Tottenham Hotspur

SPURSPLAY

Leeds 1-0 Spurs | Roberto De Zerbi’s verdict  Tottenham Hotspur

SPURSPLAY

Mathys was left reeling after Jayden Bogle’s challenge after 34 minutes, the Leeds defender connecting with his left ankle. Mathys tried to continue after lengthy treatment, but went down again a few minutes later, replaced by Dominic Solanke.

After an even first half, Leeds forced us back in the second half and eventually took maximum points via Noah Okafor’s goal on 79 minutes.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY at Elland Road, Roberto told us: “Mathys had a bad injury on the ankle. We need to make a medical check to understand the situation.”

Asked how bad the injury was in his post-match press conference, Roberto added: “Bad injury. Now we have to make the medical checks and in the next day we will know the problem.”

After a quiet start on a personal level, the striker exploded into life with two deadly finishes, picking out the bottom corner with precision on 25 minutes before again clinically firing home after latching onto Cayon Hanson’s excellent ball forward with virtually the last action of the first period.

We’d travelled to the north east only needing a point to be sure of our place in the knockout stages – Newcastle would have leapfrogged us into top spot in Group G with a win and advanced at our expense – but we never looked in any serious danger as we stood up well to the physical battle presented to us and probably should have scored more, although goalkeeper Mikel Jack was required to make a couple of fine saves to preserve our first clean sheet of the season at this level.

Captain Tyler Tingey laid a poppy wreath on the centre spot on behalf of the club as both teams observed a minute’s silence prior to kick-off during this period of Remembrance but we were soon into the thick of the action, Kwasi Senyah coaxing a flying save out of Magpies goalkeeper George Mair, Joel Vidal-Philbert seeing a shot deflected agonisingly wide and Boast just unable to connect with Courtney Coffi Smith’s cross from six yards out in the middle of the box.

Vidal-Philbert was a lively influence on the left flank, sending in a number of dangerous deliveries, but we couldn’t take advantage and Newcastle nearly punished us when Michael Mills drilled just wide at the other end. Boast, though, found his rhythm and fired clinically across Mair and into the far corner on his right foot to give us a 25th-minute lead and we continued to push from there, two Newcastle players going into the book as they struggled to deal with our advances. Armend Muslika crashed a free-kick into the side-netting and Vidal-Philbert went close again before Boast latched onto Hanson’s ball forward and held off Lesecond Yeutembip to double our advantage in the second minute of first-half added time.

Newcastle upped their game after the restart and it was only a superb flying save from Jack that prevented substitute Jack Patterson from bringing them level, the keeper subsequently diving bravely at the feet of Jack Callaghan to deny the Magpies’ midfielder in our box.

Muslika had a loud penalty appeal waved away by the referee after going down in the box while substitute Harry Hughes looked bright on his first competitive appearance for our Under-18s after recovering from injury, the midfielder sending Boast through on goal with a clever pass, only for the striker to fire over the bar. Vidal-Philbert continued his supply line in from the left but neither Oliver Salter nor Phoenix Offiah could take advantage of separate deliveries, with the winger subsequently trying his luck himself with a rasping right-footed effort that forced another save from Mair seven minutes from time.

Some committed defending from Oscar Sandiford prevented the Magpies from finding a route to goal in the latter stages, although they did manage to muster one big chance a minute from time when centre-forward Alfie Hutchinson had a free header in the box, but Jack saved it sharply on his line and we went marching on into the last eight with maximum points from our three group stage games.

‘The overriding feeling is one of pride’

Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr said the players were thrilled not only to have qualified for the last eight, but also to have achieved a long-awaited clean sheet: “The whole group is over the moon,” he underlined. “It was a bit of a different test to what we come up against every week in terms of an overnight stay, playing against a team that we don’t often play against and a good team at that who are doing well in their league, so to come here, perform well, show a little bit of resilience and stick to the task of defending properly when we needed to during those periods of the game, we’re all over the moon.

“The overriding feeling is one of pride because we’ve been pushing the group for a while now to get a clean sheet and so for it to come today with a result that also pushes us into a quarter-final, it’s great. The most pleasing bit for me is when the final whistle goes and the whole team is celebrating the clean sheet – that’s the bit that matters and when we’ve spent the last two months working on our defending and you see the players making progress every day, the feeling in the dressing room is one of contentment.”

Jamie also praised the players for completing the first part of the competition with a 100 per cent record: “In our group, we’ve had had two difficult away games against teams from the northern division with Derby and Newcastle – plus Fulham at home – and we’ve been stretched, but we’ve still won three in a row which is really pleasing. When you think about the squad when we went to Derby near the start of the campaign and we looked a little bit fragile, getting pegged back from 3-0 up to 3-2, when you see the group now, we look totally different, even against a team who was trying to put pressure on us. I’m really glad we’ve got through the group.”

Line-up

Spurs: Jack, Sandiford, Jobling, Hanson, Tingey (c), Senyah, Coffi Smith (Salter 62), Glancy (Thomas 79), Boast (Offiah 79), Muslika (Hughes 72), Vidal-Philbert. Substitutes (not used): Cherifi, Philogene-Bidace, Olajide.

After a quiet start on a personal level, the striker exploded into life with two deadly finishes, picking out the bottom corner with precision on 25 minutes before again clinically firing home after latching onto Cayon Hanson’s excellent ball forward with virtually the last action of the first period.

We’d travelled to the north east only needing a point to be sure of our place in the knockout stages – Newcastle would have leapfrogged us into top spot in Group G with a win and advanced at our expense – but we never looked in any serious danger as we stood up well to the physical battle presented to us and probably should have scored more, although goalkeeper Mikel Jack was required to make a couple of fine saves to preserve our first clean sheet of the season at this level.

Captain Tyler Tingey laid a poppy wreath on the centre spot on behalf of the club as both teams observed a minute’s silence prior to kick-off during this period of Remembrance but we were soon into the thick of the action, Kwasi Senyah coaxing a flying save out of Magpies goalkeeper George Mair, Joel Vidal-Philbert seeing a shot deflected agonisingly wide and Boast just unable to connect with Courtney Coffi Smith’s cross from six yards out in the middle of the box.

Vidal-Philbert was a lively influence on the left flank, sending in a number of dangerous deliveries, but we couldn’t take advantage and Newcastle nearly punished us when Michael Mills drilled just wide at the other end. Boast, though, found his rhythm and fired clinically across Mair and into the far corner on his right foot to give us a 25th-minute lead and we continued to push from there, two Newcastle players going into the book as they struggled to deal with our advances. Armend Muslika crashed a free-kick into the side-netting and Vidal-Philbert went close again before Boast latched onto Hanson’s ball forward and held off Lesecond Yeutembip to double our advantage in the second minute of first-half added time.

Newcastle upped their game after the restart and it was only a superb flying save from Jack that prevented substitute Jack Patterson from bringing them level, the keeper subsequently diving bravely at the feet of Jack Callaghan to deny the Magpies’ midfielder in our box.

Muslika had a loud penalty appeal waved away by the referee after going down in the box while substitute Harry Hughes looked bright on his first competitive appearance for our Under-18s after recovering from injury, the midfielder sending Boast through on goal with a clever pass, only for the striker to fire over the bar. Vidal-Philbert continued his supply line in from the left but neither Oliver Salter nor Phoenix Offiah could take advantage of separate deliveries, with the winger subsequently trying his luck himself with a rasping right-footed effort that forced another save from Mair seven minutes from time.

Some committed defending from Oscar Sandiford prevented the Magpies from finding a route to goal in the latter stages, although they did manage to muster one big chance a minute from time when centre-forward Alfie Hutchinson had a free header in the box, but Jack saved it sharply on his line and we went marching on into the last eight with maximum points from our three group stage games.

‘The overriding feeling is one of pride’

Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr said the players were thrilled not only to have qualified for the last eight, but also to have achieved a long-awaited clean sheet: “The whole group is over the moon,” he underlined. “It was a bit of a different test to what we come up against every week in terms of an overnight stay, playing against a team that we don’t often play against and a good team at that who are doing well in their league, so to come here, perform well, show a little bit of resilience and stick to the task of defending properly when we needed to during those periods of the game, we’re all over the moon.

“The overriding feeling is one of pride because we’ve been pushing the group for a while now to get a clean sheet and so for it to come today with a result that also pushes us into a quarter-final, it’s great. The most pleasing bit for me is when the final whistle goes and the whole team is celebrating the clean sheet – that’s the bit that matters and when we’ve spent the last two months working on our defending and you see the players making progress every day, the feeling in the dressing room is one of contentment.”

Jamie also praised the players for completing the first part of the competition with a 100 per cent record: “In our group, we’ve had had two difficult away games against teams from the northern division with Derby and Newcastle – plus Fulham at home – and we’ve been stretched, but we’ve still won three in a row which is really pleasing. When you think about the squad when we went to Derby near the start of the campaign and we looked a little bit fragile, getting pegged back from 3-0 up to 3-2, when you see the group now, we look totally different, even against a team who was trying to put pressure on us. I’m really glad we’ve got through the group.”

Line-up

Spurs: Jack, Sandiford, Jobling, Hanson, Tingey (c), Senyah, Coffi Smith (Salter 62), Glancy (Thomas 79), Boast (Offiah 79), Muslika (Hughes 72), Vidal-Philbert. Substitutes (not used): Cherifi, Philogene-Bidace, Olajide.

Roberto De Zerbi has made one change to the side that overcame Crystal Palace 2-0 last Saturday.

Pedro Porro returns to our starting XI for the first time since our meeting with Aston Villa in September with Dominic Solanke set to begin the game amongst our substitutes.

Joining him on the substitutes bench is Rodrigo Bentancur, who returns after completing his three-game suspension, while young goalkeeper Luca Gunter is named in a Premier League matchday squad for the first time.

Starting XI: Kinsky, Robertson, van Hecke, Tel, Gray, Tonali, Fernandes, Kudus, Marmoush, Pedro Porro, van de Ven (c).

Substitutes: Gunter, Senesi, Gallagher, Maddison, Solanke, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Davies, Williams-Barnett.

Here's how our hosts line up...

Starting XI: Trafford, Bogle, Gudmundsson, Ampadu (c), Muharemovic, Longstaff, Calvert-Lewin, Nmecha, Tanaka, Justin, Elvedi.

Substitutes: Zetterer, Rodon, Hames, Wilson, Aaronson, Bijol, Okafor, Bard, Gruev.

Next up, it's a trip to Elland Road to face Daniel Farke's Leeds United in the Premier League's early kick-off on Saturday (12.30pm UK).

James Trafford

A huge summer signing from Manchester City, Trafford stands 6ft 5ins and is a commanding presence, a great shot-stopper and the definition of a 'modern' goalkeeper - so comfortable with the ball at his feet. Like many goalkeepers, he's often the starting point with the ball from the back, although it can be a dangerous game - Trafford's misplaced pass led to Bournemouth's opener in a 2-0 loss last weekend, a game Leeds had the better of until that point.

Jayden Bogle

A key player in Farke's 3-4-2-1 system, Bogle is encouraged to fly forward from the right at every opportunity. As explained to us by The Athletic's Leeds correspondent, Beren Cross: "Bogle has almost got a free role when Leeds have the ball. He's been popping up on the left wing at times. Farke, in the right moments, has asked him to make those bizarre, unexpected runs that then asks a different question of the opposition defence."

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

That rare breed of 'old-fashioned centre forward', Calvert-Lewin was described by Roberto De Zerbi as one of the best headers of the ball in the Premier League in Friday's pre-match press conference. Such a handful physically, up for a scrap, Calvert-Lewin is so important to Leeds' system, as he holds the ball up to allow the likes of Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson to burst forward from the wings. He has four goals this season and might have had a fifth at Bournemouth, but his opener was ruled out for handball by VAR. Calvert-Lewis vs van de Ven/van Hecke should be quite a battle!

Pick your XI!

Here are some of the topics he spoke about...

On what he’s seen so far this season…

“A lot of good moments, some moments we can still be better at, some adversity we’ve faced but I’d say a lot more of the positive things on and off the pitch when we’re a full collective that maybe everyone doesn’t get to see, and I feel that we’re moving in the right direction, showing good qualities with and without the ball. We just need to refine certain areas continually to make sure that we can be the most competitive (that we can be).”

On Victoria Pelova’s form…

“I know Vic was always a good player from what I’ve seen of her before, not just domestically at club level but also nationally, and then the references you get on character and professionalism as a footballer – obviously with your own eye it’s the most important part – but I always knew she had good qualities, it was more how we would get them out of her and how long it would take for her to do that. I think she’s settled into the environment very well and I think that tells you a lot about the culture and about the players that are around her, but then her own qualities, whether that’s defensively or attacking, she’s shown a lot of that and to be in a position where she’s scored six goals (and got) three or four assists, I think it’s a remarkable start for a player. I think she’d have wanted that start but maybe didn’t expect it, and maybe the same for me, but I think we have a wonderful player on our hands.”

On Kirsty Hanson…

“Kirsty started really well, I think you’ve seen the goals she scored in the first game, I think she started the first four or five, we had a little bit of rotation in the cup, she hasn’t started the last couple, the last one being more from a small niggle she had coming out of the Bristol City game which not everyone gets to know and that’s maybe why you get a lot of backlash from fans but yes, she had a small niggle that didn’t enable her to start the last one but apart from that, I think Kirsty is a wonderful player, has a lot of quality, a lot of talent, possesses really key characteristics that we look for in those forward players in her speed and her directness but her off-the-ball behaviours complement that too, so hopefully now she just continues to work hard and puts her head down. The hard part with the squad now and the team, with where we’re at, is when one person isn’t in the team, the other person goes in and gets an opportunity, sometimes they take that and it’s then about as a group, collectively competing and challenging one another to get in that starting XI. As long as they do everything they can through the week to give themselves the chance of starting at the weekend, the thing they don’t control is my decision-making tactically on what I want to do, but what they can do is give me a really good headache. I think this season definitely we’ve had a really strong headache from every single player in terms of should they play, should they not, and then a further headache from the fans to make sure that I play certain players they maybe want to see!”

On what to expect from Brighton after our recent Players Cup tie…

“It doesn’t have much bearing because that result won’t dictate how we perform and what we do here. What it does do is give us some reference maybe and some kind of insight in terms of when we played them ourselves with how we set up and how we approached the game. Was that right, was that wrong, were there areas we kind of missed? It gives us some reference on the players and the characteristics we want to start in those games maybe against those individual players, but what it does tell us is they’re a good team, they pushed us, at the back end of the game especially, the last 20 or so minutes they pushed us onto the back foot, we had spells in the first half and in parts of the second half where we were good with the ball and created opportunities against them, so you can take a lot of both sides from it. Then the format has enabled us and most clubs to experiment a little bit differently. One thing I want to make sure of in the cup competitions is I will change where I feel we need to change but I won’t change everything for the sake of minutes. Minutes should be earned and not just given and I want to make sure that we go into these cup competitions wanting to get to the latter stages, get to finals, getting close to winning silverware because the more we do that, it shows the strength of this club. It’s where the fans want to be, the club wants the be, I want to be, so we have to show respect to the competition and the opposition, but it definitely gives you a little bit more flexibility. What it doesn’t help with is the schedule and how tight it is but there’s tos and fros for everything. But I think if you ask the players, they’d want to play more games anyway.”

On Toko Koga’s abilities…

“Any words don’t do her any justice. I don’t think we speak about her enough, I don’t think you (the media) speak about her enough. As journalists you will always go to the players who’ve been in the league for this long and the price tag of everyone but I actually think that Toko in my opinion is probably one of the best, if not the best central defender I’ve worked with. She’s 20 years of age and I think you forget that. She’s playing well above her means in terms of her level of where she would be at now, she’s over-achieving in terms of what she does with where we’d expect and with how she’s been in the league for 16 or 17 months and the level she’s performing at. Yes, she’s going to have games that she’s disappointed with but she’ll be the first to address that. But for a player of her stature, her technical quality and her tactical level of understanding is phenomenal. Until you can work with that first-hand you never really appreciate it, but I believe in the future she’s going to be (one of), if not the best centre-back in world football.”

On Sophie Jackson and young players in general turning pro…

“It’s a huge part of the club and you’ve seen Luca (Williams-Barnett) do it with the men’s team recently. It’s a really big part of this football club, a big part of the ethos of producing your own talent and that was a really big thing which drew me to the club when I came here – the opportunity to make sure there’s a clear pathway for our Academy and that it’s aligned through junior football into senior football, and as soon as we can get players through and they’re ready to come through then we give them the opportunity. I do that in training a lot, we’ve had lots and lots of players train with us over the last 18 months that I’ve been here, so I want to make sure that continues. Sophie getting her first professional contract and turning down opportunities from other big clubs in this league who also wanted her shows her belief and confidence in what we’re doing. She believes she can grow here and mature as a player, and I definitely think that it shows that we’re a club who can produce our own players and consistently do that, but we also have a platform and a foundation and a structure in the Academy that allows us to do that to.”

On quickly recovering from conceding goals to scoring them again…

“We’re entertaining, I’ll tell you that! We seem to score a lot of goals and concede a lot and we spoke about that question actually in a wider leadership meeting this week. We’re there to entertain fans, I say I want them on the edge of their seats and they’re either on the edge of their seats or they’re falling off the back of them when we’ve conceded six, so either way we’re entertaining! We don’t go into any game thinking that we want to concede, but what it has definitely shown me is that we have areas to grow in and I’m very clear on that with everyone, especially in these press conferences. We have a lot of work to do and we’re not where we want to be and where we need to be, and what we have to do is find that consistency in performance but also build the mentality of the group when we’re playing against those teams. I think you saw a different side against Arsenal which is where we want to be, compared to the other two games before that. We’ve also got to make sure that the players can adapt from being aggressive and being more reserved, but I want to make sure that we are entertaining and we’re scoring goals. I think we’re doing that well, what we’ve got to make sure is at the other end we start to shut it out.”

Our legendary former goalkeeper came through the youth ranks at Elland Road and broke into a Leeds team fighting for Premier League titles and the Champions League – they reached the semi-finals in 2001, losing out to Valencia.

Robbo played 119 times for the Whites before switching to Lilywhite in the summer of 2004. One of the most popular players to pull on our shirt in the Premier League era, he was soon number one at Spurs and for England, where he played at the 2006 World Cup, eventually earning 41 caps.

Robbo made 175 appearances for us, winning the League Cup in 2008 before moving to Blackburn, where he enjoyed seven years and finally Burnley, where he retired in 2017.

Now a pundit across numerous media outlets, including covering England for BBC Radio Five Live, we spoke to Robbo earlier this week ahead of his two former teams meeting again…

First up, tell us about your Leeds team of the early 2000s…

Robbo: “When you look at the players who were there at that time, the likes of Robbie Fowler, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Keane, Alan Smith, Lee Bowyer, Olivier Dacourt, Harry Kewell, Jonathan Woodgate... it was a team that was able to compete at the top of the Premier League and at Europe's top table as well. It's just a shame about the decline (Leeds were relegated in 2003/04) and how quickly it was, because the building blocks were put in place and the players were there to be successful for a long period of time.”

Fast-forward to joining us in 2004, and people might not realise that it took you just three months to become England’s number one – as fans at the Lane always sang to you!

Robbo: “This game always brings back special memories, because without Leeds United, I wouldn't have had the career I had, and then I had my best footballing years at Tottenham and the happiest time of my career there. Leeds was a rollercoaster, but I owe everything to Leeds United. To go to Tottenham was such a huge move for me at such a young age. I think a lot of people thought that I was going to be number two behind Kasey Keller, but I actually started the season as number one and very quickly established myself in the England side.”

You had an unbelievable connection with our fans…

Robbo: “You soon get to understand what the football club's all about. The minute you walk through those gates at White Hart Lane, you play your first game and you can see the passion of the supporters. This should ring true with every club, but the minimum requirement is maximum effort. I celebrated goals the way that the fans celebrated goals. I wanted my team to be successful. I wanted my team to be the best, and when we scored a goal, I celebrated the same as the fans. When we conceded a goal, I felt exactly the same as the fans. You soon understand what it means to the fan base and Spurs and Leeds... a great example of two sets of supporters who will support their club through thick and thin.”

Bringing it around to Saturday – what are your thoughts on Leeds at the moment?

Robbo: “Daniel Farke has changed the public perception of him as a Premier League manager. He’s done fantastically well. He changed to the three at the back formation against Manchester City last season, it's a formation that's worked for them since and the club have backed him. They had a very solid window in the summer, signing players that suited the system he plays. They’ve very quickly become an established Premier League team. What I will say is they draw too many games at the moment. They've had no win in the last five games, one win in the last nine in all competitions. They're struggling in front of goal a little, they’re not a high scoring team, but what Daniel Farke’s done with that team, he's made them resilient, made them hard to beat.”

How do you think it will play out on Saturday?

Robbo: “I don't think it’s only the last three or four games that are an indication of the way that Tottenham have played. I said from very early on this season that it was only a matter of time before it clicks and when that first win came, there would be a snowball effect. It just felt confidence was an issue and now you see the victory against Coventry, the away win against Chelsea was fantastic, then the home win against Crystal Palace, you can see the belief in the team. I was at Bournemouth last weekend (Leeds lost 2-0) and Leeds started the game very well but then fell off and allowed Bournemouth back into it. At home, they're a different proposition, because Elland Road is exactly as it always is – the noise levels will be phenomenal for this game and it’s a very, very difficult place to go. So, Tottenham are in form and confident, Leeds back at Elland Road – it’ a tough one to call.”