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Tottenham boss Postecoglou understands Southgate friendly frustration

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says he'll take a full strength squad to Melbourne for their post-match friendly against Newcastle.

England coach Gareth Southgate has complained about the game being so close to the Euros.

Postecoglou said: "I'm sure Gareth will be a club coach one day and he'll get a different perspective, as he has been in the past. I don't think Gareth has said anything – or any other national team manager. I was a national team manager and I used to sweat over it at the weekend when the players were playing, whether that was a normal game, a friendly game, whatever game it is. The flip side of that is there were quite a few club coaches on edge with national team duty this week so it's the world we live in mate.

"Yeah, it's a bit like when new national team tournaments are always inserted into the fixture list isn't it? Whether you're a club coach or a national team coach, this is the world we live in.

"There has to be a balance. We've thought about it as a football club and it's fair to say if we'd been in Europe and had a really big season, we probably would have made a different decision. We weighed everything up and felt like there was a real benefit to playing this game.

"With all these things, there's always costs and benefits to it. You try to weigh them all up. My involvement in it is more around the footballing aspect. This is the club decision we're making here, we take all these factors into account. We thought that with our season being so disrupted and not a lot of games, this was a unique opportunity for us.

"I wouldn't see this as something that would happen on a regular basis unless we felt the benefits would outweigh the costs. On this occasion when we balanced everything up, we felt it was a good opportunity to take the club to the other side of the world and help us continue to grow the football club. That's why the decision was made."

Postecoglou also said of the make-up of the tour squad: "Everyone who's fit. Literally, we leave straight after the last game and we'll be taking everyone who's fit."

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