Tottenham: Djed Spence explains how he changed Ange Postecoglou's mind over first-team return | OneFootball

The full-back is firmly back in contention after a tough two-and-a-half years at Spurs

Djed Spence says he had to "grow as a person" to be given a second chance by Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou in the summer and is pleased to be finally showing what he can do for the club.

The full-back bagged assists in both games, creating the opener for James Maddison after 36 seconds at St. Mary’s and making Spurs’ third goal on Thursday with a fine pass for Dominic Solanke.

Spence failed to impress Postecoglou in the head coach’s first summer at the club and was sent on loan to Leeds United and then Serie A club Genoa last season.

After returning from Italy, he earned a place in the squad for this season and says he learnt a lot during his loan spells.

Thank you to my team-mates who helped me stay ready and the coaching staff making me stay ready

Djed Spence

Asked how he changed Postecoglou's mind, Spence said: “I’m not sure really. I’ve just grown as a person I guess.

“No, it’s never over until I leave,” he added, when asked if he had ever feared for his Spurs career. “There’s always a chance to play.

“I just want to keep going. I’m happy with the assist and hopefully I keep helping the team out, keep going, playing well and hopefully we can keep winning.

“Sometimes it’s difficult [not playing] but you’ve got to stay ready.

“So thank you to my team-mates who helped me stay ready, the coaching staff making me stay ready and when I get my chance do what I do.

“To get an assist and last game get an assist, I’m pleased with myself.”

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Spence, who joined Spurs from Middlesbrough in summer 2022, earned a standing ovation from the home fans after being replaced by forgotten man Sergio Reguilon for the final few minutes against United and is hoping for another start in Sunday’s visit of league leaders Liverpool.

“The crowd are fantastic,” he added. “They’ve believed in me and I’m happy to put in good performances and show them what I can do.

“Liverpool is a big game. Hopefully we can go and win it and keep the winning streak going.”

Spurs cruised into a 3-0 lead over United inside an hour through Solanke’s well-taken double and a fourth goal in as many games by Dejan Kulusevski.

But United capitalised on footwork errors by Fraser Forster to pull the scoreline back to 3-2 through substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo, before Heung-min Son scored directly from a corner.

There was still time for another sub, Jonny Evans, to head home a stoppage-time consolation for the visitors, but Spurs held on to set up a Carabao Cup semi-final with Liverpool.

Spurs were missing 10 senior players, with Timo Werner the latest to be sidelined after falling ill on the morning of the game, and Postecoglou believes they will emerge stronger from a testing run of matches.

“It's just incredible,” the manager said. “This is 10 players off a senior list, and it's just ridiculous and the fact that we're still putting in these levels of performance with guys, Archie [Gray], Djed, these kind of guys, I mean.

“We're getting, I believe, some real enormous growth in this period that maybe won't be evident until down the track, but I just think there's there's so much sort of good stuff in there at the moment, even though it's a tough period still.”