and living the journey he is going to have. He has got to go and do it when he gets the opportunity and I’m sure he will, and I’m sure he’s keen and eager to get going and get more minutes. I look forward to it."

Maddison was also open and interesting when it came to his friend Brennan Johnson, telling football.london about the image he posted on social media this week which was the Brazilian Ronaldo with the Wales international's face overlaid perfectly on to it.

"Brennan is first and foremost a very good friend, I’m close with him. I think a lot has made of him coming off social media which to him was probably not such a big thing. He’s the type of guy to have a break from that stuff anyway," he said. "People have maybe read too much into it too much but since then gone four in four I don’t think I’ll be telling him to redownload anytime soon.

"He’s a great kid, a brilliant player. No-one has every doubted that but he’s really showing it at the minute consistently. It’s not easy to score four games in a row. He’s a brilliant lad and a great friend of mine so I’m always there for him.

"That picture was a bit tongue in cheek, we found it funny when it was put in our group chat. But hopefully he can continue this form because he’s a real threat for us. He can do damage to a lot of oppositions in the Premier League and Europe so I like to see him in that rich vein of form."

Postecoglou's press conference featured a reflection upon his three years spent working with the legendary Ferenc Puskas, during which time he was the Hungarian's player, driver and translator in South Melbourne as they swept to the title.

"I was blessed to be able to spend three years in the company of one of the greatest footballers of all time but more importantly for me an outstanding person," said the Australian. "He was one of the greatest people I've ever come across and I feel really fortunate to have had those three years with him, where I was able to sit there and talk to a person who in the football world had done everything but more importantly a person who I had so much respect and admiration for.

"I still think about it and it still feels unreal to me that I got that opportunity being based in Australia. As you get older you keep those experiences even more. I would love for him to still be around today to see where I am because he played a role in me becoming certainly the football manager I am. He played a role in that but also the person I’ve become."

It wasn't just about the Spurs press conferences though. The Ferencvaros head coach Pascal Jansen is a fascinating character as well, having been born in London to an English mother. Sue Chaloner was one half of Spooky and Sue, a musical duo that enjoyed chart success in the Netherlands during the 1970s. She passed away in April this year after a remarkable life, having begun it in foster care and rising to enjoy musical success.

Jansen admitted that while he moved to Holland when he was young, he would return to spend periods of time back with his grandparents in Aylesbury and one of the teams he had an affection for while growing up was a certain Tottenham Hotspur.

There was also a touching moment within the 51-year-old's press conference when one local journalist burst through the door, midway through the questions and drenched by the rain and sweat while completely out of breath, he marched straight through the centre of proceedings to slump into a seat.

Many Premier League managers would have either dished out a stern word or two for the reporter's tardiness or made a joke about it. Jansen instead smiled sympathetically at him, then motioned towards one of the club staff and handed them the water bottle in front of him on the desk, asking them to take it over to the struggling reporter. When the journalist silently thanked him, he winked back. It was a simple gesture but a kind one.

Jansen and his team later surprised the group of travelling English journalists who were working in the lobby of the hotel around the corner of the stadium as the Ferencvaros squad and staff arrived en masse to check in after their training session. Watching them all them all disperse upstairs what must have been most of one of the hotel's floors and some return to relax around the lobby and bar area - nothing alcoholic drunk of course - was an unexpected sight.

Ferencvaros are top of the Hungarian top flight. They've won all six of their league games this season under Jansen, playing attacking football with 12 goals scored and only two conceded. This is not going to be an easy game for Postecoglou's Tottenham side despite their status as favourites.

Away games in Europe are rarely as straight forward as they might seem on paper. This one will be no different with the rain swept conditions and the roar of the crowd inside the Groupama Arena.

Postecoglou will be mindful that when Spurs land back in England late on Thursday night, they will have just two-and-a-half days until they have to go again against a high energy Brighton side at the Amex Stadium. Football does not allow much in the way of recovery nowadays and the Australian's injury-hit squad will be pushed to the limit over these handful of days.

First up though will be a wet night in Budapest and Spurs must focus on that. The club have been involved in too many European upsets over recent years - yes we see you Mura - to go into this game with any sense of complacency.

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