Slot Talk: Evaluating Tottenham

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Spurs have been, well, Spursy this season — which makes them something for big teams to fear

Speaking to the press ahead of Liverpool's Sunday kick-off against Tottenham, head coach Arne Slot had a lot of positive words for Spurs' style of play:

I really have to give them credit because if I look at Tottenham and I come from Holland, but I did watch a lot of Match of the Day, I think about [David] Ginola, Paul Gascoigne, Glenn Hoddle, and more recently [Luka] Modric and, for me, Rafael van der Vaart... and Gareth Bale. They've always been a certain brand in football for me and have a certain identity. I think Ange Postecoglou gives them that identity back completely. It's every time a joy to watch them and sometimes results once in a while go against them, but I think they were one of the teams that beat [Manchester] City, like us, not all of them beat them in the manner like we and Tottenham did, because it was completely deserved in these two situations... it's great work that Ange is doing over there.

I hope this has been seen a bit more. I also hope, hope, hope that he wins a trophy - not the League Cup! But I'm completely a fan of his team for the Europa League because people always talk about trophies, trophies, trophies [and] that it's so important. For his brand of football and his style, it is so much more important and if he can combine that with winning something that would be so good for football in general because people can stop talking about it's too attacking or whatever. How on earth can you play too attacking football?

Slot said that his team will know what to expect from Tottenham despite their uneven and unruly run of results:

They are consistent in their playing style and what they want. For me they are sometimes a bit unlucky as well because what happened yesterday [against Manchester United], they dominated the game. They always like to attack. Sometimes they play with three attackers then with two attacking midfielders [and] the full-backs join so much. For me they were so unlucky. People say why do you bring the ball out from the back because they lost the ball and then the second one the goalkeeper wanted to kick it away, which is what everyone wants then, but it's still a goal.

So, 4-3, I don't think there are many season ticket holders in the country that can say they watch so many great games. Maybe the ones at Liverpool! I think it is a privilege to be a season ticket holder at Tottenham. It's a privilege to be a fan of them at the moment because they play such a great style and it's not like since Ange arrived they don't win anything anymore. Before that they were not a club that won many things, but they always won the sympathy of the fans in Europe, maybe also in England as well, I don't know, but definitely in Europe because of the style of play they had. That is something which you cannot underestimate. If I think about Spurs, I think about the shirt, the playing style and their identity and certain players. For me, he brought that back completely.

Spurs will bring the entertainment, to be sure.