Inside Futbol

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Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Troy Parrott, who plays for AZ Alkmaar, has hailed his former side, marking them as ‘world-class’ and admitted that getting a result against Spurs will not be ‘easy’.

The Ireland international striker was considered a top prospect at Spurs but he failed to make a break through in the first team.

He left the north London club in the summer for a reported £6.7m fee and has already scored six goals for them.

The 22-year-old insisted that breaking into the first team as a young player has become difficult these days because he feels Spurs are a top outfit in England.

AZ Alkmaar will face Spurs tonight in the Europa League and Parrott admitted that the game will be a difficult one against a ‘world class’ Spurs side.

“Spurs are such a big club. I have had a few chances to play for them and I am proud of that”, the former Spurs forward told Dutch daily De Telegraaf in an interview.

“I was at the club for seven years. I grew up there and was able to develop as a person and as a footballer.

“They want to develop young players and deliver them to the first team. But that is incredibly difficult because the club is in the top five of the Premier League.

“It was not meant to be that I broke through there. Now my own journey has begun.

“It is definitely a special match. It is nice to go back and see some familiar faces. There are some world-class players there, so it is not going to be easy.

“But for me and my fellow players, it is an exciting and beautiful evening,”

Parrott will be looking to play an impactful role against Spurs tonight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

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Ferencvaros coach Pascal Jansen has insisted Tottenham Hotspur’s ‘noticeably’ high defensive line is a weakness of theirs ahead of Spurs’ Europa League match tonight.

Earlier this month, the Hungarian side faced Spurs in the Europa League and lost the game by a marginal 2-1 scoreline.

Spurs will host Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar tonight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Jansen has given the Dutch side some critical tips.

The Ferencvaros and former AZ Alkmaar boss revealed that if the Dutch side are able to break through Tottenham’s intense pressing, they will be able to cause damage to the north London side.

Spurs play a high defensive line under Ange Postecoglou and Jansen stressed Tottenham’s high defensive line is a weakness of the Premier League side.

“It is not only the backline that is noticeably high on the pitch at Tottenham”, Jansen told Dutch magazine Voetbal International about the north Londoners.

“Up front, they apply extremely high pressure, which can cause problems in the build-up from the back.

“We also provoked their high pressure a bit.

“We managed to take advantage of the spaces that were created at times.

“If you manage to get out from under their initial pressure, you can then go in different directions, thanks to the spaces that are then exposed between the lines and behind their high defence.

“Then you can almost put the ball behind their defence from midfield with your eyes closed.

“Especially if you have speed up front.”

Now it remains to be seen if the Dutch side will be able to set themselves up to take full advantage of Tottenham’s high defensive line tonight.

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Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven believes that playing against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League will be more special for people around him than for him personally.

Van de Ven hails from the northern part of the Netherlands and his father has a strong connection with the club he is set to face on Thursday.

Despite having played his football with the club as a 12-year-old, Van de Ven insists that he does not have strong connections with AZ.

The club took a look at him as a youngster but did not consider signing him and the Tottenham star fully comprehends their stance at that time given that he feels that flourished a bit late.

On his connections with the Dutch club, the defender said at a press conference: “I don’t really have a strong connection with Alkmaar. It’s just a coincidence that my dad lives there but I don’t necessarily have a strong connection with Alkmaar.

“I did play as a teenager for AZ.

“I think I must have started when I was around 12 years old, at the time I was being turned down and I moved to Volendam.

“In my younger years I think even Volendam had some doubts as well.

“When I was playing at Volendam, AZ did come and see me when I broke through.

“It was nice to have AZ and other teams come and have a look but I don’t think it’s true that AZ didn’t really see me [as being a future player] because I don’t think I had the qualities that I believe I have now at that time.

“I think I picked up steam a bit late.

“Maybe me playing against AZ tomorrow night is more special for the people around me, not so much for me personally.

“Of course, I have some friends who support AZ but for me it’s like playing against any other team.

“I do know some of the players who play for AZ from the national team as well.”

Van de Ven was on the bench for Tottenham in their last Europa League match against Ferencvaros but will hope to make it to the starting line-up against AZ Alkmaar.

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has admitted that he is happy to see Spurs loanee Troy Parrott doing well for AZ Alkmaar.

The 22-year-old centre forward experienced a good loan spell with Excelsior last season in the Netherlands and decided to join Dutch outfit AZ on another loan in the summer.

Parrott has scored six goals in eleven appearances for AZ so far this season and he is set to return to north London on Thursday when his side will take on Tottenham in the Europa League.

Postecoglou pointed out that Parrott has started his season with the Dutch outfit in a good manner and admitted that he is happy to see him playing well.

The Tottenham boss feels that Parrott, who scored 17 times for Excelsior last season, seems to be suiting the Dutch game.

“It’s good to see Troy doing well”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“He had a good loan spell last year and he’s started his AZ career in good fashion.”

The Spurs loanee has already scored once in the Europa League this season and he will be motivated to put in an impressive performance on Thursday in front of Tottenham’s supporters.

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has claimed that he knows more about Dutch football than Netherlands international Micky van de Ven and recalled facing Dutch opposition with Celtic.

Spurs are set to welcome Dutch side AZ Alkmaar to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Thursday in a Europa League league phase fixture.

Postecoglou, during his time with Celtic, previously faced AZ during a Europa League qualifier in 2021 and managed to triumph over them with a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.

Postecoglou signed Van de Ven, who came through Dutch outfit Volendam’s academy, from Wolfsburg last season and trumpeted his own knowledge of the Dutch game.

The Tottenham boss pointed out that he faced AZ with Celtic in 2021 and believes that the Dutch outfit are good at identifying young talents.

“I think I know more about Dutch football than Micky!”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“We played AZ when I was at Celtic a couple of years back.

“Always a good side, always good at identifying young talent.”

Postecoglou thinks that Van de Ven had late development and revealed that Volendam were also unsure about the Spurs star’s growth.

He also pointed out that the Tottenham defender was outstanding for them last season and added that Van de Ven is growing all the time.

“With Micky it’s fair to say he developed late but very quickly. Even at Volendam there was a period when they were a bit unsure.

“For us last year he was outstanding in his first year in the Premier League.

“He’s growing all the time, maturing.

“I think the more he plays with the national team it will give him more belief.”

Tottenham have won their two games in the Europa League this season and they will be determined to continue their winning moment on Thursday.

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Tottenham Hotspur star Micky van de Ven has revealed the reason why he likes to play a fast-paced high-line style of football.

The Dutch central defender joined the north Londoners from Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg last summer and has been an important player for Ange Postecoglou.

Despite facing a fairly long term injury last year Van de Ven has made 37 all-competition appearances for Spurs.

In his nine appearances this season, Van de Ven has registered two assists and the most eye-catching one came against Manchester United last month where made an exceptional run to provide an assist to Brennan Johnson.

The Holland international has revealed his recovery pace makes him enjoy playing a high-line and he stressed he loves playing attacking football under Postecoglou.

“I really enjoy it as I have the speed to recover”, the Spurs central defender told a press conference about his lightning-fast recovery pace.

“I enjoy playing in the high line and the offensive football.”

Van de Ven will be looking to provide his side with his recovery pace this week when they face AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

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Oxford United assistant manager Craig Short has insisted that the U’s think very highly of Tottenham Hotspur loan star Dane Scarlett.

Scarlett is considered a top prospect at Spurs and he has been sent out on several loan spells to ensure his growth.

This season, newly promoted Oxford United got hold of him and he has already scored two league goals despite playing as an impact substitute mostly.

His first league start of the season was on Tuesday night against Derby County where he scored in a 1-1 draw and the U’s assistant coach insisted that Scarlett’s performance in training sessions has been top notch.

Short is well aware of Tottenham’s stance on Scarlett as a player and he stressed the U’s also value the Spurs man a lot.

“Yes, good for him [to get back on the scoresheet]. He is training really really well”, Short told Oxford United’s in-house media about the Tottenham loan star.

“Spurs think a lot of him and we think as well, his level in training has been very high.

“Mark [Harris] started the season off so well, did really well for us last year.

“Of course, we rolled him out every game last year, he was not scoring, but we still rolled him out because his out-of-possession work is so good.

“But now we have got rest to him, we have got to rotate the squad.

“When you have got the quality of Dane to come in, the way he trained, he deserved his chance and [it is] great that he got his goal.”

Scarlett will be looking to perform consistently to have a place in Ange Postecoglou’s squad at Tottenham next season.

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Tottenham Hotspur will not pull the plug on the loan spell of attacker Timo Werner in January to send him back to RB Leipzig.

The former Germany international is on a season-long loan with the north London club and they also have an option to purchase him permanently.

He also played for the second half of the last season on loan at Spurs and Ange Postecoglou wanted to keep him.

The German struggled before in the Premier League during his spell at Chelsea and he is yet to find his feet in Postecoglou’s side this term.

Werner has already played nine games in all competitions this season but has not been able to score a single goal yet.

It has been suggested in some quarters that Tottenham might terminate Werner’s loan in January.

However, according to German magazine Sport Bild, that is wide of the mark and Werner will not be leaving Tottenham in the new year.

He is fully expected to see out the entire loan spell at Tottenham.

Werner will need to up his ante in the upcoming months of the season if he wants Spurs to activate his £8.5m buy option at the end of the campaign.

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A club have already started work on an ambitious swoop to bring in a player Tottenham Hotspur only signed in the summer transfer window.

Spurs did limited business in terms of incomings in the summer, with more players leaving than arriving in north London.

They did splash big cash on striker Dominic Solanke though, while younger options that arrived were Wilson Odobert and Archie Gray.

Now, with the season firmly established, La Liga giants Sevilla have noted that Gray is getting little in the way of regular game time at Spurs.

They have as a result already begun to work on a swoop to take him to Spain, according to Spanish outlet Mucho Deporte.

Sevilla consider the deal to be a difficult one to do, but think Spurs could be tempted by the idea of sending the teenager on loan for the second half of the season.

That would hand the midfielder, who can also play in defence, the opportunity to get regular football under his belt in La Liga.

Whether Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou would even consider such a move is open to question, with the Australian a big fan of what Gray can bring to the table.

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One of Tottenham Hotspur’s out on loan stars has been dubbed ‘extraordinary’ by his club boss, along with being pointed to as an intelligent player.

Spurs experienced a serious amount of squad churn during the summer transfer window, with the likes of Emerson Royal, Giovanni Lo Celso and Oliver Skipp being sold, while there were loan departures too.

Though Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg left on loan for Marseille, he is expected to join the French side permanently next summer.

Hojbjerg has established himself as a regular in Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille team and this weekend he scored his first goal for the club in their 5-0 victory over Montpellier.

De Zerbi says that Marseille are grateful to have the Spurs loanee in their squad and praised him for his personality.

The Italian tactician thinks that the Dane is an intelligent player with high quality and hailed the Tottenham midfielder, along with Adrien Rabiot, as an extraordinary player.

“I think we’re lucky to have these two players together at Marseille”, De Zerbi was quoted as saying by French radio station RMC.

“They are two extraordinary, intelligent players of a very high standard.

“They have great personalities and a lot of quality. They played a good game.

“I would have liked to have taken Rabiot off at the 70th minute to avoid taking any risks with his fatigue, but he held up very well physically.

“We’re really pleased to have him and Hojbjerg in our team.”

The defensive midfielder has started all eight league games for Marseille and he will be hoping to continue his form throughout the season.