Spurs star insists the squad must stick together to bounce back

Toby Alderweireld has issued a rallying cry to urge his Tottenham Hotspur teammates to bounce back to winning ways against Cardiff City.

Tottenham have been the subject of many negative headlines and plenty of mocking on social media regarding bottling the title race after they went down to a surprise 3-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley on Saturday.

Alderweireld instead is looking for the players to show unity by getting all three points at the Cardiff City Stadium on New Year’s Day.

The defender cited the fact that the players were lacking energy in the second half of the Wolves defeat, which was a polar opposite from the first 45 minutes in what looked at the time would be a routine win for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

The toll of mounting injuries along with a limited amount of attacking players who can make an impact was highlighted against Wolves when the substitutes were announced.

Only Lucas Moura was a viable option, while Georges-Kevin Nkoudou was there to purely make up the numbers.

Alderweireld told the official Spurs site: “We have to stick together,”

“Of course, everyone is very disappointed to get this result (against Wolves) but we have to bounce back on Tuesday and show what kind of team we are.”

He added: “I thought we had a good first half, second half we couldn’t get the energy from the last games, we defended, defended and then a goal against… it was difficult,”

“The desire was there, sometimes it’s just the energy. Normally we’re on top of it and we’re better than the opponent but we couldn’t create a lot chances (in the second half). Defensively they stood okay and we couldn’t get through. The second half was difficult.”