60 seconds on Bodo/Glimt | Andy Brassell, European football expert | OneFootball

One of the voices of European football on talkSPORT and Sky Sports, well known for The Football Ramble podcast, an author and writer for The Guardian - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy Brassell will give his view on our UEFA Champions League opponents as part of our '60 seconds on...' pre-match feature this season.

Next up, it's MD2, and a fascinating return to Norway to take on Bodo/Glimt - our opponents over two legs of the UEFA Europa League semi-final back in May - at the Aspmyra Stadion on Tuesday evening (8pm UK).

@andybrassell

Stability key for Bodo/Glimt...

Andy: "Bodo/Glimt are quite similar to last season and part of that, of course, is that last season's Europa League for Spurs is still Bodo/Glimt's current season, because the Norwegian season is played in the calendar year as it's a summer league, so that makes a difference. If you look at the stability there, that is key. Bodo/Glimt are going for their fifth Eliteserien title in six years (they are currently second after 22 matches). 
Now, bear in mind, they'd never even finished second until 2019, which was the year before they first won the title in 2020. As we discussed ahead of the semi-final in May, Kjetil Knutsen has had offers from elsewhere, he's stayed and that shows, perhaps, that he wouldn't get the same level of influence to shape a team anywhere else."

Top players return...

Andy: "The stability is such that if you look at their last couple of transfer windows, they haven't got a ton of players in, but they've not really lost players, either. They went through a spell when they first started becoming known, where they did lose and some good players like Patrick Berg, Jens Petter Hauge, but both returned, which is a sign of their financial strength, as well as their sporting strength. Faris Moumbagna also moved on to Marseille, but has since moved on from there."

Høgh on a high...

Andy: "Another big thing for Bodo/Glimt is that striker Kasper Høgh is really starting to motor. He had a good first season and he's having a brilliant second season, 18 goals in 26 all competitions, pretty good."

Familiarity a plus for Spurs...

Andy: "So, how are Bodo/Glimt going to approach this? I think it's really interesting because you think of the shock value of a trip to Bodo, it's a place like no other - as Spurs know. Teams have been caught on the hop by it like Roma getting absolutely battered there (6-1) famously under Jose Mourinho. You think of Porto losing there and some of the teams Bodo/Glimt beat on the way to the semi-finals last season, like Olympiacos, Lazio. It's remarkable, really, that Tottenham get an opportunity to go back there again so quickly having kind of figured out how to do it and done it a lot better than most teams have. You can imagine Juventus and Manchester City going there later this season in the Champions League and thinking, 'what is this?' as they've got no frame of reference having not been there before, whereas Spurs obviously have a very recent frame of reference."

Overall thoughts...

Andy: "I think Bodo/Glimt and Kjetil Knutsen probably have half a thought of how they were overwhelmed by Spurs in the semi-final, and I'm sure Knutsen will have been thinking about that ever since, especially as the goal at the end of the first leg, even though Spurs hammered them in that first game (it ended 3-1), should have given them an opportunity back in Bodo, but Spurs snuffed them out brilliantly, a great away performance. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out again, a few months later."

Last time in Bodo/Glimt...