Tue 18 May 2021, 18:40
Tottenham HotspurInterim Head Coach Ryan Mason looks ahead to our final home match of the season against Villa on Wednesday night (6pm) - and the return of 10,000 fans to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!
1 - Good vibes
A convincing victory against Wolves on Sunday, three home wins on the spin for Ryan and Villa to come in another big game on Wednesday - how were the vibes around Hotspur Way?
Ryan: “It’s good, it felt good to win and the manner in which we won is what we want. We dominated, should have scored more, and we’re excited to play at the stadium again. The fans are back, so that’s massive incentive to put in another performance and hopefully get three points for them.”
2 - Pride
Ryan graduated from our Academy, made his debut at 17 and captained the Club, now he’ll lead the team in front of fans, at last, at the new stadium - where will this moment sit in his career?
Ryan: “Maybe once it’s all over and I look back, I’ll realise how special it is. In the moment, I’ll have immense pride. I remember captaining the team, scoring at the Lane, number eight on my back, those memories are incredible. As time goes by, they get even better. I’ll be very proud tomorrow, but my energy is on getting the three points, that’s absolutely my main focus, but if I put that to the side for one moment, the feeling is going to be very special for me and my family. I remember when I was in the Academy, aged seven, eight, nine, watching us at the Lane, and when someone comes through the Academy, the affiliation with the fans is already there, and the feeling is special.”
3 - Fans
The fans are back! How did Ryan reflect on the last 14 months playing in empty stadia?
Ryan: “It’s been strange watching football with no noise, no atmosphere, maybe we’ve even become accustomed to it. But I watched the Championship play-offs on Monday night and a small number of fans make a huge difference - we’ve 10,000 in our stadium, with our acoustics and the noise that can generate, I’m sure it will feel more like 40 or 50,000. It will be amazing for us, for the fans, and the players will feed off that energy.”
4 - Villa
Villa have been no lower than 11th all season, but arrive here with two wins in their last 12 - how does Ryan evaluate their challenge?
Ryan: “They are a very good team, very good management, a manager with experience, a good coaching team, a lot of English and British players, they play with intensity and compete. We’re aware of all of that and we’ll have to be ready. We’ll focus on ourselves and hopefully put in a performance that merits the three points.”
5 - Team news
Our last stop this time around, as Ryan ran through the team news ahead of Villa...
Ryan: “Ben Davies is still out, Serge Aurier trained fully with the team today, so we’ll have some decisions to make. There are a couple of question marks from the game at the weekend as well, so we’ll have to assess them in the morning and see how they’re feeling.”
