Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has issued a stern warning to his players ahead of our match-up this afternoon – as well as discussing his relationship with Sir Bobby Robson and his thoughts on current boss Steve Bruce.
Mourinho vehemently believes that our disaster against Brighton was merely a blip – and that if our performance against West Ham is anything to go by, we’re certainly capable of causing his side big problems today.
He also highlighted the fact that we were able to rest players during our mid week duel with Morecambe – whilst Tottenham fielded a strong side in their intense Europa League tie against Lokomotiv Plodliv.
Here’s what he had to say:
“They lost against Brighton, but Brighton is a team capable of hurting you.
“That’s the Premier League this season.”
“We are going to have many of these unexpected results, and no public makes home and away not as important, the team that plays away probably feels more comfortable to fight for the points.
“It’s going to be difficult. Of course, they played Wednesday and changed all their team against Morecombe (Carabao Cup).
“For us, it’s a different story.”
Mourinho raises a good point here, a lot of Spurs’ players will be tired having played just three days ago; we must take the initiative and try to aggressively press them from the off.
Mourinho also had some brilliant words to say about the great Sir Bobby, revealing how he’s now a ‘little Magpie’ after feeling the former NUFC boss’ ‘huge passion’ for Newcastle United:
“It’s a club I feel connection with because of Mr Robson, it’s a simple as that.
“He had a huge passion for Newcastle, and his area, Durham.
“He had it in his heart.
“So, through him I have become a little magpie!”
Sir Bobby Robson’s former understudy also spoke about his admiration for the Steve Bruce:
“He’s a guy I like very, very much since my arrival in England many years ago.”
“I played against him so many times in different clubs, Steve with different
“I met him a few times outside match days.
“I spoke with him on the phone so many times because when he was at Villa, he had some of my players on loan.
“I spoke with him when I was Man United manager and he was of course an important former Man United captain.
“I like him very, very much.”
I’d imagine the niceties will end come 2pm, however these are some lovely comments on a truly special man.
Back to today’s game, both managers enter the contest desperate to get more points on the board, with the loser set to be lagging in the bottom half and criticised for a poor start to the new 2020/21 season.
Let’s hope we can pull off another surprise result in North London and replicate Bruce’s first away win as NUFC manager this time last year!
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