Champions League Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Twente Enschede FC (Part 3)
Preud'homme advised the Dutch champions to “be smart” and prudent if they were to defeat the White at the home. He mentioned, “It's about putting pressure on and avoiding pressure at the right moments. Obviously, Tottenham are
at home, so they will try to apply pressure.”
He added, “Playing smart will certainly mean that you have to try to avoid this pressure.”
He explained that does not mean that he and his men will go into the match with guns under their coats. The 51 year old former Belgian international told that his team will go into the match with their cannons bare and loaded.
Preud'homme orchestrated a great match against last season’s Champions League winners, Inter Milan. The match was drawn at 2-2 but it was the performance from the underdogs that impressed everyone in the opening group game.
Preud'homme, a former manager of Standard Liege manager articulated, “It's in our nature to play football, not to kill the game.” He also told that he was expecting an electrifying atmosphere in the game.
He added, “Intimidation is a big word; it sounds quite negative,'' he said. ''I choose to use words like home advantage or motivation.”
He continued, “They'll obviously use that same weapon as we do; we also use the support of our fans. But we have players with a lot of international experience. They should be used to this kind of atmosphere. Champions League is
made in a way that intimidation has to stay in the rules. 'Tottenham is a football-playing team, not a kicking team.”
Twente, is a team that won the Eredivisie (Dutch League) for their very first time under the guidance of Stephen McClaren last season. From their camp they have to bench their two left backs; Bart Buysse, who is out because of
an ankle injury and Dwight Tiendalli, who has damaged his leg muscles. It is expected that Tottenham Hotspur’s top gun Gareth Bale will target their weakness from the left wing.
The expected line up for Tottenham Hotspurs is 1 Gomes goal keeper, 19 Sebastien Bassong centre left defender, 26 Ledley King centre right defender, 6 Tom Huddlestone defensive midfielder, 32 Benoit Assou-Ekotto left back, 2 Alan
Hutton right back, 11 Rafael Van der Vaart attacking midfielder, 3 Gareth Bale left midfielder, 14 Luka Modric right midfielder, 9 Roman Pavlyuchenko left centre forward and 15 Peter Crouch.
The expected line up for Twente Enschede is 13 Nikolay Mihaylov goal keeper, 19 Douglas Franco centre left defender, 4 Peter Wisgerhof centre right defender, 3 Nicky Kuiper left back, 15 Rosales Roberto right back, 8 Theo Janssen
left midfielder, 6 Wout Brama right midfielder, 21 Marc Janko forward, 7 Denny Landzaat right centre forward, 11 Emir Bajrami left attacking midfielder and 10 Bryan Ruiz right attacking midfielder.
Tags: