‘The only regret’ – Lloris claims there were positives to take from Spurs draw with Everton

Hugo Lloris has admitted that the Tottenham players allowed their intensity to drop in the latter stages of the clash against Everton.

Despite having a man extra on the pitch for nearly 30 minutes after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s red card (until Lucas Moua’s sending-off), Tottenham failed to capitalise and emerged with just a point from the game after Michael Keane’s late equaliser.

While the goal they conceded was perhaps down to individual brilliance rather than bad defending, Lloris remarked that the away side should have made their numerical superiority count before that moment.

The goalkeeper, who returned to the starting eleven after a nine-game absence due to a knee injury, told The Evening Standard: “When we were 1-0 up, 11 men against 10, there was a better way to manage the game.

“It’s the Premier League, you cannot drop intensity, you cannot drop effort.

“You cannot stop making effort, even if you already made a lot of effort until the end. It’s again proof that in the Premier League anything can happen. Even if you’re 2-0 up, you have to keep this intensity and mentality until the end.”

The Tottenham captain admitted that the Lilywhites should have kept the ball better than they did in the dying stages of the game and that they have to be braver in trying to extend their lead.

He continued: “The way we managed the end of the game should have been better, especially in possession.

“We could have kept them away from our goal with good pressure, but we started to drop as a team on the pitch. We dropped the intensity and the red card [for Lucas] didn’t help the situation.

“But if you look at the performance, [there were] a lot of positives. The only regret is that last 20 minutes. At 1-0 up, we have the legs and the quality to go for the second goal.”

However, Lloris refused to speak on Antonio Conte’s departure, insisting that the players are focused on winning matches and getting into the top four, irrespective of who the head coach is.

When asked if Conte’s comments following the 3-3 draw at St Mary’s were fair, the goalkeeper responded: “I have nothing to say about that, I’m only focused on the present and the future.

“The club took a decision, but it doesn’t matter who the manager is, all the players have to feel the responsibility when they wear the shirt.

“You have to do it first of all for yourself, then for the team, the people who work at the club, for the fans, for the club in general.

“But we are aware of the situation, we try our best. There is still nine games ahead of us. It’s going to be difficult for all teams involved and we have to finish strong. And the key is consistency.

“We have to forget about [what has gone in] the season. The first day was last night, a draw away against Everton, a difficult place to go.

“We have to show consistency until the end and win home games, this is key if we want to finish as high as we can.

“The next two home games [against Brighton and Bournemouth] are very important before we play the other challengers to fourth place.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Given that both United and Newcastle have two games in hand over us, we would need to win six of our eight remaining games to have a realistic shot of getting into the top four.

On the evidence of how we have played over the last few months, it is very difficult to see us doing that.

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