Toby Alderweireld has admitted that the criticism that the Tottenham players have come under for their performances this season has been difficult for the side to take.
Spurs have had endured a poor campaign and are on course to finishing outside the top six for the first time in over ten years.
Tottenham’s form since the restart has been mixed, with some of the performances leaving a lot to be desired, particularly from an attacking point of view.
Alderweireld has insisted that the players are continuing to give their all for the club.
He told Football.London: “It is not a case of ‘oh no, everybody is being negative – now we have to work harder’.
“Everybody is working as hard as they can. During the isolation, we did not take any holiday or go home to our families, we just continued to work hard to be ready for whenever the Premier League was ready.
“The criticism hurts because we gave everything. It is not a lack of this or that, everybody is putting everything into it.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“Take Jan [Vertonghen] – we did not know if he was staying or not but here he is and that says a lot about him. That is very positive.
“Of course it hurts because it is not true – what they say about our ambitions. Of course it affects us but that is normal because it is something you love.”
The Centre-back admitted that the team are slowly making progress both from a defensive and offensive standpoint.
He said: “We knew that defensively at the beginning we were not the best.
“We worked so hard on that. You could see us improve.
“We know that last game [at Bournemouth] with our quality we needed to do more and [against Arsenal] we showed that we are dangerous and with a bit more luck – the shots that went against the bar and stuff – we could have scored more than two goals. That is very important.”
The likes of Kane and Son still have not found their scoring boots since the restart, as Spurs have struggled to create too many clear cut opportunities in matches.
However, Alderweireld insisted that there was no problem with the England captain’s sharpness and it was only a matter of time before the flood gates opened for him.
The Belgian international added: “We don’t ever doubt his [Kane’s] quality. He works so hard for the team – everybody does.
“Everybody is part of the team though and nobody just plays for themselves. You could see that. 100 per cent, if you work hard, things will come back. Like today [Sunday vs Arsenal] was a good moment and a good thing generally and we go from there.
“Yeah [Harry is looking sharp in training]. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. The presence he brings to pin the other team back makes it difficult and give a lot of space for others to score.
“He does the work, Sonny get the present of the goal but it is Harry who has done the work. Sonny does the press as well before he gets the ball.
“It is a matter of time before the goals will come again for Harry. All the pressure shows it is just a matter of time since he gets the goals again.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Jose’s criticism about the Spurs squad being too nice and not demanding enough of each other, could be valid, the one thing this team cannot be accused of is having poor attitudes.
There have been a fair few bad apples at the club over the years but this squad is an extremely likeable one. It is clear that they all care about the club and are prepared to work their socks off. The players just need to develop a winning mentality and Jose might be the right man to help them inculcate that.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
