Returning Kulusevski: “I did everything to be ready”
Mon 16 January 2023, 15:58|
Tottenham Hotspur
Dejan Kulusevski says he’s “looking forward to doing more” after returning from injury in the derby on Sunday.
Such an important player for us since his arrival from Juventus last January, the influential attacker was thrust straight back into the starting XI against Arsenal, having missed our last three matches with a muscle problem picked up in training at the end of 2022.
It was his second comeback in the space of a couple of months, having also returned just prior to the World Cup following several weeks on the sidelines, and once again he wasted no time in trying to make an impact, going close to scoring on multiple occasions in the second half as we tried in vain to claw back a 2-0 deficit at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With his injury problems now hopefully behind him and the disappointment of Sunday’s defeat also in the rear view mirror, the Sweden international is hungry to help us win games in the near future as we continue to chase our targets for 2022/23.
When I was out again, it was very tough, hard to accept of course, so I’m just grateful and thankful for being on the pitch with my team-mates.
“I’m just happy that I can do what I love,” he said, reflecting on his comeback against the Gunners. “When I was out again, it was very tough, hard to accept of course, so I’m just grateful and thankful for being on the pitch with my team-mates and looking forward to doing more.
“I love playing, so I cannot complain (about coming straight back into the team). I did everything to be as ready as possible and then I felt good, honestly. Now, we have a lot of responsibility as players after Arsenal but we’re going to go to City on Thursday, we’re going to do our best and we’re going to do the work that we need to do.”
Offering his verdict on what went wrong on Sunday, Dejan explained: “It was a bad first half. I think we started the game good for the first 10 minutes but when they scored for 1-0, we couldn’t get them. They were very confident, they had the ball and they were very good so we couldn’t press them right and they created a lot of opportunities, so a bad first half but then the second half was much better, but then we couldn’t score, so it’s a tough day but you’ve got to move on.
“It's tough being 2-0 down because you know also that they can counter-attack and it’s not like you can go all in, but I think we just kept our heads in the game, then the coach changed some things and we were man-to-man and it worked better, we won our duels. This season we’ve played better second halves – it’s hard to explain but we have to do it for 90 minutes, if not it’s difficult to get a result. Their goalkeeper made good saves but like I said, if we don’t score, we don’t win, so we’ve just got to keep moving. We have an important next game, so we just have to recover well, eat well, sleep well and then it’s on.”
