Barnsley’s captain Angus MacDonald has claimed that he kept Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente quiet in the League Cup game at Wembley on Tuesday night.
Talking on the BBC’s Football Heaven show, MacDonald said that he was proud of his team for matching their Premier league opponents.
And he said he was particulalrly proud of keeping Tottenham’s new striker Fernando Llorente quiet, although he added that he wants to hit those heights every week.
“It was bittersweet,” he said when asked about the game.
“We spent all week preparing and working out what we can do to stop them, and also to impose ourselves and we more than matched them.
“Another day we could have gone out 2-1 winners, but we’ll take the positives from the game.”
Asked whether he was happy about keeping Fernando Llorente quiet, MacDonald said, “I’ll let him out my pocket later.”
“I set my standards as high as possible and if I can play against a £12million striker and make him look average… but I want to do that week-in, week-out.”
OPINION
Llorente is going to have to take this one on the chin. Unfortunately, MacDonald and the rest of the Barnsley team did make him look average at Wembley on Tuesday night and that’s not what the former Swansea striker needed. At 32, this is his last shot at the big time and if he wants to depose Harry Kane from the starting line-up he’s going to have to do a lot better than he did against Barnsley. There are much tougher defences in the Premier League and this was the perfect opportunity to bang in a couple of goals and announce himself to the fans. As it is, when MacDonald finally lets him out of his pocket, he’s going to have to start again on the training ground. He won’t be starting against West Ham on Saturday.