‘Nutty professor’ plots Spurs plan
KEITH Hill is hoping to come up with a ‘nutty and inspirational’ formula to help his League One strugglers knock Champions League contenders Tottenham out of the FA Cup tonight.
The Premier League high-flyers warmed up for this evening’s fifth-round replay at Wembley by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at the weekend to move fourth in the top tier.
Just as he did in the 2-2 draw against Dale at the Crown Oil Arena, Harry Kane struck in the 88th minute to earn the three points against Palace on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Dale’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan saw Hill’s men drop to the bottom of League One, 11 points off safety, with four games in hand on most teams around them.
If escaping relegation looks a tall order, masterminding victory against Mauricio Pochettino’s side – who take on Juventus a week today in the Champions League round of 16 – seems like the Impossible Dream.
Hill is conscious of the odds being stacked against his side but was refusing to treat the occasion as a day trip for himself and the players.
“I’ve got to be the mad professor for the next few days, as we plan to beat Tottenham,” said Hill.
“The plan isn’t to go there and take in Wembley, and let the family enjoy the day – I want to win, so I’ve got to turn into the nutty professor and see if I can deliver my plan to a group of players who are bottom of League One and fighting all the odds.
“We’re going to have to come up with something nutty and inspirational at the same time.”
While expectancy may be low, Hill reckons professional pride means there is a degree of pressure on his players going into the match.
“There is big pressure on the players, they don’t want to belittle thelmselves, they don’t want to get beaten comfortably,” he said.
And Hill is drawing on the statistics from Spurs’ fourth-round replay win against Newport as a guide to how his side will go about their task
“I looked at the statistics in both Newport games that they played in the last round, and the Wembley stats show that Tottenham had 28 shots on target and Newport less than 20 per cent possession,” he said.
“I don’t want that, so I’m going to demand to the players that they’re brave, not stupid, but that we do things slightly different than what we did against Tottenham at home.
“I don’t want us to be a tea towel, which is what I use to soak anything up. We could expose ourselves quite handsomely by doing that.
“Why not be brave, why not ride the rollercoaster and see what we can do with it?
“If we sit back, I think it will suit Spurs even more.”
‘We’re going to have to come up with something nutty and inspirational’