Jayson looks ahead to EFL Cup trip
Jayson Leutwiler was excited about going back up to the North East to play against Sunderland in the English League Cup on Wednesday night.The goalkeeper joined Middlesbrough as his first English club in 2012 and he hopes his trip to the Stadium of Light will be a happy one:
“I have played there a couple of times with Middlesbrough in the reserves and in the first team in the cup when I was on the bench and we won that day. When we played there the stadium was sold out and it was a fantastic atmosphere. I don’t think it will be sold out again tomorrow but it should still be a great experience. They are really passionate about football in the north and they really follow their club so I am sure it will be a good crowd. We have to go with the mentality that we can win the game. We will have to concentrate and do what we can.”
“I had good times in the North East and I still have friends there who I am looking forward to seeing. It was my first club in England so I still have great memories. Shropshire is very nice but where I was living up there it was very nice too. I wasn’t too far from Newcastle or York so that was good. I was 22 when I went there so I had to learn a lot of things. When you come from another country you need time to adapt because it is a big culture shock. I learned so much in my time there. I knew a little bit of English before but after a couple of months I picked it up.”
The Swiss stopper feels it will be a hard night’s work regardless of what team the Black Cats decide to field:
“It’s going to be a huge game for us and it will be very tough. I expect that they will put out a strong team and try and get a result. It doesn’t matter what team they play and if it is all the substitutes they will still be very strong and it will be hard for us.”
Shrewsbury will be up against Jermaine Defoe who is the 10th highest all-time scorer in the Premier League but the former Basel player is relishing the challenge:
“I have played against a few good strikers when we played against Manchester United and Leicester and Chelsea but Jermaine Defoe will be another big challenge but I really like that and it will be a big test for everyone.”
The Switzerland under 20 International feels that the Premier League teams can sometimes underestimate them and he hopes this is the case again tomorrow night:
“We like to play in the cups. We always seem to do well against higher teams. I remember when we took Crystal Palace to extra time last year and we did well so anything is possible, but never forget it is still a Premier League team. I think the big teams sometimes underestimate us and we are very motivated and that can be the difference. We have players who can change the game so anything could happen.”
Shrewsbury managed to secure their first league win when they defeated Chesterfield at the New Meadow on Saturday and Leutwiler believes the squad can take that confidence into the tie:
“The mood is good after getting the win but we know not everything is perfect. I think Chesterfield will be going for promotion this year but we still have to improve a few things going into this game. We need to take each game at a time. Sunderland will be much different than the Chesterfield game so we have to go in with a different mentality and be ready for anything.”
Despite the chance of a shoot-out and the opportunity to make his first penalty save in England, the 27-year-old is adamant he has not been practicing penalties in training this week:
“I haven’t practiced penalties this week. I am not expecting anything and I just want to go there and play a good 90 minutes. If we have to play penalties then we will but It doesn’t matter if we work on it or not. In England I have never saved a penalty!”