Silvestre confident of shutting out Spurs
Former Arsenal and Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre will know all about Tottenham Hotspur before taking his place in the Werder Bremen team to face the Champions League debutants on Tuesday night.
Silvestre joined the German team on a two-year contract from Arsenal in the summer and is confident he can deal with anything Harry Redknapp's side can throw at him, after shutting out Bayern Munich's much-vaunted attack in the Bundesliga over the weekend.
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"We have only trained a few times together, but we are professionals," the former France international told UEFA.com ahead of the game in North-West Germany.
"We have to communicate a lot and we will do our best to perform as well as we did in Munich. Everyone speaks English in Germany so communicating is not a problem.
"I remember some good games against Tottenham, and they have improved and are now one of the best teams in one of the best leagues. They deserve to be playing in the Champions League. Tottenham have a lot of experienced players.
"Peter Crouch is likely to lead the line for Tottenham and he is very dangerous in the air. He is always in the right place at the right time. You can compare him to David Trezeguet in that regard."
Like Tottenham, Werder had to come through the Champions League qualifiers last month before clinching their place in the group stages alongside Europe's elite clubs and, despite only being at the club for a few months, Silvestre remains bullish about his team's chances.
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"There are no easy games in the Champions League but we can beat anyone and teams have a lot of respect for Werder Bremen," he continued.
"I have played a lot of games in this competition and I'm used to it and I have complete faith in my colleagues. They are very experienced and we can handle the pressure."
By James Martini
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
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