Tottenham defender Federico Fazio is using his experiences at Sevilla to keep his hopes up of a strong first season in England.
The Argentina international moved to White Hart Lane in the summer having collected a Europa League winners’ medal in his penultimate game for Sevilla after seven years in Spain.
Fazio has yet to establish himself at the club having only made one Barclays Premier League game for Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs as he was sent off in the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City.
Tottenham have also struggled since the initial strong start made under Fazio’s compatriot Pochettino, having taken just five points since the end of August.
However, Fazio knows it is possible to turn things around after overcoming a sticky spell last year.
“It has not started very well but last season with Sevilla we had four or five matches when we were not doing well in the league,” he said.
“We were down the bottom. But we finished fifth and almost in the Champions League so it is still early. We want to win and move higher but there are still seven months until the end of the season.
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“I think we need to improve some things. We do need to be more focused and more brave. Tottenham are a good team who always want to fight to be at the top of the table.”
Fazio has a similar outlook on his own season and will be looking to add to his two Argentina caps in the forthcoming internationals against Croatia and Portugal.
“I have only been here two months but it is good,” he said.
“I was in Spain for eight years, a long time. I wanted to change to try football in another country and I’m happy to be here.
“Pochettino was important to me coming here. I spoke with him a few times and I had two or three other options. But I chose to come here because it is a good club and I like the Premier League.
“Of course it was not the start I wanted and I don’t really want to speak about the penalty I gave away on (Sergio) Aguero…but before this I thought I was playing very good.
“I am friends with Aguero. We won the under 20 World Cup and I also played with him in the Olympic games.
“I played the Olympics with Aguero, (Angel) Di Maria, (Pablo) Zabaleta, (Lionel) Messi, (Ezequiel) Lavezzi, (Juan Roman) Riquelme. It was a good team. We still all speak.
“I have just been called up to play in the next Argentina games, that is good.”
Fazio returned from the suspension incurred for his red card against City in the Capital One Cup fourth round success over Brighton on Wednesday night.
He will now be hoping to retain his place against a struggling Aston Villa side on Sunday as Spurs look for their fourth league win of the campaign.
Villa were well beaten 2-0 at QPR on Monday and have not scored a goal in almost nine hours of football but Pochettino will be taking nothing for granted as he looks to carry cup form into Tottenham’s league games.
“Yes I know the stat but I prioritise about my team – it is not important,” he said.
“We are in the beginning of the season. It’s too early to talk about how we need to arrive in different competitions. We need to prioritise all competitions.
“We need to improve. The results don’t reflect the performances but we still believe in our job and our way. We need to get three points on Sunday.”
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