'It's just stating a fact': The question that drew this frosty reaction from Ange Postecoglou

Ange Postecoglou still had his game face on but the post-match interview was cordial as the Tottenham Hotspur manager answered questions about his tactics on Bodø's unusual artificial pitch.

And why wouldn't it be after the Australian made history by piloting Spurs into the Europa League final against Manchester United.

But the mood shifted a little when UEFA's official broadcast inquisitor asked one particular question.

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"And you always deliver trophies in the second season," he said.

"It's been a saying this season hasn't it?"

Indeed, Postecoglou has been mocked mercilessly for that statement during a nightmare Premier League campaign.

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But now he's 90 minutes away from doing just that against a Manchester United side he has dominated this season.

"Well yeah, I mean, you know, it's just stating a fact and we'll just keep doing what we're doing," Postecoglou replied.

Postecoglou made the claim having won trophies in his second seasons with Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and Celtic.

"People keep mocking me about it. We will see," the former Socceroos boss said three months ago.

Tottenham won 2-0 away at Bodø/Glimt - north of the Arctic Circle in Norway - to seal a 5-1 aggregate victory on Friday (AEST).

It sets up an all-England Europa League final for the second time in six years after Chelsea beat Arsenal to lift the trophy in 2019.

Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro struck in the second half for Tottenham to delight their travelling fans.

The final is in Bilbao on May 22 (AEST).

"Very happy obviously and just really proud of the players," Postecoglou said.

"I thought we did exactly what we needed to do tonight and everyone knows it's a difficult place to come, they're a difficult team to play against here.

"I thought we controlled the game really well, didn't really let them create too much and got our goals. We just needed to take our time and try to take any rhythm out of the game.

"They like to play at a high tempo, high intensity. We tried to take that rhythm out of them and be really still aggressive with our press. We didn't really let them get in our half too many times, so the boys were outstanding.

"We needed to be disciplined and just organised, and we were. They play with no fear, probably play without too much pressure and what that means for us is that we had to put some pressure on them.

"Make them work really hard for everything they tried to do."

Tottenham are 16th and one place below United after a club record equalling 19 losses in the Premier League.

Spurs have won all three of their previous encounters this season - twice in the league and once in the League Cup.

"Any season you get to a final is great," Postecoglou said.

"That's what we all try and do. It doesn't happen often - even for a big football club like ours. So you want to enjoy those moments and we certainly did. Great for our supporters who are here and the ones back home who I'm sure are celebrating.

"We've given them hope and the dream of hopefully doing something special."

Postecoglou has also been hammered in the British press for supposedly favouring style points over actual ones.

It was notable that Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario sent a lot of balls long at frigid Aspmyra Stadion rather than trying to play out from the back.

A new pragmatic Postecoglou, perhaps?

"I just felt tonight, look, on that pitch - I've had a fair bit of experience," he said.

"There's too much risk trying to play out and we just felt we wanted to knock the rhythm out of them. And I just felt tonight it made sense for us to be a bit more direct." - with AP