Spurs’ bid for Europa League glory is not driven by criticism – Brennan Johnson | OneFootball

Brennan Johnson insisted Tottenham’s bid to taste Europa League glory was not being driven by silencing their critics.

Spurs host Eintracht Frankfurt in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg, eager to continue in the competition to salvage a poor season, which has seen them drop to 14th in the Premier League.

Scrutiny on boss Ange Postecoglou seems at an all-time high, while on Tuesday night, fans of rivals Arsenal chanted ‘are you Tottenham in disguise?’ after a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid, but 16-goal Johnson played down talk of a trophy being the perfect response.

“Personally, I just want to win it for the group of players and the staff,” Johnson said. “I don’t really care about what other people sing and the critics to be honest. I feel like I switched off from that a long time ago.

“I love the lads, all the players in the squad, all the staff, the management team. I feel like we’ve created a real tight-knit group.

“I feel like we’ve all been under a lot of criticism, maybe different people at different points, so it’s something that we can all kind of relate to. So, we all have that understanding with each other.

“When it comes to tournaments like this and being able to progress, it’s something that we just want to do for each other because at the end of the day, we’ve had some tough times and there’d be no better joy to celebrate with the people that have had to go through it like I have as well.”

A notable incident from Sunday was also discussed after Mathys Tel was allowed to take a stoppage-time penalty in a 3-1 win over Southampton, despite Johnson being on a hat-trick.

When Postecoglou was quizzed on the topic, he described it as the latest example of “turning gold into crap” when it came to Tottenham.

Johnson added: “All of us attacking players, if there’s a chance to score from 12 yards without it being contested, all of us would want to take it.

“Once the decision had been made, it’s not really my nature to argue or have a fight about who takes a penalty.

“I’ve been in that situation before, where people are really reluctant to let someone else have a penalty and it can put you off. So, once the ball was with Mathys, I just wanted to get on the edge of the box and support him.”

Frankfurt are third in the Bundesliga, but manager Dino Toppmoller insisted Spurs remain favourites to win the Europa League despite a tough domestic season.

Toppmoller told a press conference: “It’s been a great performance to reach this last eight and we’ve had superb play by our lads. We deserve to be here.

“We come up against the top favourites tomorrow in my opinion. I think Tottenham are the big favourites.

“At the beginning of the season, Spurs and Man United were clearly the top two favourites, but we have a first head-to-head against Tottenham and it’s something quite special. We’re certainly ready for it.”