Spurs face Frankfurt in crucial UEFA Europa League quarter-final clash

National World - LocalTV

All eyes are on Tottenham as they prepare for a massive Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. It’s one of their biggest European nights in recent years, and the pressure is on to deliver a strong result at home.  We spoke to Spurs expert James Trembath about the significance of the clash, the mood around the squad, and how Tottenham are approaching this high-stakes showdown.

Transcript

00:00Now all eyes are on Tottenham as they prepare for a massive Europa League quarterfinal first

00:08leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. It's one of their biggest European nights in recent years

00:13and the pressure is on to deliver a strong result on home soil. Spurs have shown flashes

00:19of brilliance under Ange Postacoglu and this tie represents a huge opportunity to make a serious

00:25statement in Europe. With the season out of reach domestically, priorities are now turning to

00:31Europe with a genuine shot at silverware. I spoke to Spurs expert James Trembath about the significance

00:38of the clash, the mood around the squad and how Tottenham are approaching this high-stakes showdown.

00:46James, let's just look at Spurs and the Eintracht Frankfurt contest that they are going into

00:53with massive hope and sort of a reliance on where this season lies. Obviously, a huge chance

01:00to go further in the competition. We've mentioned a run in this would be unbelievable. Yes,

01:06it probably won't save Ange Postacoglu's job but been a green shoot, as you say, across

01:12the terrible season as a whole. Frankfurt, obviously without Omar Marmouche, who had a brilliant

01:18start to the season and his move to Manchester City in the January window. They are third in

01:23Bundesliga and they've done pretty well. I mean, it's a real test now. How do you sort

01:28of see Postacoglu setting up for this one? How does he get across to the players the importance

01:34of this game and how are the fans going to react as well? They've got a massive chance,

01:39obviously, starting with a home tie as well. But it's something that you can't really understate,

01:45the importance of a game like this.

01:48Yes, I mean, it's absolutely massive. It's massive for the club as a whole. It's massive

01:51for the fan base. And we've now got to use the Premier League as that vehicle to really

01:55get us ready and get us in shape and play a couple of these players into form. You know,

02:00I get the notion of resting certain players and whatnot, but it's now time to play these

02:06players. You know, we need Maddison in the team. We need him fit and firing. We need

02:11Sonny to be doing the business and really galvanising the team in the way that we know he can.

02:15And, you know, the players really, really need to step up now. So there should be no need

02:18for Posse Coglu to motivate these players. In terms of how we set up, you know, Ange will

02:24change. We'll go out full throttle. You know, it worries me greatly in the away leg that

02:29we'll be open like the Red Sea hit through midfield. We've spoken about the problems

02:32that we've had in midfield all season long. But I think now it's about building for those

02:37games. And, you know, we've got a couple of Premier League games. We need to be playing

02:41the best 11. You know, Romero, Van der Ben, get them back together, get them up to speed.

02:45And, you know, we need to make sure we play that first 11, play players into form and go

02:51with, you know, go with the tried and trusted 11 and stick with them. Because that's the

02:55only way we're going to do it. There's been too much chopping and changing. I understand

02:58players coming back from injury and the need to sort of rest players. I know we're prioritising

03:03the Europa League. Premier League's completely done. But the chopping and changing doesn't

03:07help us get any rhythm. And when we're not in particularly good form in the first place,

03:11now is the time to stop messing about with the team and play those players. You know,

03:15there's eight or nine games left in the Premier League, potentially five games left in the

03:20Europa League. You know, it's almost like a mini season now. We've got to treat it exactly

03:23like that and go hell for leather, isn't it?

03:25Yeah. And how important is that first leg at home and, you know, having the home crowd

03:30in such an amazing venue as well for football? You know, Frankfurt are going to come there

03:35and probably set up to really frustrate Spurs. It's about them being able to break them down

03:40and take their chances when they get them. I mean, you know, a one-nil lead probably isn't

03:45enough. They need to make sure they open the floodgates and find the net, you know, two

03:49or three times, you feel, to be confident in terms of going for the away leg in Germany.

03:55Yeah, I think we treat the first leg as almost a one-off tie. You know, you're absolutely spot-on.

04:00We're not going to go there and keep a clean sheet. You know, we've barely kept any clean sheets

04:03all season with the way we've played. So we've got to go out there, get, you know, two or

04:09three goals. I mean, that'd be the dream, wouldn't it? If we were to win to a 3-0, really

04:12give us a cushion for that second leg. You know, the second leg being away is difficult.

04:17The atmosphere is going to be hostile. It's going to be a real test. You know, we saw first

04:22leg of the semi-final in the Carabao, you know, we really turned up against Liverpool.

04:26Really, really solid win. Obviously, it was only 1-0 and look what happened in the second

04:29leg. We had a capitulation, didn't we, and ended up getting beat 4-0. But that first leg

04:34was a bit of a blueprint. You know, everybody was on it. The crowd was up. It was a good

04:38atmosphere. And that's exactly what we need in that first leg on Thursday night.

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