Conversation Corner: Tottenham and Leicester Draw in Third Round FA Cup Tie
Tottenham midfielder, Christian Eriksen
Spurs TV: Okay, Christian’s here. Christian, it ended two-all against Leicester. We scored late but that was typical Leicester wasn’t it? They were so resolute, we had lots of the ball but we just couldn’t break them down could we?
Christian Eriksen: “No I think it’s what you said about the game. We had the ball a lot — lots of possession — of course we were the team who tried to create something. We couldn’t create that much as we wanted and of course they were just staying compact and just waiting on the counter. And they were — they weren’t even dangerous. They had two chances and they scored twice. Of course we had more chances but of course we have to do a bit more effort to get our chance than they did.”
STV: In games like that you would normally say to a player now ‘Oh did you think we had so much of the ball? Did you think we were just going to run out of time?’ But with this team, over the last couple of years, we produced goals like that at the end haven’t we, a lot?
CE: “Of course, with a little bit of luck today, with a penalty of course. But I think we tried to score as soon as possible of course. And we kept going and we do that every game. And like you said, we’re not defeated before the ref is blowing his whistle so yeah we’ll keep going.”
STV: That is a strong mentality to have on this team and that mentality is coming through in this time and one of the reasons why we’re doing so well isn’t it?
CE: “Yeah, no definitely. Of course we’ve done that for a few seasons now, where we showed our mentality. Where we don’t do that good but we come behind and we have the mentality and skills of a competitor to come back. Of course we would rather be in front and keep it that way but of course if we’re behind we know we have to work hard to get the ball in the goal.”
STV: We just said to Harry that after now, playing Leicester, we now play Leicester.
CE: “Yeah and the week after that we play Leicester again. So it’ll be fun to play a lot of the same games against the same teams. But probably all of the games will be like this.”
STV: But you never know, a long run in the FA Cup could start with a last minute penalty against Leicester, couldn’t it? And that’s the long term goal isn’t it, the team wants to do well in this competition?
CE: “Yeah, no. I think we want to win everything we’re in. Of course we’re out of the Capital One Cup and we’re still in the FA Cup and we still have our chance in our second game and hopefully we go there and have a good game as well.”
STV: And just the last one. How do you think the Premier League game now on Wednesday will play out? Do you it will be a lot different or a similar sort of thing?
CE: “I think it will be a bit of the same. I think they’ll play the same way, we’ll hopefully make a bit difference. But of course we’ll play the same way as well and try to create a bit more chances than we did today. We did well in the first half. Second half we weren’t that dangerous as the first half so we need to build on the first half and keep going for 90 minutes instead.”
STV: Christian, thank you.
Now we have manager Mauricio Pochettino.
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