Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has spoken on his side’s apparent passive approach to games and attempted to explain why they have been playing poorly in the first half of games this season.
It was another case of Spurs starting slowly before finishing with a bang at the weekend, as the North London club came from behind three times to complete a dramatic 4-3 win over Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.
There was a sign of improvement though, with Spurs managing to score in the first half of a domestic game for the first time in five games. Regardless, fans are not happy with what they perceive to be a lack of ambition from the Spurs team.
Despite Spurs gaining 13 points from losing positions this season (Transfermarkt), Antonio Conte has been criticised for setting up his team to invite pressure and play defensive football in the first half of games.
Speaking to Football.London, the Spurs skipper has offered his thoughts on the matter and he puts it down to a congested fixture schedule.
He said: “It’s been very hard. We put so much energy into the group stage of the Champions League that as you could see in the last few games of the Premier League we lacked a bit of aggressiveness and intensity. We were a bit passive, always reactive.”
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“For sure there are many, many reasons. We are capable of playing at a better level and playing 90, 95 minutes at the same level. At the moment it’s a lot of up and down. The guys gave their best, that’s the most important thing,” Lloris continued.
Lloris looked on the positive side, adding: “We reached the next round of the Champions League, that was the main target, and we are still in a top four place. That’s the positive. The second part of the season will obviously be different and for sure we will have more energy to finish stronger and be more consistent in our performances.”
Spurs Web Opinion
As frustrating as it is to watch, you can’t deny we’ve actually gone into the World Cup break in a very decent position. We can come back after that tournament now in the top four, and hopefully, kick on and put in some more comprehensive first-half displays.
The schedule has been rough on Spurs, but the players have shown great resilience at times to pull out some of these results, and we have to focus on the points on the board.
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