Steven Bergwijn has admitted that, although he is a player who likes to run at the opposition and making things happen, he is happy to take up more defensive responsibilities if it benefits the team.
Bergwijn started in the front three with Harry Kane and Son Heung-min for five Premier League games in a row before being benched for the match against Leicester City on Sunday.
The Dutchman worked his socks off against the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, with his defensive contribution being just as important as what he produced when on the ball.
Some pundits even opined that the 23-year-old’s work-rate and his willingness to track players back was the main reason he was starting ahead of Gareth Bale in the side.
The former PSV Eindhoven winger even seemingly played as a wing-back against Royal Antwerp two weeks ago but he insisted that he was more than happy to play that role.
When asked about his role in the Antwerp game, Bergwijn told the club’s matchday programme (as relayed by Football.London): “I came into the dressing room and the gaffer told me to get ready.
“I looked on the tactics board and asked, ‘where will I play?’ and he said ‘wing-back, but just play as a winger. When we don’t have the ball, just mark your man. Don’t worry about the space behind you, that’s for Ben [Davies]’. So I was more of a left-winger really.
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“I do what the team needs. If the gaffer asks me to do something, I will do what I have to do. Everyone knows what kind of player I am – I like to dribble, to play, to score goals, to give assists – but if the team needs me to do something else, with Harry and Sonny getting the goals, I’m happy.
“So yes, I’m really happy and really confident at the moment. We have a big squad now whereas last season, it wasn’t that big so, when someone was injured, we had a lot of problems.
“Now if we have injuries or we want to change systems, we have a lot of good players that can come in and that’s great for us.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The reason Jose seems to have taken a liking for Bergwijn is his tendency to put the team first and stick to the job that he has been assigned to do. It is unfair to attack the Dutchman’s lack of attacking output in terms of goals and assists as he does not really get too many opportunities to impact the game going forward in the system Mourinho currently employs.
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