Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Hugo Lloris: Players to blame for Spurs' troubles, not Pochettino

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has told L'Equipe that the club's problems this season are down to the players rather than head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

After working wonders with Southampton last term, Pochettino took over at Spurs with expectations that he could shape the north London club into contenders for a top-four place.

However, the former Argentina international has seen his side pick up just 14 points from their 11 Premier League matches so far -- 11 fewer than the Saints have managed -- leaving them in 12th place.

After seeing Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood leave the White Hart Lane managerial job in the last 12 months, Lloris suggested the players, rather than their bosses, were to blame.

"When it's the third coach in a year and there are problems, perhaps it's not necessarily the coach that is the problem. Even so, we work, we try to find solutions," Lloris, who arrived from Lyon in 2012, said.

The France international did, though, insist that he has no regrets about signing a five-year contract extension with the club during the summer.

"I have faith in the technical staff, in the coach," he explained. "I had similar periods at Lyon, but at OL there was real pressure on a daily basis and crisis management.

"We are more on our own in London, where we are comfortable. We have to get ourselves out of that, because if we have to fight against relegation, comfort isn't going to help us. It really worries me for the coach."

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