From the Telegraph today....
Jose Baxter, the Sheffield United midfielder, has warned Tottenham Hotspur to prepare to be kicked and left on the floor in their Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday night after claiming that Premier League players have become too “nice” to cope with the physical side of the game.
Spurs host Nigel Clough’s team in the first leg at White Hart Lane aiming to avoid becoming the League One side’s sixth top-flight cup scalp since the start of last season.
Baxter, the former Everton player who helped Oldham defeat Liver*pool in the FA Cup two years ago, insisted that United’s readiness to test the physical resolve of Premier League opponents had been a key factor in their cup success.
Ronald Koeman, the Southampton manager, accused United of a lack of respect during their quarter-final defeat at Bramall Lane last month, but Baxter claimed that too many Premier League teams had become “matey matey” and it was a weakness that could be exploited.
“The Premier League is an unbelievable league, probably the best in the world, but those teams aren’t used to getting barged about, people in their faces, kicking them and not helping them up when they get kicked,” Baxter said. “But it works for us. It’s a bit crazy, but that’s probably why they are where they are.
“They are nice, they don’t want to get kicked and they’re all great, technical players. It’s just when they come to play us and we give them a few kicks, they don’t like it. You look at the Premier League and it’s all nice football.
Marc McNulty, our striker against Southampton, is a prime example of that. Just clipping the ball down the channels to him and getting into the centre-halves, I think they [Southamp*ton] were a bit shocked by that. They don’t really get that in the Premier League, everything’s to feet and nice. They don’t really touch each other and it’s not like that in our league.
“There’s a lot of ‘matey matey’ stuff. I’ve got a couple of mates in football, but I don’t like it at all – hugging and kissing each other before games and all that. My best mate, James Wallace, is in the same team as me now, but if I was playing against him, I wouldn’t speak to him until the game’s finished.”
Since Clough took charge at Bramall Lane in October 2013, United have overcome top-flight clubs in Fulham, Aston Villa, West Ham, Southampton and Queens Park Rangers. Baxter believes that record will ensure Spurs are wary of an upset ahead of the two-legged semi-final. “If you think you just have to turn up to beat a League One team, then you’ve got another thing coming,” Baxter said.
“We’ve obviously got respect for Spurs, but we’ll go out there to boss them about and do things to them that Premier League teams don’t do. It’s worked for us before.
“Our run increases our belief that we can beat anyone in the cups and we showed that last season, too. Look at Southampton, they’ve beaten everyone in the league and are high-flying in the Premier League, so for them to come here and for us to beat them, shows we can really beat anyone.”
