ryan mason tottenham
Has that reminded everyone what Gareth Bale is capable of?
I thought he was outstanding. His goals were world class. No one should have doubted that ability he has in the final third because he’s proved over a number of years that he’s one of the best in those moments. I was very pleased with him tonight because I thought his performance was excellent as well. He showed real commitment and he fought for the team and the moments he produced were outstanding.
Was this more of a Ryan Mason Tottenham Hotspur with pressing, energy and flying full-backs?
I thought it was an outstanding performance from the team. We’ve had a week to work and train them and train them hard and try to instil some principles, stuff like that takes a lot of time. The most important thing for me tonight was the attitude, from minute one to 95, the desire to compete, to run, to fight, it was really, really good and then you pair that up with the moments of brilliance we had, individually but also as a team. It was a real pleasing night.
Those were only Serge Aurier’s second and third assists of the season, why do you think he hasn’t contributed as much like that in the final third during this campaign?
I think the most important thing when you’re a defender is to defend and he did that tonight with the rest of the defence. I think that’s 11 clean sheets in the Premier League this season now. That’s good. That’s positive. Serge is fasting as well so I think it makes that performance even more impressive because he hasn’t been able to eat all day so put in a 90 minutes like that is outstanding.
Does a happy Gareth Bale mean he will stay next season?
I think that is a conversation at the end of the season between Gareth, the club and his parent club, our main focus and priority should be the next game. It sounds a cliché but it is true. I am glad he is happy, he should be because he has another match ball to add to the collection. It was an excellent performance as well.
Does that make it easier to persuade him to stay?
I think the decision at the moment and the priority is Gareth is ready to train and he is happy in training. We have got another big week of training because we have got a massive game next weekend and hopefully we can have a happy Gareth next weekend.
Should Sheff Utd have been down to 10 men?
Yeah, absolutely. It was a red card. No doubt whatsoever.
Why didn’t the ref have a look at it?
I am a bit confused. I am shocked as well. First of all I am shocked at the VAR sitting in the room having an opportunity to have a look at it once, that should have been enough. Then I am even more shocked he has not told the referee to go and have a look at it because there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is a red card and when we have seen some of the red cards in recent weeks it makes it even more shocking.
Are you starting to believe you can catch Chelsea or Leicester?
Honestly, we are not thinking about that, we have got four massive games, huge games. It is difficult to win Premier League games, we have seen that over the course of the season with many different teams. Tonight was important for us, it was a massive game. This week is a massive week for us, next weekend is a huge game as well, that is what we are looking to, we would be very silly as a group because next week will be a tough match and we need to go there fully prepared.
