Rose is 'star of the night' - Dembele, Sissoko, Davies and scorers react to Burnley win

Danny Rose came in for praise from several players after his match-winning performance against Burnley at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

The flying full-back, excellent in the midweek victory over Hull City, carried his form straight into the pre-Christmas clash with the Clarets and, amid another energetic showing, grabbed the decisive goal after 71 minutes, lashing in to make it 2-1 after a swift break forward from substitute Moussa Sissoko.

Dele Alli had earlier cancelled out Ashley Barnes’ opener for Sean Dyche’s side but we managed the game well to see out the victory in spite of losing Man of the Match Danny late on, the 26-year-old replaced by Ben Davies for his first appearance since November 2 after a spell on the sidelines.

Ben, Moussa Sissoko and Mousa Dembele all spoke about the game afterwards along with the two scorers – and all were naturally thrilled to have got the job done…

Ben Davies

On the performance of fellow left-back Danny
“He had an excellent game today, I thought he was fantastic. To play with players like him and compete with each other, it’s all you can ask for in terms of competition in the team and it’s only good for Spurs as a club. We’re competing, everyone knows that, but when we’re together and we both compete against each other like we do – and when we both get the chance to play like today – it’s only going to improve us both as players. I’d like to think that I’ve improved as well and if me being here has helped Danny and the club as a whole to progress then that’s brilliant.”

On his return to action after injury
“It’s been nice to be back fit and back in the squad. It’s been longer than I thought it was going to be but it was nice to be back out there on the pitch and to cap it off with a win. As a defender you want to make sure we don’t concede any goals when you’re on the field, keep it tight and in the end that’s what we managed to do today. I think we performed very well overall – against teams like that you have to fight it out sometimes, that’s what we did and to get three points is all we can ask for.”

Mousa Dembele

Verdict on the match
“It was not an easy team to face, they have a certain way of playing and it’s not easy to combat that but we did the job and that’s the most important thing. I think we did okay, the first 15 minutes I think was a bit less good but after that we tried to play from the sides and I think we did well.”

On going 1-0 down
“It was a disappointing goal to give away, I was involved as well which I was upset about, but after that I think we reacted very well and I think it’s important that we won this game. It was another game that we had to win and we did. We’re very happy with everybody’s performance but Danny Rose was the star of the night. We know how good he is and it’s nice that he got the winner today.”

Danny Rose

On the influence of our full-backs
“The manager wanted myself and Kyle Walker to be as high up the pitch as possible and he got his tactics spot on with Kyle getting the assist for the first goal, while I managed to score the second. Whatever system we play, the manager fully expects us to get a lot of crosses into the box and to chip in with assists when we can. We’ve done that in the last few matches. I thought we (as a team) started the game poorly but we did well to come back into it and in the end I think it was a fair result.”

On 10 days without a game now
“We’re thankful now for the 10-day gap now but it would be nice to keep our run going. It’s strange, very strange (not to have a match now until December 28). I’m from Doncaster originally and I’ve not been around for about eight years at Christmas so I’m looking forward to seeing the family.”

Dele Alli

Thoughts on the win
“It was important for the team, especially after Burnley made it such a tough game for us. We knew what it was going to be like and it was important we stayed focused and stayed patient.”

On the pattern of play
“We didn’t start as well as we should have, the passing wasn’t quick enough and we weren’t as dominant as we should have been but we showed great fight after the goal, we came back into it and kept creating chances. We kept fighting until the end and it was a great finish from Danny for the winner. I felt we kept the ball well and dominated until the end.”

Moussa Sissoko

On his contribution
“I’m happy to get an assist today. Obviously I was on the bench but the manager wants every player who comes on to try to help the team and that’s what I tried to do with the assist so it’s perfect in the end. We won the game, that’s good just before Christmas and it’s a good present for the fans. Now we have some days without a match but we’ll come back fit and strong to hopefully win the game at Southampton on December 28.”

On different tactics compared to Wednesday’s win over Hull
“We are a big squad, a strong squad, so the manager can play with different formations. We played three at the back last time against Hull, today we played four at the back and we can see that the team can play well with whichever shape. The subs that came on also tried to make a difference and that’s good because if you want to finish high up the table at the end of the season you need a big squad and everyone to be focused.”