Hugo Lloris vows to 'shake things up' at Tottenham

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (GETTY IMAGES)

Hugo Lloris is sure he will get more games at Tottenham and has vowed to “shake things up” at White Hart Lane following his debut against Lazio last night.

Lloris signed from Lyon on deadline day but the France skipper had to wait three weeks to make his debut thanks to the international break and Andre Villas-Boas' reluctance to drop number one Brad Friedel.

The Portuguese gave the American the night off last night, allowing Lloris a chance to impress and the 25-year-old performed well, keeping a clean sheet in the 0-0 Europa League stalemate against Lazio.

Spurs boss Villas-Boas is now in the unenviable position of having to decide whether to drop Lloris back to the bench or cut Friedel's run of 308 consecutive Barclays Premier League matches short by sticking with the France stopper.

Lloris enjoyed his debut and claimed afterwards that he is sure he is set for a bright long-term future at the north London club, regardless of where he starts Sunday's home game against QPR.

"The choice lies with the coach but I'm here to shake things up a bit," Lloris told L'Equipe.

"I'm not worried, if Tottenham came looking for me at Lyon, then surely I will play a part in the future of the club.

"I just hope that I get the chance to play.

"To get a bit of playing time (against Lazio) while I'm still settling in, getting to know the club and my new team-mates, that can only be a good thing."

In truth Lloris could have hardly wished for an easier debut.

Lazio were on the back foot for most of last night's Group J clash, with their only real effort coming just before half time when Alvaro Gonzalez rattled the woodwork with a peach of a volley.

That did not stop Villas-Boas from praising Lloris afterwards, however, for his sharpness, distribution and handling of a number of aerial bombardments from the visitors.

Spurs would have taken all three points had referee Ovidiu Alin Hategan not ruled out what looked to be two legitimate goals from Steven Caulker and Clint Dempsey.

"We wanted to win this game and maybe we were not lucky this evening," Lloris told Spurs TV Online.

"I think we had one or two opportunities to open the scoring and the referee took his decision.

"We played a great game today but Lazio played like a typical Italian team away from home. They wanted to defend and that made it difficult for us.

"But now we have to continue to work hard because we want to win the next game in this competition."

Part of the reason why Lloris had little to do last night was because of an excellent performance from Steven Caulker.

Caulker, who spent last season on loan at Swansea, has impressed so much recently that he has jumped ahead of skipper Michael Dawson in the Spurs pecking order and has also earned a call-up to the England squad.

The 20-year-old was making just his second Tottenham start last night, but he performed brilliantly alongside Jan Vertonghen to keep veteran Germany striker Miroslav Klose quiet.

"Klose is a fantastic player," Caulker said.

"He was fantastic with his movement and me and Jan had to be aware of him.

"We dealt with him well and defended to our best."

Had referee Hategan not judged that Caulker had pushed Stefano Mauri on his way to heading in during the second half, the defender's first European game would have been even more memorable.

"The decision was a tad harsh," Caulker said.

"We were unfortunate with Clint Dempsey's goal as well being marked offside, but we got a clean sheet so I was happy with that.

"Lazio looked dangerous on the counter-attack so it was good to keep a clean sheet and I'm sure that at the other end the goals will come."

PA