Hugo Lloris has revealed that he and his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates aren’t even thinking about a top-four finish at the moment.
Although they can’t be considered as regular UEFA Champions League contenders, having only played in the competition in its current guise on one occasion, it is without doubt the target of the club to at least qualify by finishing in a top-four Premier League position. Failure to do so has resulted in a number of changes in the dugout in recent times, with Mauricio Pochettino the current incumbent.
The former Southampton coach is making steady yet certainly unspectacular progress in his debut campaign at White Hart Lane, and they can go within two points of fourth-place Manchester United with a home win against Everton on Sunday. However, Lloris has insisted he and his team-mates aren’t even thinking about finishing in such a position at least until they build up some momentum.
“We don’t even think about the top four at the moment,” the France international goalkeeper said in The Independent. “We have to find solutions first collectively for the team. We need to improve as a team first and then in the second part of the season we will get better. We need to have a humility and keep believing in ourselves and the club. It is our responsibility. There are a lot of expectations here and we all have ambition. But we don’t have the time. We need results as quickly as possible.”
Winning at home has been a huge problem for Spurs this season, who have taken points from just Queens Park Rangers and Southampton. All their other four matches in front of their own fans have ended in defeats, with Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Stoke City all winning on Bill Nicholson Way. This, too, is cause for great frustration for Lloris, who is wary that opposing teams now arrive at their ground knowing how to play to earn a positive result.
“All the teams who come here know how to play against us,” he added. “They all stay behind the ball and play on the counter-attack. We have a style that is a lot of short passing and sometimes that can bring opportunities for our opponents. We need to resolve this problem and be more firm on the pitch and try to find our confidence again. You need to show on the pitch from the beginning to the end that you have no regrets. In the last few games at home we have left the pitch with a lot of regrets.”
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