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Excellent (and indeed long) read
www.thetimes.co.uk
Hugo Lloris is thinking about his love affair with English football. He loves Tottenham Hotspur, has just signed a two-year extension at the age of 35, and urgently wants to give something back to long-suffering Spurs fans because “they deserve more”. Lloris also wanted to continue here because he has rarely played better and he loves the English obsession with football.
He sees this passion wherever he goes in the country, including the local schoolchildren who flock to use the new 4G pitches in the N17 Arena rising around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He understands the power of the badge as pupils attend a new academy attached to the ground already rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
He hears this passion for a club in every stadium he visits. He marvels at the gates down the pyramid. “I’m French, the football culture is different,” Lloris explains, “but here I’m very impressed by the depth of football in society and how people identify themselves with one club. It’s really huge. There’s a difference between the meaning of football in England and France.
“It’s also lower down. Teams in the EFL get big attendances and it means so much to people there too. You can see in every family here fans of a club. That’s really, really crazy! That shows how much football is loved in this country.” And so he understands Spurs fans’ frustrations at the near misses, and the false dawns. And so he says, “They deserve more. I just want to give my best and give more. I know they’re waiting for a trophy. We had some great times at Spurs especially during the Mauricio Pochettino era when we were close, very close. When we had the team ready for competing for a trophy and we were at the perfect maturity, playing with each other for many, many years and we knew each other well, there was always a new challenge.”
By challenge, Lloris means hurdle to overcome. “So, for example, we finished the last year at White Hart Lane in 2016-17, and finished second and unbeaten at home all this season,” he explains. “At that moment, when you feel the team is so close and ready to go again, we had to deal with a new challenge — Wembley. We didn’t have a home any more, we have to wait for the new stadium for two years and we have to move to Wembley. The feeling was like ‘OK, we play, even if you try to make Wembley your home, we play in a neutral place’ and it cost points. The most important is to learn from this period.” Spurs still reached the 2019 Champions League final under Pochettino but it has been the constant failure in the Premier League that most frustrates. “This league is so competitive,” Lloris answers, “there are so many big clubs and to compete with the Manchester City of Pep Guardiola, the Liverpool of [Jürgen] Klopp or with Chelsea, with Manchester United [is not easy].
“There’s nothing that I regret in my Spurs career because I’ve always seen players giving their best and managers trying to get the best from the players. The club is working in a good way. And now we have Antonio Conte to get everything onside and try to reduce the gap with the best. His CV speaks for itself as a player for Juventus, and as a manager for Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan. Everywhere he went, he won.
“He has a great energy, a great passion for football. He’s got his own concept in terms of training sessions and way of playing. We know exactly what we have to do with and without the ball. He’s very demanding. He has this winning mentality and is trying with his coaching staff to build something strong for the next few years at Spurs.”
Spurs host eighth-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend while lying seventh in the Premier League. They need to turn games in hand into points and Harry Kane to continue his improving form, having scored seven goals in his past 12 games in all competition. “Harry is one of the best strikers in the world,” Lloris says. “Training with him, yes he makes me demand even more from myself because he’s so clinical in front of goal but also Harry’s one of the most professional players I’ve played with. There’s no secret in sport: hard work with talent makes the difference.
“It’s a great challenge to be with Harry every day in training. It’s also a great pleasure to share the changing room and to share our vision because he has an important place at Spurs. He’s the captain of England and we know we can count on each other. That’s important. We have a great relationship.”
He misses Dele Alli, who moved to Everton in the January window. “I really like Dele,” Lloris says. “We had some great times at Spurs but also it’s important that players find new challenges. Sometimes the new challenge is not at the same place. Dele has to go to another place but the most important thing is I want to see Dele with a smile. I wanted Dele to enjoy football and I know it was a bit complicated the last two years for him, a lot of inconsistency in terms of games played, but that’s part of the career. It’s never easier for anyone, even the best players in the world have some up and downs.” For Lloris himself, his form has been so good, and his importance to the club so huge, that it was vital he committed his future to them. “My story with Tottenham was one I wanted to continue,” he says. “That was really clear in my mind. I’ve shown loyalty towards the club and it’s really important for me.
“The last six months there was a lot of talk outside the building, not from myself and not from the club, that created a lot of speculation or rumours. I needed to listen to myself and to understand what is my ambition now? It was really important after nine and a half years to understand myself if I’m ready to continue at this high level.
“When I started my career, 35 was a target. I came closer and closer to this age and realised I feel really good and I don’t see my level dropping. I enjoy football at the high level and the Premier League is the best league in the world and probably the most intense league in the world. I want to enjoy it as much as I can, more than before because when you’re young you focus so much on competition that you lose a bit the taste of ‘it’s a privilege to play football’. So the answer is I feel ready for the challenge for the next two years at least . . . at least! . . . in my mind and in my body.”
It can be gruelling, throwing himself around endlessly in training, honing reflexes for the 766 games he has played for Nice, Lyons, Spurs and France. “The mind has a big importance in sports,” Lloris adds. “If you feel fresh in your mind it helps the body to follow. A lot of goalkeepers in the past prove you can play at a high level until very late. I was quite impressed when I arrived at Tottenham to see Brad Friedel playing and training [at 41] like a 30-year-old.” Lloris also takes inspiration from those who have kept playing into their 40s. “Edwin van der Sar [40], [Gianluigi] Buffon [44 and still active with Parma] and Dino Zoff [41] so there’s a lot of reference.”
We talk about some of the great saves Lloris has made in his decade at Spurs. Southampton is a sore point after Wednesday’s defeat but Lloris reflects on a past save against Ché Adams in 2020. He managed to change direction and throw himself back the other way to stop the ball. It’s part instinct, part practice, he explains. “This save is probably a bit of everything,” Lloris replies. “There is a lot of instinct but working on the reaction I do a lot in training sessions. There’s a lot of repetition with balls.”
Lloris played a lot of tennis until 13, even being nationally ranked in France, and the sport accentuated his anticipation and speed off the line. “I was a big fan of Pete Sampras and his faculty to serve and to attack and to volley next to the net,” he reflects. “I started tennis before football. I really like this sport but with time I put so much focus in football. Then with family and kids, I stepped back a little bit from tennis even if I try to play during holidays. “There’s a lot of similarity between tennis and goalkeepers in movement, reaction and reading the ball. You need to read the game well and always be connected with what’s happening in front of you even if the ball’s in the opposite half. You need to be ready to go outside your box if the ball goes behind your defence.
“Another aspect is the individual feelings. As a keeper, there is individual responsibility towards the team and defending the goal. You know a mistake can cause big damage to your team. The tennis player is the same: every point can be decisive. This is the important mental aspect.”
We return to the saves and the need for sustaining concentration. Facing Liverpool in 2017, Lloris flung himself to his right to push Philippe Coutinho’s shot against the post and then pounced on the loose ball. “As long as the ball stays alive you cannot switch off!” Lloris laughs. “Concentration is key for a keeper. When I finish a game I’m more tired mentally and psychologically than physically. Where you need time to recover after a game is more for your mind because the demands of focus are very intense and even more in the Premier League because the game’s quicker than anywhere else.”
Having denied Ayoze Pérez in 2020, the Spurs keeper immediately organised his defence to prepare for the next imminent wave of Leicester City attacks. “When the ball’s out you have a short time to give instruction and try to fix little things,” he says. “With the captaincy there’s also this responsibility but I don’t need the captaincy to behave in that way. The goalkeeper has to be a leader at the back.” But what about satisfaction in the save? “I have time after the game to enjoy a good save.”
Yet Lloris is so competitive that it can be hard for him to sleep after games. “When I was younger it could be even worse! I’d go to bed very early the next morning! Now, after so many years in football, it’s easier to sleep with the adrenalin but when you play late in the night it’s difficult to find sleep.”
Another memory of happier times against Southampton, and a 2020 push-over save from a James Ward-Prowse free kick, brought talk around to how he sets himself for such dead-ball tests. “It’s about repetition of diving in training, year after year,” he explains of his swift reactions. “And positioning is so important.” Lloris also has a strength in his wrists to keep the hand rigid and push balls over or wide. “I strap my wrist during games but it’s nothing related to protecting my wrist, it’s more psychological,” Lloris replies. “I started when I was 16, 17 and kept the same routine. In training I don’t wear strapping.”
He laughs at the mention that goalkeepers must be brave and/or mad to throw themselves at the studs of incoming strikers. “Yes, yes! But that’s normal! Only goalkeepers can really understand goalkeepers! I have a lot of respect for all goalkeepers. When I was younger the reference in France was Fabien Barthez and then internationally it was Peter Schmeichel, [Iker] Casillas, Buffon, Oliver Kahn, Nelson Dida and Júlio César. I try to learn from all of them but it’s important to make your own ‘concept’ [style] and you need to play with your feelings.”
Feelings matter for this intelligent individual. It’s why his relationship with Spurs fans matters so much to him, and why he’s so involved with club community initiatives. “Players and clubs need to give back,” Lloris says. “You see a lot of players doing things for society or for community and that’s a great example.”
Lloris knows how the pandemic has shown how important clubs are in the community. “I think so and I think Spurs lead in this way,” Lloris adds. “It’s been a very hard time for the world. Let’s put the football business to one side and help each other. That’s what the club did in a very good way and they’re still doing an amazing job.”
Tottenham’s No 1 has seen the area transformed from one hit by riots in 2011. “I could see the development and step by step the area is becoming very nice,” Lloris says. Whatever Spurs’ issues on the field, they are delivering immeasurably in one of the most deprived parts of the country. More than 3,000 jobs have been generated plus affordable housing while the gleaming new stadium has been used as a vaccination centre and ante-natal clinic. That new school, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, got ten pupils into Oxbridge last year. “The club are involved in everything with Covid, with schools, with hospital,” Lloris adds. “It’s very large their work and that’s really important for the help of the society.”
He is proud to represent and captain Spurs, similarly with France. Capped 136 times by his country, the man who lifted the World Cup in Moscow in 2018 knows the challenge that lies in store in Qatar. “I expect a tough World Cup for France and we have to be ready mentally, physically because when you’re the champions everyone’s waiting for you! “They have even more motivation to challenge you. When you see the last three World Cups every time the winner has struggled. It was the case for Italy in South Africa, for Spain in Brazil and for Germany in Russia. It’s never easy. That’s why it’s important to make yourself ready to suffer but we have a great, talented team with strong personality. We have a great manager [in Didier Deschamps]. For sure we’ll find the right way to prepare ourselves and be ready for the challenge.”
Unprompted, Lloris kindly mentions England. “It will be interesting to see England at the World Cup because I really think they arrive at a certain maturity with important players like Harry,” Lloris adds. “When you look at the [2018] World Cup semi-final and Euro [2020] final you can see the progression and England have so many talented players.” Lloris’ love affair with English football continues.
Tottenham captain on why Spurs fans have deserved better, how Dele Alli can smile again and how being a junior tennis star launched a career in goal:
Hugo Lloris: Who inspired me to be a keeper? Pete Sampras
Hugo Lloris is thinking about his love affair with English football. He loves Tottenham Hotspur, has just signed a two-year extension at the age of 35, and urge
www.thetimes.co.uk
Hugo Lloris is thinking about his love affair with English football. He loves Tottenham Hotspur, has just signed a two-year extension at the age of 35, and urgently wants to give something back to long-suffering Spurs fans because “they deserve more”. Lloris also wanted to continue here because he has rarely played better and he loves the English obsession with football.
He sees this passion wherever he goes in the country, including the local schoolchildren who flock to use the new 4G pitches in the N17 Arena rising around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He understands the power of the badge as pupils attend a new academy attached to the ground already rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
He hears this passion for a club in every stadium he visits. He marvels at the gates down the pyramid. “I’m French, the football culture is different,” Lloris explains, “but here I’m very impressed by the depth of football in society and how people identify themselves with one club. It’s really huge. There’s a difference between the meaning of football in England and France.
“It’s also lower down. Teams in the EFL get big attendances and it means so much to people there too. You can see in every family here fans of a club. That’s really, really crazy! That shows how much football is loved in this country.” And so he understands Spurs fans’ frustrations at the near misses, and the false dawns. And so he says, “They deserve more. I just want to give my best and give more. I know they’re waiting for a trophy. We had some great times at Spurs especially during the Mauricio Pochettino era when we were close, very close. When we had the team ready for competing for a trophy and we were at the perfect maturity, playing with each other for many, many years and we knew each other well, there was always a new challenge.”
By challenge, Lloris means hurdle to overcome. “So, for example, we finished the last year at White Hart Lane in 2016-17, and finished second and unbeaten at home all this season,” he explains. “At that moment, when you feel the team is so close and ready to go again, we had to deal with a new challenge — Wembley. We didn’t have a home any more, we have to wait for the new stadium for two years and we have to move to Wembley. The feeling was like ‘OK, we play, even if you try to make Wembley your home, we play in a neutral place’ and it cost points. The most important is to learn from this period.” Spurs still reached the 2019 Champions League final under Pochettino but it has been the constant failure in the Premier League that most frustrates. “This league is so competitive,” Lloris answers, “there are so many big clubs and to compete with the Manchester City of Pep Guardiola, the Liverpool of [Jürgen] Klopp or with Chelsea, with Manchester United [is not easy].
“There’s nothing that I regret in my Spurs career because I’ve always seen players giving their best and managers trying to get the best from the players. The club is working in a good way. And now we have Antonio Conte to get everything onside and try to reduce the gap with the best. His CV speaks for itself as a player for Juventus, and as a manager for Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan. Everywhere he went, he won.
“He has a great energy, a great passion for football. He’s got his own concept in terms of training sessions and way of playing. We know exactly what we have to do with and without the ball. He’s very demanding. He has this winning mentality and is trying with his coaching staff to build something strong for the next few years at Spurs.”
Spurs host eighth-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend while lying seventh in the Premier League. They need to turn games in hand into points and Harry Kane to continue his improving form, having scored seven goals in his past 12 games in all competition. “Harry is one of the best strikers in the world,” Lloris says. “Training with him, yes he makes me demand even more from myself because he’s so clinical in front of goal but also Harry’s one of the most professional players I’ve played with. There’s no secret in sport: hard work with talent makes the difference.
“It’s a great challenge to be with Harry every day in training. It’s also a great pleasure to share the changing room and to share our vision because he has an important place at Spurs. He’s the captain of England and we know we can count on each other. That’s important. We have a great relationship.”
He misses Dele Alli, who moved to Everton in the January window. “I really like Dele,” Lloris says. “We had some great times at Spurs but also it’s important that players find new challenges. Sometimes the new challenge is not at the same place. Dele has to go to another place but the most important thing is I want to see Dele with a smile. I wanted Dele to enjoy football and I know it was a bit complicated the last two years for him, a lot of inconsistency in terms of games played, but that’s part of the career. It’s never easier for anyone, even the best players in the world have some up and downs.” For Lloris himself, his form has been so good, and his importance to the club so huge, that it was vital he committed his future to them. “My story with Tottenham was one I wanted to continue,” he says. “That was really clear in my mind. I’ve shown loyalty towards the club and it’s really important for me.
“The last six months there was a lot of talk outside the building, not from myself and not from the club, that created a lot of speculation or rumours. I needed to listen to myself and to understand what is my ambition now? It was really important after nine and a half years to understand myself if I’m ready to continue at this high level.
“When I started my career, 35 was a target. I came closer and closer to this age and realised I feel really good and I don’t see my level dropping. I enjoy football at the high level and the Premier League is the best league in the world and probably the most intense league in the world. I want to enjoy it as much as I can, more than before because when you’re young you focus so much on competition that you lose a bit the taste of ‘it’s a privilege to play football’. So the answer is I feel ready for the challenge for the next two years at least . . . at least! . . . in my mind and in my body.”
It can be gruelling, throwing himself around endlessly in training, honing reflexes for the 766 games he has played for Nice, Lyons, Spurs and France. “The mind has a big importance in sports,” Lloris adds. “If you feel fresh in your mind it helps the body to follow. A lot of goalkeepers in the past prove you can play at a high level until very late. I was quite impressed when I arrived at Tottenham to see Brad Friedel playing and training [at 41] like a 30-year-old.” Lloris also takes inspiration from those who have kept playing into their 40s. “Edwin van der Sar [40], [Gianluigi] Buffon [44 and still active with Parma] and Dino Zoff [41] so there’s a lot of reference.”
We talk about some of the great saves Lloris has made in his decade at Spurs. Southampton is a sore point after Wednesday’s defeat but Lloris reflects on a past save against Ché Adams in 2020. He managed to change direction and throw himself back the other way to stop the ball. It’s part instinct, part practice, he explains. “This save is probably a bit of everything,” Lloris replies. “There is a lot of instinct but working on the reaction I do a lot in training sessions. There’s a lot of repetition with balls.”
Lloris played a lot of tennis until 13, even being nationally ranked in France, and the sport accentuated his anticipation and speed off the line. “I was a big fan of Pete Sampras and his faculty to serve and to attack and to volley next to the net,” he reflects. “I started tennis before football. I really like this sport but with time I put so much focus in football. Then with family and kids, I stepped back a little bit from tennis even if I try to play during holidays. “There’s a lot of similarity between tennis and goalkeepers in movement, reaction and reading the ball. You need to read the game well and always be connected with what’s happening in front of you even if the ball’s in the opposite half. You need to be ready to go outside your box if the ball goes behind your defence.
“Another aspect is the individual feelings. As a keeper, there is individual responsibility towards the team and defending the goal. You know a mistake can cause big damage to your team. The tennis player is the same: every point can be decisive. This is the important mental aspect.”
We return to the saves and the need for sustaining concentration. Facing Liverpool in 2017, Lloris flung himself to his right to push Philippe Coutinho’s shot against the post and then pounced on the loose ball. “As long as the ball stays alive you cannot switch off!” Lloris laughs. “Concentration is key for a keeper. When I finish a game I’m more tired mentally and psychologically than physically. Where you need time to recover after a game is more for your mind because the demands of focus are very intense and even more in the Premier League because the game’s quicker than anywhere else.”
Having denied Ayoze Pérez in 2020, the Spurs keeper immediately organised his defence to prepare for the next imminent wave of Leicester City attacks. “When the ball’s out you have a short time to give instruction and try to fix little things,” he says. “With the captaincy there’s also this responsibility but I don’t need the captaincy to behave in that way. The goalkeeper has to be a leader at the back.” But what about satisfaction in the save? “I have time after the game to enjoy a good save.”
Yet Lloris is so competitive that it can be hard for him to sleep after games. “When I was younger it could be even worse! I’d go to bed very early the next morning! Now, after so many years in football, it’s easier to sleep with the adrenalin but when you play late in the night it’s difficult to find sleep.”
Another memory of happier times against Southampton, and a 2020 push-over save from a James Ward-Prowse free kick, brought talk around to how he sets himself for such dead-ball tests. “It’s about repetition of diving in training, year after year,” he explains of his swift reactions. “And positioning is so important.” Lloris also has a strength in his wrists to keep the hand rigid and push balls over or wide. “I strap my wrist during games but it’s nothing related to protecting my wrist, it’s more psychological,” Lloris replies. “I started when I was 16, 17 and kept the same routine. In training I don’t wear strapping.”
He laughs at the mention that goalkeepers must be brave and/or mad to throw themselves at the studs of incoming strikers. “Yes, yes! But that’s normal! Only goalkeepers can really understand goalkeepers! I have a lot of respect for all goalkeepers. When I was younger the reference in France was Fabien Barthez and then internationally it was Peter Schmeichel, [Iker] Casillas, Buffon, Oliver Kahn, Nelson Dida and Júlio César. I try to learn from all of them but it’s important to make your own ‘concept’ [style] and you need to play with your feelings.”
Feelings matter for this intelligent individual. It’s why his relationship with Spurs fans matters so much to him, and why he’s so involved with club community initiatives. “Players and clubs need to give back,” Lloris says. “You see a lot of players doing things for society or for community and that’s a great example.”
Lloris knows how the pandemic has shown how important clubs are in the community. “I think so and I think Spurs lead in this way,” Lloris adds. “It’s been a very hard time for the world. Let’s put the football business to one side and help each other. That’s what the club did in a very good way and they’re still doing an amazing job.”
Tottenham’s No 1 has seen the area transformed from one hit by riots in 2011. “I could see the development and step by step the area is becoming very nice,” Lloris says. Whatever Spurs’ issues on the field, they are delivering immeasurably in one of the most deprived parts of the country. More than 3,000 jobs have been generated plus affordable housing while the gleaming new stadium has been used as a vaccination centre and ante-natal clinic. That new school, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, got ten pupils into Oxbridge last year. “The club are involved in everything with Covid, with schools, with hospital,” Lloris adds. “It’s very large their work and that’s really important for the help of the society.”
He is proud to represent and captain Spurs, similarly with France. Capped 136 times by his country, the man who lifted the World Cup in Moscow in 2018 knows the challenge that lies in store in Qatar. “I expect a tough World Cup for France and we have to be ready mentally, physically because when you’re the champions everyone’s waiting for you! “They have even more motivation to challenge you. When you see the last three World Cups every time the winner has struggled. It was the case for Italy in South Africa, for Spain in Brazil and for Germany in Russia. It’s never easy. That’s why it’s important to make yourself ready to suffer but we have a great, talented team with strong personality. We have a great manager [in Didier Deschamps]. For sure we’ll find the right way to prepare ourselves and be ready for the challenge.”
Unprompted, Lloris kindly mentions England. “It will be interesting to see England at the World Cup because I really think they arrive at a certain maturity with important players like Harry,” Lloris adds. “When you look at the [2018] World Cup semi-final and Euro [2020] final you can see the progression and England have so many talented players.” Lloris’ love affair with English football continues.
Last edited:
Excellent read
Tottenham captain on why Spurs fans have deserved better, how Dele Alli can smile again and how being a junior tennis star launched a career in goal:
Hugo Lloris: Who inspired me to be a keeper? Pete Sampras
Hugo Lloris is thinking about his love affair with English football. He loves Tottenham Hotspur, has just signed a two-year extension at the age of 35, and urge
Do us a cut n paste job please, fella! :contepray:
Fucking awful. At fault for both goals.
Sadly we don't have anyone as back up, so he's 'undroppable'.
Sadly we don't have anyone as back up, so he's 'undroppable'.
We can't afford a new GK as well as the rest of the changes this shitheap of a squad requires.
He's staying no 1 for the foreseeable future so let's hope today is his annual brainstorm out of the way.
He's staying no 1 for the foreseeable future so let's hope today is his annual brainstorm out of the way.
100% on him today. He should be the calming leading influence for our calamitous defence and he went missing today.
Hope he's got it all out of his system. We need him to be reliable.
Hope he's got it all out of his system. We need him to be reliable.
Had brain farts, we lost, move on
Sh!t today but has been our best performer this season.
You can't legislate for such generosity.
You can't legislate for such generosity.
Oh ffs Hugo.
Poor day for him. But he’s one of the better players we have. He’s saved us far more points than he’s cost us.
Winks, Davies, Sanchez on the other hand
Winks, Davies, Sanchez on the other hand
Think we can blame Spurs twatter admin for this one :contebored:
Looking at some of his recent matches, he's started going for Hollywood saves, rather than just simply turning the ball away into a safe area.
The first one today, I'm at a loss with both his efforts, but the first one, he's actually in position for it and then chooses to push it back into play rather than wide. The punch? That's simply unexplainable.
Guess this is Hugo. Saves us so often, but when he fucks up, it's normally epic.
The first one today, I'm at a loss with both his efforts, but the first one, he's actually in position for it and then chooses to push it back into play rather than wide. The punch? That's simply unexplainable.
Guess this is Hugo. Saves us so often, but when he fucks up, it's normally epic.
