Tottenham: Janssen and Harrison Reflect on their Performance
Vincent Janssen and Shayon Harrison showed some good performances in Tottenham’s fourth round League Cup tie with Liverpool.
A 2-1 loss in the League Cup’s fourth round means that Tottenham are out of one cup competition this season. It also eliminates the chance of winning a trophy at the end of the year (possibly their best chance to win some silverware).
Then again, with Spurs’ suffering injuries here and there and limiting Mauricio Pochettino’s bench to rotate players, it’s not as bad when looking at the big picture — earning another top four finish and securing Champions League football.
So despite losing yesterday at Anfield, there were some positives to take out of this game. Namely, seeing Vincent Janssen score a goal and giving meaningful minutes to Spurs’ youngsters.
Even though Janssen bagged another goal from the penalty spot, at this point, how he scores goals doesn’t matter. So long as he finds the back of the net.
“For me it doesn’t matter. It’s just a penalty, you have to score it and I have enough confidence for that.” Vincent Janssen said when asked how difficult it would be to score a penalty at Anfield (via Tottenham’s official website).
“It doesn’t matter for me where it is or how long since I last scored, I just saw the penalty, I wanted to score it and that’s what I did.”
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The Dutchman may have only two goals in 14 appearances this year, but scoring in two cup matches is a start and some momentum that he could take with him heading into the weekend against Leicester City.
“Of course, for a striker it’s always nice to score but at the end I’m disappointed with the loss because I think we could have done some more in this game.” Janssen said.
“I think both teams had a lot of chances. Michel [Vorm] saved a lot of chances for them and we also had some opportunities at the end. I think we were unlucky to lose.”
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With Pochettino having only one sub left, the Argentine manager decided to bring on Shayon Harrison to see what he could do. His instructions were simple, go out there and do what he does best.
“He just told me to go out there and do what I do best really,” Harrison said. “He’s shown a lot of belief in me and I thank him a lot for that, I’m really appreciative.”
“He gave me a lot of confidence to go out there and play my best. It was a great experience for me, playing against Liverpool. They’re a top side and I can’t wait to try to get out there for us again”
On the depth chart, Harrison is Tottenham’s third-choice striker, so he will get limited opportunities to play this season. Still, the 19-year-old was happy to be given a chance.
“It’s a bit surreal to be honest,” Harrison said. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and now it’s finally arrived I’m very, very happy. It’s just a disappointing result of course.”
“It was a great atmosphere though and it was everything I expected to be honest – I was just really relishing the moment. The chance I had was a bit unfortunate and I’m disappointed with it but I’m still happy that I got out there.”
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He may dwell on his missed chance to score the equalizer, but Harrison will learn from this kind of experience and only continue to grow. He knows what the problem was, he rushed it, and it’s something that can be corrected.
“I just wanted to get it down as quickly as possible and try to get my shot off. I think I rushed it a bit. I’ll definitely learn from that whole experience. It’s something I’ll never forget.”