
Final countdown - Mabbsy meets...Darren Anderton
Sat 28 February 2015, 10:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
'Mabbsy meets...' has returned in the build-up to Sunday's Capital One Cup Final.
Our legendary former captain initially sat down with his ex-team-mate and fellow legend Jurgen Klinsmann back in November and it proved so popular, we asked him to do it all over again.
So as we count down to Sunday's Capital One Cup Final against Chelsea, Mabbsy, who lifted the FA Cup at Wembley in 1991, hooked up with another former captain, and the the first Spurs skipper lift the League Cup in 1971, Alan Mullery and now, League Cup winner in 1991, Darren Anderton.
The pair were team-mates following Darren's arrival at the club in 1992 through to Gary's retirement at the end of the 1997-98 campaign.
Both are all-time greats of the club with Darren eventually racking up 357 appearances in all competitions between 1992-2004.
The pair were re-united at the Lane last week and with Sunday's final looming, Gary turned to Darren's League Cup experiences.
Gary Mabbutt: "What are your greatest memories as a Tottenham player?"
Darren Anderton: "I would have to say winning the League Cup Final - what was the Worthington Cup back then - in 1999. What a poor game that was! But they always say cup finals are there to win and that’s exactly what we did on the day. Leicester came to try and stifle us but George Graham had put together a very good team and in the end Allan Nielsen nicked the winner in the last minute. At that point we were down to 10 men after Robbie Savage got Justin Edinburgh sent off."
Mabbsy: "I was there, watching in the stands and you are right, it wasn’t a great game! It was one of those matches where you knew it would end up coming down to one goal. They came to stop us playing and we didn't create much. Some finals are totally open, brilliant games but that was one of those where the result was fantastic but overall, as a final, it was pretty forgettable!"
Darren: "I haven’t watched it again, put it that way!"
Mabbsy: "Of course, you then had the Blackburn final in 2002."
Darren: "Glenn Hoddle had come back to manage the team and brought in some great players. He brought Teddy back, Christian Ziege, Gus Poyet, Dean Richards, it was a good, attacking team, probably the closest we came to that Ossie Ardiles' ‘Famous Five’ team that we were part of in 1994-95. We played some great football. One of the highlights was when we beat Chelsea 5-1 in the semi-final second leg at White Hart Lane. We hadn’t beaten them for years and to do it in that manner to get to a cup final was great. We then went to the final as huge favourites against Blackburn and just didn’t perform on the day. It was really disappointing, one of the lowest points of my time at Spurs. So I experienced both - I won a final, lost a final and I know which one I preferred!"
Mabbsy: "You mentioned your 5-1 win against Chelsea and now we face them again in the final. What are your thoughts on this one?"
Darren: "I think we’ve got a great chance. I was here for the game on New Year’s Day, the 5-3 and Harry Kane gave an unbelievable performance that day. We went behind and showed great character to come back and fully deserved the win on the day. It showed what we’re capable of. In a cup final, yes, we’ll be underdogs, but we know we can beat them and I think we will."
Mabbsy: "I’m going with you on that one. I was here for the game on New Year’s Day and Chelsea can be vulnerable, certainly if you can get around the back of them and on that day, Harry Kane completely bossed Cahill and Terry. In midfield, the Mason/Bentaleb partnership works well and if we can get at them, I think we can cause a surprise."
Darren: "Let’s hope so!"
Look out for 'Mabbsy meets...' as part of our groundbreaking Matchday Show from Wembley - from 12.30pm on Sunday...