Tottenham Hotspur

Goals from Dane Scarlett and Richarlison saw us home 2-0 against A-League champions Auckland FC at Eden Park.

After our first visit to New Zealand for 50 years, the players now focus on our next two pre-season matches in Sydney - Sydney FC, A-League runners-up in May, at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday evening, local time (10.45am UK) followed by more familiar foe in Chelsea at the Accor Stadium on Saturday evening, local time (10.45am UK).

Here's our first gallery from Sydney...

Having faced Auckland FC at the historic Eden Park - home of the All Blacks - in the New Zealand city of the same name, a number of stars of the nation's world famous rugby side were in attendance to watch us in action.

At Eden Park were current New Zealand stars Fabian Holland and Anton Segner as was the legendary Dan Carter - the highest points scorer in Test Match rugby union history, a double World Cup winner and possibly the greatest fly half (#10) in history.

After the game, the trio came down to pitchside where Kevin Danso and Ben Davies were keen to meet them.

Ben, a huge rugby fan, grew up watching Carter dominate the world game. It would be fair to say Carter is something of a childhood hero for Ben. While, Kevin, also a lover of the sport, was also eager to meet his fellow sports stars, especially with him sharing a language with Anton Segner - a German-born player.

Check out our photos from the meeting in our gallery below...

Having beaten A-League champions Auckland FC at the iconic Eden Park on Sunday, the squad has travelled to Australia and now prepares to face Sydney FC – runners-up to Auckland FC in May’s Grand Final - at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday (10.45am UK). After that, it’s familiar foe and Chelsea at the Accor Stadium on Saturday (10.45am UK).

“It’s my first time in Australia,” said Roberto, speaking to media in Sydney on Monday morning, local time. “My first impression is Sydney is an amazing city, very nice, but first of all we have not too much time to go to visit. We have to work, we have to stay focused on the job.

“We are looking Improve our physical condition, improve our level of play, improve the connection between the players and the relationship with the players in these days in New Zealand and Australia

“It’s important we go to play in front of our fans, because Tottenham have fans everywhere in the world.”

With our Premier League opener against Brentford looming – we travel to the Gtech on 22 August (5.30pm UK) – we asked Roberto what he’s looking for as pre-season builds up.

He added: “To build a new team with the qualities, for sure, with big players, for sure, but with soul, with passion, with all the values we have. Football now is not just on the pitch, it's not just with the ball, it's before, it's in life. It's how many hours during the day you think about your job.”

Rugby union’s all-time record international points scorer with 1,598 in 112 Tests between 2003-2015 – the only player to reach the 1,500 mark – Carter made his debut against Wales in Hamilton in June, 2003.

Watching at home in Neath, a young Ben Davies, aged just 10.

It’s fair to say Carter, seen as the best fly half (#10) and one of the best players to ever grace the rugby stage, made his mark on his first appearance – 20 points, including a try and six conversions, as the All Blacks stormed home 55-3.

He went on to do it all, including winning the World Cup in 2011 and 2015, when he was Man of the Match in the final and three times named World Rugby Player of the Year between 2003-2015. After almost 20 years in the sport, he retired in 2020 after spells at Racing 92 in France and Kobelco Steelers in Japan.

A huge rugby fan, Ben met Carter, one of his sporting idols, after playing the final half-hour of our 2-0 win against Auckland FC in front of 40,112 at Eden Park, a record attendance for a men’s football match in New Zealand.

He told us: “I grew up a big rugby fan, obviously, and watched Dan Carter dominate against Wales time and time again. He’s an absolute legend. I used to love watching him as a kid.

“We've done lots of big things (with Spurs), toured different places, but Eden Park's special. I’ve watched Wales play here, watched the British Lions play here, and it's a fortress for the All Blacks.

“It was really cool to play here. It's a bit strange to see all the football goals up, not the rugby posts, but it's an epic stadium, one I can probably say that not too many Welshmen have walked off the pitch winning! It was a special day.”

For the third time in four years, our youngsters journeyed across the water to Fota Island in Cork for a pre-season camp, spending several days training and engaging in various team bonding exercises together before taking to the field for a highly-competitive and useful friendly against Waterford.

The trip gave the players a chance to meet and interact with our some of our dedicated fans in Ireland – a delegation from our Cork Spurs Official Supporters’ Club addressed the squad on Friday and presented them with a commemorative plaque to mark their visit to the city, while members from Cork Spurs and Youghal Spurs, including several delighted youngsters, came to watch Saturday’s game before collecting autographs and selfies from the team at full-time.

The tour also saw the squad and staff attend a senior League of Ireland match on Friday night as nearby Cobh Ramblers hosted Bray Wanderers, the visitors running out 2-1 winners.

“Seeing another style of football in another country and how it’s played, the players were able to take some bits that they’ll be able to relate to their games and what the future might hold for some of them,” said Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr, who himself hails from Dublin.

“We got to meet the Supporters’ Clubs who were great – Cork Spurs presented us with a lovely plaque which was nice and the boys got the opportunity to go and meet some of the fans as well and just mingle with the young kids, signing autographs and getting selfies. All in all it’s been a great experience.

“From a staff point of view as well, it’s great to be able to spend a little bit more time with these lads over the course of the week and it’s been nice to see their character coming out, not just on the football pitch but off it, whether that was in a padel tournament, a table tennis tournament or going to watch a senior football match here in Ireland. From a social side of things it’s been a really good trip, but also we’ve worked the boys really hard from a training perspective. We had a really tough session on Wednesday and the boys probably went into the game against Waterford feeling slightly leggy which is exactly what you want in pre-season, so overall it ticked all the boxes from a preparation point of view.”

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Here’s what he had to say…

You started with a number of younger players – what did you think of the performance?

Roberto: “We have to play seriously, first of all, because when we play for this club or when we work for this club we have to work in the best way we can. The young players played very, very well, especially in the first half, with a clear idea, with the right spirit, with the right qualities as well. In the second half, we played 30 minutes with the older players, the players of the first team, Mateus Fernandes, Conor Gallagher, Ben Davies, Richarlison, Mathys Tel. We didn't concede, we didn't suffer any injuries and this is big news, important news, especially for the beginning of the season. So, now we go to Australia and we follow our pre-season.”

We haven’t seen too much of James Maddison – does he have a problem?

Roberto: “He's not working the last five days, I think, like Udogie, but they are not a big problem, just to stay focused, not to take any risks and then for the next game, the next friendly game against Sydney, maybe we play with Tonali, with other players.”

Fans are very excited about Luca Williams-Barnett – what does he have to do to get to the level he needs to?

Roberto: “Luca is a big talent, very young, big talent. Malachi is another good player for the future of the club. We can't forget the young players, especially for the new rules, the financial play or the rules of the Champions League, Europa League, and then we have to improve our academy, we have to help them to produce more players because we need it and it's important for the club.”

How important is it for young players to take the example of someone like Archie Gray?

Roberto: “Yes, Archie is young, but he's an old player as a mentality, as a performance, as an experience, as a career, but the new players have to push because with me as a coach they have the chance to play, logically they have to show me they are ready, they have qualities, they have a mentality to play in this club. When I decide the players, when I decide the squad, I never see the age of the players, I just analyse the qualities and the potential of these players.”

Are you thinking about Archie Gray as a midfielder or right-back going into the new season with Pedro Porro and Djed Spence coming back late after the World Cup?

Roberto: “It's lucky for me when you have players who are able to play in different positions. It's important for him to fix one position, one favourite position, but at the end he has to be open to cover different positions on the pitch. He can play as a right back, as a left back, as a midfielder, nothing changes. He's a smart player, I think he's improving his knowledge on the pitch because changing position, you change body shape, you change direction when you receive the ball and when you give the ball. He's an important player for me, even if he can play in different positions.”

Where do you see Mikey Moore’s future heading into next season?

Roberto: “We have to see, we have to analyse the last part of the transfer market I think because we try to bring wingers and then we speak with him, with his agent, with the club to find the best solution for everyone.”

What did you think of Auckland FC today?

Roberto: “They have a clear idea with the ball. I know football is not the most important sport in New Zealand. I spoke before the game with the coach and he told me that many players for the World Cup, they weren't here today. It's a great experience for us. Unfortunately, we can't stay more days to visit this country, because the atmosphere in this country, the culture, is great for us. We come from another country, another world and it would be a great experience for us to stay longer.”

What did you think of the occasion, especially that there was a record crowd for a men's football match here?

Roberto: “We are happy because when we go to this country to play friendly games, it's an important part of our job because we are a great club, a big club and we are very happy when the people in the other countries are so close to us. Tottenham is not just for the UK, it's for all parts of the world and for that we wanted to play well, seriously, to make our fans happy in other countries.”

How are you feeling about the next two or three weeks?

Roberto: “First of all, we don't want to take any risk of injuries, of potential injuries. We have to improve the physical condition, because we need running to play football and we have to be stronger. We have to work on the knowledge of the style of play we put inside the new players because we have very important new players. We have to finish the window of this transfer market because it's not finished yet. I think we can be happier at the end of this transfer market because I spoke a lot of time with the owner, with the board and they want to build a very strong team for this season for sure, to make the days for the future to become great again.”

You're only here for a short time - did you do anything in particular?

Roberto: “No, just work and sleep, try to sleep. I'm suffering a lot of jet lag and no restaurant, nothing, just to prepare the guys to play in the best way we can and try to sleep something more than three or four hours.”

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