Ben & Rob talk Spurs

It’s international break, so it’s time for N17 Live presenter Ben Haines and Club commentator Rob Daly to do what they do best - talk Spurs...

Villa, and the season so far

Seven league games in, 12 in all competitions, and a huge win against Villa last weekend – where do you both see us at the moment?

Rob: “September was tough, but the Villa result was certainly encouraging. I wonder if Nuno will now persist with the 4-2-3-1 system that worked quite nicely last weekend. Then there’s the question of who will play behind Harry Kane... Tanguy Ndombele had his moments against Villa, Gio seems to link up so well, and Dele captained the team in the Europa Conference League. So, a mixed bag so far, but it’s a process and will take time to implement Nuno’s ideas properly.”

Ben: “It felt so important to win the Villa game, especially before an international break, and crucial to get it right after Arsenal. I was really impressed, again, with Sonny. He just has that ability to change a game in a heartbeat, and those players are so rare. I thought Cristian Romero played well, he was a great watch, classy and that range of passing. This season is so hard to tell anything about anyone. Two bad games and it’s a disaster, two good games and you are suddenly a title challenger! Look at us now, two points off City, who are third, four off Chelsea, and back above Arsenal. It’s ridiculous trying to make head or tail of it!”

Rafa

Rafa van der Vaart was back at the stadium for the win against Villa, and a special guest on N17 Live - what did the guys make of the Dutch legend?

Ben: “Rafa was unbelievable, and when you think he only played 77 times for us, and yet occupies such an important place in fans’ hearts, that’s amazing really. He was so much fun, and clearly loved being back. He played in one of the best Spurs teams in recent history, at a time we were turning the corner, getting involved in the Champions League conversation and he signified the type of player we could attract to the Club, truly elite.”

Rob: “I barely got to speak to him! I got kicked off N17 Live for him! Ben gets to hang out with the stars, I get shunted back up to the commentary box - and feel free to put that in!”

Spurs' Lions

It’s international break - did the lads have any stand-out England-Spurs moments?

Rob: “I’ll go for Eric Dier’s winner against Germany in March, 2016. It was only a friendly ahead of Euro 2016, but that was a brilliant moment, England coming from 2-0 down to beat the then-world champions. Roy Hodgson was trying to integrate a number of new players ahead of that tournament, which ultimately didn’t go too well in France. Also that night, a young Dele was outstanding in Berlin.”

Ben: “There are a few. Euro 96, Teddy against the Netherlands was massive; Gazza, he’d left by then, but I had such a fondness for him; Dele’s goal against France in 2016; Harry... I was in the stadium when Harry scored his penalty against Colombia in the 2018 World Cup. I was about 10 rows back, and then Eric Dier scoring the decisive penalty in the shoot-out, that was incredible. That is the best experience following England, and I’ve been to tournaments all over the world.”

Random question...

If you could change one Spurs result, what would it be?

Ben: “You could say all the cup games, the finals, but I might go for Mauricio Pochettino’s first cup final, the League Cup in 2015, because if we’d have won that, the conversation around needing to win silverware would have just gone away. I wouldn’t even change the result for the Champions League Final, just the first 30 seconds!”

Rob: "I know finals are the obvious pick but I’ll go the 2018 FAC semi final against United. Spurs should have won that - after a brilliant start I was convinced it was going to be the ticket to a final for Poch’s first trophy - the team were so strong, they were better than United. That felt like a tough defeat for the group."