‘Fearing to lose’ – Lloris explains difference between two halves for Spurs

Hugo Lloris has praised the character that his teammates showed to come away with a hard-fought win against Marseille.

Spurs were staring at the possibility of elimination from the Champions League when the Ligue 1 club took the lead just before half-time after dominating proceedings for much of the first period.

However, as we have come to expect from Tottenham over recent weeks, they battled back in the second half and managed to turn the result around.

The Lilywhites sealed the top spot in Group D thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg after Clement Lenglet’s goal had drawn them level.

Lloris admitted that the players knew they would not have things their own way at the Stade Velodrome.

The Spurs captain told BT Sport after the win: “To be honest, we expected that type of game. It was a very difficult place to deal with and I think we showed great personality.

“In the second half we had a good game and Clement Lenglet scored an important goal in France in front of the French people and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is so important to confirm that top of the group.”

Lloris explained that the fear of losing shifted from Tottenham to Marseille in the second half after the Ligue 1 side took the lead, and Spurs’ captain praised the personality his teammates showed to battle back in the second 45.

The goalkeeper added: “It was a tough night, a great battle and even more psychological battle because we could feel in the first half a team was playing without the fear to lose, it was Marseille, and in the second half we had a team that was fearing to lose and it was us.

“Also I believe that when we had to face difficulties, we showed great personality and it’s a great result. Without our coach, it was even more difficult for him in the stand and it’s a great winning team – that’s the most important thing.”

Spurs Web Opinion

We see time and again in football that teams who only need a draw, tend to play within themselves, and it often backfires, as it did in the first half for Tottenham on Tuesday.

The Spurs squad have proven time and again over recent weeks that they are resilient and never give up until the final whistle. Conte and the coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for instilling that sort of mentality into the squad.

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