Benoît Assou-Ekotto: 'I play for the money. Football's not my passion'

[Colocho]

Doubt he would have got to the level he is currently playing at if he was still with us.

[Willow]

As others have said, a refreshing interview.

[polpolpol]

Tottenham  boss Harry Redknapp admits fullback Benoit Assou-Ekotto can be "hard work".

 

After victory at Stoke City, Assou-Ekotto could be seen walking to the away dressing room all on his own - this came after a bust-up with teammate Vedran Corluka.

 

Redknapp said: "Charlie (Corluka) was upset that he didn’t come back and do his job. Benoit is a strange boy. He’s a bit highly strung and hardly speaks English. If you say something to him he’s hard work. He hasn’t improved his English in the couple of years he’s been here."

 

Asked why the player had walked off on his own, Redknapp replied: "He didn’t know the result! He probably thought we’d drawn.

 

"He’ll turn up Wednesday and play great, but he won’t know we’re playing Fulham until someone tells him. That’s how he is. He’s unreal. He walks off and he’s thinking about the music he’s going to play when he puts his headphones on."

[Fugazi]

Class quotes

[Village Idiot]

Fair enough. David Batty was the same. Played football as a trade he was skilled in.

 

Hasn't Keane recently come out and said he cares a flying fuck about Manchester United too?

 

Although he probably just says it to piss people off.

[Nobody]

Fair enough. Canny player, and his name is class.

[Guest sittingontheball]

Aye, canny player. And a good part of football is playing a role and sticking to your duties, not hurtling around after the ball like someone possessed or diving madly into challenges. Gazza in that FA Cup final will do as an example of how not to approach a match. I remember Scholes also getting sent off for England after being massively big-upped by Keegan.

 

If he is "professional" in the way people describe, I don't suppose it will matter 95% or so of the time. But in the other 5%, which I won't give examples of out of fear of lapsing into cliches, it can make a difference. The difference between success and failure can be very narrow indeed. I think we've all seen games where the winner was the team that wanted it more.