What are your thoughts on the situation in the Ukraine and football's response?
My opinion is it’s a very sad situation. We’re in 2022 and to talk about the possibility to be at war is incredible. It’s incredible and at the same time it’s stupid.
Only to think a situation like this. We need to have peace in the war for everybody, not people dying for this type of situation which I repeat is incredible in 2022. To understand there is the possibility to have a war.
The war for sure is not an answer for anything. The whole world has be compact, to show to be solid against the stupidity of the people.
Do you think football can do more to raise awareness of what's happening and be stricter?
Football, what we can do is to tell our opinions through the media. I think in this moment this is the maximum that we can do, no? To use our popularity and then to transfer the right message to the rest of the people.
We’re lucky to have this possibility and I think that it’s right to express our disappointment about the stupidity of some decisions.
War is not an answer for anything. Never, never. This must be very clear.
Football also, Uefa and FIFA has to be compact and to be strong. Also against country who at this moment they don’t want to stay, to show unity.
Your great result on Saturday meant the end of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds, what do you make of the job he did there?
Honestly I’m very disappointed because we’re talking about an important manager and we are talking about a person that is a master for many managers, for many coaches in the past and in the present.
I think, yesterday when I read the news, this news hurt me. We’re talking, I repeat, about not only a manager with a great idea and vision of football and taught a lot to other people, especially people in this job, but at the same time I have great respect for him as a person and as a man.
In every situation he showed great integrity and honestly in football it’s not always you can find this type of person. I’m really disappointed for this but on the other hand, I understand that the club has to make a decision and I know very well the owner and chairman.
Andrea Radrizzani, he’s my friend and it was nice to read the words he used yesterday about Marcelo. He spoke about the mentality he brought to the club because he worked for three and a half years.
After the first season when they lost the promotion in the semi-final they had a promotion and then a fantastic season and also this season they were out of the relegation zone, but I understand the club has to try to change a situation and the first person you can change at this moment is the coach. But for sure Andrea knows very well the value of Marcelo and what he did for this club in this three and a half years.
Do you believe Russia and its clubs should be excluded from football and do you feel for Chelsea given they're owned by Roman Abramovich?
These are questions about politics and I’ve always expressed my thoughts about this. Everybody has to show disappointment about this situation. As I said before, in 2022, it’s incredible to think – only to think – to have even the possibility of a war. It’s incredible for ourselves, the new generation, the children, everybody. It’s incredible to stay here now, with coaches and the players, and speak about this topic in 2022, it's incredible.
Would you like to see Italy refuse to play Russia?
I think the whole world has to show solidity, be a unit. Because in this moment it’s very important to send the right message that the world is much more important than a war between two countries.
Are you desperate to win the FA Cup after lifting it before at Chelsea?
I’m not desperate (he laughs) but you know very well I want to win. But (laughing) I'm not desperate or it would be very hard to continue. For sure it's a great competition and previously I was lucky to reach the final two years in a row. I’d like to continue this tradition for Tottenham, especially for my players, especially the fans and the club, not only for me.
But you know this trophy is not simple or easy, and tomorrow we have to face Middlesbrough, a tough game. Middlesbrough eliminated Manchester United from this competition. I want to see continuity in the performance and result of my players. We need continuity to show that in defeat we are learning something more. I hope tomorrow to see a good game, good football, at the same time with a great desire to go to the next round.
Also I want to celebrate the game between Chelsea and Liverpool yesterday, it was a great, exciting game to watch. This also underlines how difficult it is to win trophies in this country. It was amazing for me and all the people in other countries to watch this game. Great congratulations for me to Chelsea and Liverpool, the players, the coach, for the fans, for the total environment it was a fantastic sport for football. I think that England has to be proud about this.
Can Matt Doherty now build on his performance against Leeds?
He’s another player improving, working very hard and improved a lot. He’s a serious guy. I like him, if he plays or doesn’t play, his commitment and his attitude is always at the top. I think he’s improving a lot and he understood that in this squad he can have an important part for this team.
With Emerson on the right but also Doherty on the left he can give me a good alternative. I was pleased to see him perform at this level. It was the same for Sessegnon.
Now we have recovered Sergio Reguilon and also Emerson. We’re improving, we’re working hard. We have to use the defeats to learn, to continue to improve in many aspects, not only football aspects but also character and spirit and desire to be strong.
Is it a good thing that you had to use four academy players on the bench with Dane Scarlett getting some minutes or a sign of how thin your squad is if you get a couple of injuries?
No, no, no. I don’t give a gift to my players, even if you’re 17 years old. I think Dane is working hard, he is a really good prospect from the academy.
At this moment for sure the best prospect from the academy. But we have a couple of really good players training with us and improving. Dane has to continue to work very hard.
We have to find the best solution in training because in the past he had many, many injuries. But he has great potential, he’s only 17, he has to continue to improve, to grow, to understand and to think about football.
It was a signal for him because he deserved this opportunity to play a few minutes. I don’t give a gift to anybody. They have to deserve this opportunity.
What would it do for the players to win a trophy?
To win trophies in England, as I said before, is very difficult. At the moment it’s easier to win in Europe than England. When you start to play the quarter-final, semi-final, final, you have to fight against a top, top team that probably could play the final of the Champions League. It’s important to continue to go through in this trophy.
This happened in the Carabao, don’t underestimate the semi-final Tottenham reached, because the final was Chelsea v Liverpool, so to reach the semi-final in this moment was a good result for Tottenham. For sure this has to be a boost to push us to improve the level, to be competitive, to try to meet a trophy as soon as possible, because if I speak about the future, you don’t understand the time that we need.
For sure it’ll be important to improve the level and fight to win a trophy. But I repeat, to win a trophy now is very difficult.
Is there any team news?
It was the same, we have the same players, the same squad that we faced for Leeds. No Skipp, no Tanganga, no Moura, no Bentancur.
