Brad Friedel helps Hugo Lloris in training sessions

Brad Friedel helps Hugo Lloris in training sessions

Hugo Lloris has revealed he turned to Brad Friedel to help him adapt to English football, even though the American is his rival for the goalkeeper’s spot at Tottenham.

Lloris is the clear first-choice of head coach Andre Villas-Boas but, for his first three months in England, the France captain was frustrated as Friedel was preferred for most of the Premier League fixtures.

Lloris displaced the American for the north London derby defeat at Emirates Stadium in November and has retained his place since, although he still feels the need to ask for help from Friedel, who has 15 years’ experience in the English top flight.

“We talk about games, we talk about teams we play against and sometimes that’s good for me because I don’t know all the players in the Premier League,” said Lloris. “I knew about Brad before I arrived. He is a very good goalkeeper and a well-respected one.”

Lloris has shown good form recently and could play against Lyon, who he left to join Spurs for £12million last summer, in the first leg of their last-32 Europa League tie at White Hart Lane on Thursday.

Even if Villas-Boas chooses to rotate his squad and include Friedel against the French club, it is likely that Lloris would take on his former team-mates in the second leg at Stade Gerland on February 21.

Lewis Holtby, Tottenham’s most recent signing, is eligible for the tie after he was included in the Europa League squad following his £1.25m move from Schalke in January.

Holtby has settled quickly at Spurs and his home debut on Saturday concluded with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle. To join Spurs immediately, the 22-year-old abandoned Schalke’s Champions League campaign but he is convinced his new club will become regulars in that competition.

“This club are evolving every year, maybe even every month,” said Holtby. “It’s not as though this has come from nowhere because the club have been in the top four or five for the last three years. I’ve made a really big decision in my career but it’s the right one.

“We’re in fourth place at the moment and that’s where we’re aiming to go. The squad, the club are getting bigger all the time and we deserve to go into the Champions League. It’s a hard route but I think we have everything to get there.

“The quality here is fantastic, even among the players who weren’t in the squad for the Newcastle game. The level of the team spirit is very high and that’s why we are able to win tight games like that one.”

Holtby was replaced on Saturday by Emmanuel Adebayor, who is thought to have been fined two weeks’ wages — about £140,000 — for failing to return to the club by Villas-Boas’s deadline of 3pm last Friday. Adebayor’s Togo were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations on February 3.

Villas-Boas must ensure Adebayor is focused fully on the battle to secure Champions League football next season, something Lloris is confident Spurs can achieve. “I believe in the project and it was a good moment for me to join Tottenham,” he told Sky Sports.

“The ambition of the team is to be in the top four every year, and I think we can do it.”

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Posted by Fahad Zafar on Feb 11 2013. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.