“They lacked respect” – Former Spur blasts players after Southampton defeat

Tottenham’s game against Southampton at the St Marr’s stadium was certainly an odd affair.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side were completely superior to the home side in all departments in the first half but ended up on the losing side.

There were times that the game almost resembled a training session in the first half as Spurs played at their own pace and opened up the Southampton defence time after time.

However, Tottenham completely stopped playing in the second half as the home side displayed more aggression, and were first to almost every loose ball.

Former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas has said that the defeat was a result of Spurs not respecting the occasion.

Jenas said Tottenham should have expected the home side to come out stronger in the second half.

He also said that the players did not react even when the game was slipping was slipping away from them.

Speaking in BBC’s Match of the Day, Jenas said, “I just think it was odd that they couldn’t expect Southampton wouldn’t have come out a better side [in the second half].

“In the second half, I thought they lacked the respect that was needed for the moment of the season. Southampton were great when they came out.

“The manager made a couple of changes and he also gave them clear instructions. The runs they were making in behind [Kyle] Walker-Peters were causing Tottenham a lot of problems.

“[Josh] Sims came on and was important in making runs, but look at the aggression of the runs, the direct runs from deep. The amount of bodies getting forward. They’re committing bodies forward, even when they lost the ball, the second phase, they were more aggressive.

“Tottenham were getting away with it, massively, and they still didn’t wake up, they didn’t smell it, they didn’t sense it.”

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