Hugo Lloris believes that Tottenham’s poor run of form this season has been due to multiple factors and cannot be put down to just one problem.
The Tottenham Hotspur captain opened up on how the team’s brilliant efforts to get to the final of the Champions League last campaign, led to the squad burning out and not having enough time to recover emotionally for the start of this season.
When asked to explain why Spurs have struggled this campaign, the goalkeeper told Football.London: “Wow, it’s difficult to explain and I could not go too deep (laughs), but there is also a risk when you go over your potential.
“Last season, we went on an incredible run in the Champions League and we finished the season on our knees and you don’t have time to recover from one season before you have to start a new one.
“Then there was the accumulation of things that provoked the situation, and then, of course, a lot of injured players, the change of manager. It’s difficult to stay stable and to be always looking at the top.
“There is sometimes one season when everything goes against you, but that doesn’t mean you deserve this situation.”
While the Frenchman insisted that the players needed to take responsibility for the drop in their standards, he insisted that one-under-par season was inevitable after the team sustained such a high level of performance for the last five seasons.
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He said: “Obviously, if we are in this situation it is because we didn’t make everything to do better and the responsibility is to share between us, but we have to make sure it is just only one season and make sure next season we will be ready again to compete with the top teams.
“Maybe when I say that, maybe the consequence when you play four years making a huge effort to compete with the top teams and finish in the top four, it’s a lot of accumulation and one season there is everything you cannot control. It can happen.”
The Tottenham number one also revealed that he still remained in touch with Mauricio Pochettino and his staff.
“I’m always in touch with Mauricio and his staff”, the goalkeeper added..
“They represent more than my ex-manager. We are talking about a friend relationship and I will follow the news to see his future.
“To be honest, I just want him to be happy and to be at the place that he deserves. Most important is that he will be happy where he will be.”
The French international also insisted that Jose Mourinho needed more time to turn the club’s fortunes around and insisted that we will be seeing some major changes now that the Spurs boss has had time to work with the squad on the training ground.
Lloris added: “The problem is the restrictions and the protocol we have to respect. It’s not been a long time that we are working as a team, but at least we can feel all the players back at a good fitness level.
“They are ready to help the team, ready to compete. We are going in a good way. It is only a question of time, a question of confidence too because the only way to get better is to win games and keep winning.
“This is the only feeling that will help the team to improve and to reach the level we all expect.
“We are more or less all fit and this is a big difference. We’ve been quite unlucky in terms of injured players this season.
“It affected a lot the whole team and squad and the performance when you miss your main players for such a long period. So it’s like a new season that is going to start.
“It’s been a few weeks now we are working together, respecting the Premier League protocol, step by step. We introduce sessions with the full team and the full squad and the feeling is getting there. The team will look different than a few months ago.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The final nine games of the season will be a huge test for Jose Mourinho, not just because we are considerably behind the Champions League spots but because he will have few excuses now with a fully fit squad and having had time to work with the team on the training field. Hopefully, we will approach games with a more coherent game plan than we were doing before the suspension of the season.
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