TROPHY UNDER NEW BOSS
Alderweireld desperate for Wembley win to ‘shut everyone up’ and shake off Tottenham’s tag of nearly men
TOBY ALDERWEIRELD wants to shut up the critics once and for all by claiming his first piece of silverware with Tottenham at Wembley today.
Spurs have made huge strides during the Belgium defender’s five-and-a-half years at the club.
But the fact they still have not lifted a trophy since their League Cup win in 2008 means many dismiss them as nearly-men.
It is something which frustrates Alderweireld, 32, and his desire to crush that reputation is almost as strong as his desire to win his first piece of silverware in England.
He said: “I’ve thought about it a lot. We didn’t get silverware, but the steps this club has taken in the last five, six, seven years are big.
“Don’t underestimate it – even if you get used to it quite quickly. From the moment I came here, we are growing and you have to give a lot of credit to everybody.
“We played in the Champions League – not this season, but we were there four times in a row – and, as a club, we’re growing unbelievably.
“So, of course, we are not happy without silverware, but you cannot say we weren’t good or say Spurs don’t have winners.
“You have to win to get to finals. You have to win to get into the top four. That is not silverware, but maybe now we are at a moment to get everyone to just shut up and get it.
“We’re going to try to do everything we can to achieve that. But you can’t say the last five or six seasons were not good because of no silverware.
“I just don’t agree with that after the steps this club have taken.” Alderweireld won three Dutch titles with Ajax and the KNVB Cup, and La Liga with Atletico Madrid.
But he also knows the heartache of losing big finals and semi-finals.
He finished a runner-up twice in the Champions League – with Atletico in 2014 and Spurs five years later – and third at the 2018 World Cup with Belgium.
And Alderweireld is determined not to let it happen again today.
He added: “Let’s hope we have learned something from 2019.
“We are going to do everything in our powers to win this game.
“We know it’s against City and they are top of the league. They are in a good moment, they have confidence, but it’s one game and anything can happen.
“We are going to prepare ourselves the best way possible and we have to be confident and try to play, to go there to win.
“That’s our mindset and, even in a difficult season, it will be unbelievable if we can finally get a trophy.
“I am very motivated
– everyone is – and we’re reallylooking forward to it.”
While Spurs are sweating on the fitness of Harry Kane, City are facing the prospect of having no Kevin De Bruyne (left).
Asked if he wanted De Bruyne to be fit, Alderweireld laughed and said: “That is not a very fair question. They have a lot of quality to replace him, but Kevin is Kevin – he is something special.
“When I first heard the news, I thought, ‘What about the Euros? We are going to need him.’ But it wasn’t too bad. You want to win trophies against the best people, you are never happy that he is injured or suspended.
“You want to play against the best teams and the best players to prove you are the best yourself.”
Pochettino, he has a lot of ideas from him and we only can agree that’s very good.
“You can see the similarities, how he wants to train, how the sessions are. Of course, he will bring his own view of football but we see similarities for sure.
“And of course we played with him so we know him. There’s a lot of respect and everyone agrees with how he wants to play football looking forward.”
Mourinho’s exit was not unexpected after a disappointing run but it was still a surprise when it was announced he had gone in the week leading up to Sunday’s final.
Alderweireld added: “It was a strange week. For us it was the same surprise as for everyone else.
“Everyone was fighting and doing the best they can to change things around with Mourinho. No one was happy, not at all.