Bunje jumps up a gear for Spurs

Marc Isaacs13 April 2012
L Orient 0 Tottenham 2

Tottenham defender Goran Bunjevcevic says he is already feeling the pressure of succeeding Sol Campbell at White Hart Lane.

Having completed a £4 million move from Red Star Belgrade during the summer, Bunjevcevic was hoping for an easy path into English football. But Campbell's controversial move to great rivals Arsenal has put an extra burden on the Yugoslav international to make an immediate impact at Spurs.

Bunjevcevic said: "It is a great pressure to succeed Sol Campbell. I was very sorry that he left the club.

"There is a lot of weight on my shoulders now because he was the skipper and the main focus in the defence.

"We have the same problem in Yugoslavia, where there are two sides in Belgrade - Red Star and Partisan. Every footballer decides his own destiny but if Sol had done that back home and moved from one club to the other it would have been very bad for him.

"But we have to work together as a unit now and I'm look forward to playing with a lot of speed and movement. I'm sure the other players like me in the defence can adopt very well."

Bunjevcevic showed glimpses of his ability in Tottenham's victory over Leyton Orient last night in a testimonial game for Steve Castle.

The stylish centre-half showed no panic bringing the ball out from the back and never looked in danger of giving a goal away.

But he warned Spurs fans that they may have to wait a while before seeing the best of his ability as he is adopts to life in England.

He said: "It is very difficult for me at the moment because I have only been training in London for seven days and played a couple of matches with my new team-mates.

"The English game is so much different to that in Europe. There are a lot more strong and powerful attackers and teams play a lot more direct. I am learning from game to game.

"I am being used at the back to make space for the midfield players. Glenn Hoddle has talked to me about bringing the ball out from the back and it is important for me to transform that on to the pitch.

"Tottenham have been sleeping for too long. But we are starting to sign quality players such as Gus Poyet, Teddy Sheringham and Christian Ziege, so we have much more experience now and hope to be in Europe next season."

Tottenham picked up their third pre-season victory in the space of seven days with second-half goals from Simon Davies and Ukranian striker Sergei Rebrov, who capped an impressive performance with an exquisite lob.

German international Ziege watched his new team-mates in action for the first time following his move from Liverpool and manager Hoddle admitted he cannot wait to thrust him into first-team action.

Hoddle said: "We are delighted to have Christian on board. We got him for a lot less than the reported £4.5m fee that has been bandied about and he will bring us a great deal of quality."

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