Mauricio Pochettino has no doubt that his Tottenham players remain fully committed to the club despite their troubled start to the campaign.
Tottenham have won just three of their 10 matches in all competitions this season and were thrashed 7-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Pochettino admitted last week his side’s poor run of form could be down to an unsettled squad, with a number of players rumoured to have pushed for a move away during the close season.
Three days on from the home humiliation at the hands of Bayern, however, the Argentine coach shot down suggestions his players no longer care.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 1, 2019
“I have no doubt the players want to always do their best to win,” he said at Friday’s news conference.
“They play for themselves, for their families and then for the club and the coaching staff. I don’t doubt their commitment.”
Pochettino’s own future has been called into question on the back of defeats to Leicester City, Colchester United and Bayern in the space of 10 days.
The 47-year-old, linked with the Manchester United and Real Madrid jobs earlier this year, has vowed to stay on for the duration of his deal.
“In five and a half years, every single press conference, we are talking about my future,” said Pochettino, who signed a five-year contract extension in May 2018.
“I hope because we are still talking, it means that I am going to spend five years more here, at least.
“I accept the opinions. It is normal that the game has created a lot of opinions and rumours, everyone needs to talk.
“But in the end, we only lost a game. We are going to find a way to be successful again, no doubt. We need to stay together.”
7 – Tottenham Hotspur are the first English side to concede seven goals in any European competition since Tottenham Hotspur themselves lost 0-8 to FC Koln in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in July 1995. Spursy. pic.twitter.com/2AK3SK62xp
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 1, 2019
Reflecting on the Bayern debacle – a record margin of defeat for an English team on home soil in Europe – Pochettino acknowledged his side need to quickly get the result out of their system.
Tottenham travel to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League on Saturday and Pochettino said: “The Bayern game was really strange.
“After the first half nobody expected that result. Sometimes this happens in football and you just need to accept every single shot from Bayern Munich goes in the goal.
“What can you do? Nothing. We must stay together. The result is tough but the most important thing is to stay calm and believe in our potential.
“We need to bounce back from this defeat but it is only three points that we lost. We’ll keep working.
“In life this type of thing happens but we need to accept that it can happen. It is a tough moment but altogether we are going to be find a way to bounce back and win games.”
