Hugo Lloris has claimed that Tottenham can maintain the high spirits in their camp thanks to the fact they hung on for a draw against West Ham United despite being on the back foot for the second half.
While Tottenham have tended to start slowly this season and come into their own in the second half, it was just the opposite at the London Stadium on Wednesday.
It was the away side who dominated proceedings in the first-half and took a 1-0 lead into interval but the Hammers applied a lot more pressure on the visitors in the second period and looked the more likely team to win the game in the final 20 minutes.
Lloris admitted that the second-half performance was not at the standard that he and his teammates expect but insisted that David Moyes’ men deserve credit for how they played.
The Tottenham captain told Football.London: “We tried to respect our identity, the way the manager demands us to play. At some point, we took a bit of risk, especially at 1-1 but that’s the way we want to play and we need to carry on.
“I think in the first half we controlled the game very well, obviously we lost a few balls in the middle of the pitch and we know the speed they have, they went on counter-attack.
“But in the second half they pressed higher and we could have managed the ball better, especially we could have used the space better in behind their defence.
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“Because when you play from the back you try to attack them as much as you can and in two or three passes you try to go forward.”
“Again, the opponent deserves credit. They’re a tough opponent and it’s a tough place to deal with. We have to move on, keeping a positive spirit. Because we’re still unbeaten. The way I reflect on the game is the way we all think.
“We want to win every game but we cannot control everything and we need to get what we deserve today and carry on our job.
“We cannot forget also that they had one or two chances to score. If we lose this game, it makes things very bad so let’s continue this positive run.”
The goalkeeper admitted that a defeat at the London Stadium would have been a lot more damaging for the morale of the squad at this stage of the season.
He added: “As I said, we could have lost the game at the end, the two chances. Obviously as I said, we start every game to win but then there’s an opponent and it’s the Premier League. We’re still unbeaten,” he claimed.
“To get one point here is good, it’s not bad even if our expectation is to come here to win. I believe in the first half if we pushed a bit more, we controlled so well the game, if we pushed a bit more we could have pushed to get a second goal. But it’s part of the game.
“The season is very long and also we have to learn from the past. When you can’t win, like today in the second half at 1-1, you don’t lose. It’s still one point.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It is a worry that we have not controlled any of the matches for 90 minutes, barring the opening day win over Southampton.
However, the campaign is a marathon instead of a sprint and Conte’s teams generally click into gear after the first few months of the campaign and tend to peak physically in the second half of the season.
The only concern is that a lot of our players are going to the World Cup, which means that they might not have a lot left in the tank by the end of the season.
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