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Football London
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Rob Guest

Steven Bergwijn explains his new Tottenham role and Jose Mourinho's message to him vs Antwerp

Tottenham fans are seeing a new side to Steven Bergwijn's game this season under Jose Mourinho.

Signed from PSV last January, the Dutch winger made an immediate impact at the club with a stunning goal on his full debut against Man City.

Showing the head coach and the fans what he could do last term in an attacking sense, the 23-year-old's role has changed slightly in recent weeks with the player demonstrating that he can also defend as well as attack.

With Mourinho keen to ensure his Spurs side don't concede goals, Bergwijn has had to restrict his attacking runs and has in fact played more like a second full-back at times.

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In fact, he came on in the recent Europa League victory over Royal Antwerp to operate as a left wing-back after replacing Sergio Reguilon at the break.

It may not be his preferred role in the team given his qualities further up the pitch, but he is more than happy to do his bit in Spurs' quest to get points on the board.

"I came into the dressing room and the gaffer told me to get ready," he explained about his wing-back role against Antwerp in the club's matchday programme. "I looked on the tactics board and asked, 'where will I play?' and he said 'wing-back, but just play as a winger. When we don't have the ball, just mark your man. Don't worry about the space behind you, that's for Ben [Davies]'. So I was more of a left-winger really.

"I do what the team needs. If the gaffer asks me to do something, I will do what I have to do. Everyone knows what kind of player I am - I like to dribble, to play, to score goals, to give assists - but if the team needs me to do something else, with Harry and Sonny getting the goals, I'm happy.

"So yes, I'm really happy and really confident at the moment. We have a big squad now whereas last season, it wasn't that big so, when someone was injured, we had a lot of problems.

"Now if we have injuries or we want to change systems, we have a lot of good players that can come in and that's great for us."

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