Hugo Lloris has told the London Evening Standard that Tottenham's title hopes are over after Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Liverpool and his teammates "need to question" why they lacked hunger at Anfield.
Sadio Mane scored twice in as many first-half minutes to leave Spurs 10 points behind league leaders Chelsea.
Sixth-placed Manchester United are now just two points behind Tottenham and Lloris said they need to look over their shoulders, and at themselves after "failing" on Merseyside.
"Before thinking about the title, we need to think about the teams behind us because they are all top clubs with top players and they are used to playing for the top four, for trophies," Lloris said.
"They are more experienced than us. Even if we had a good experience last season for the title race, it's not enough. It's difficult to explain honestly.
"We need to question ourselves about that. The season is still long, there are plenty of games ahead and we cannot fail in that kind of area of the game. The aggression has to be natural, especially for top teams like this one.
"It's a big disappointment. Our performance was too poor in the first half to pretend to get something at Anfield. Liverpool were better in [the] first half, more intensity, more aggressive than us, they won the game on the basics of football.
"It's not about tactics or technique. They were more hungry than us and we knew that, because it's always the same with Liverpool especially at Anfield. Against the top teams they play at high intensity, they put on a lot of pressure in the middle of the pitch, but today we failed all together. It's not one area, one player. It's the whole team, unfortunately."
Spurs now face an FA Cup fifth-round match at Fulham sandwiched between a two-legged Europa League tie against Belgian club AA Gent and Lloris wants to see the club win a trophy, as well as secure a top-four spot in the league.
"We have a lot to win: to put this club consistently in the top four and there are two more opportunities, the FA Cup and Europa League," the Tottenham captain added.
"We need to have ambitions in both competitions because it's important to feel this pressure. We are young and we need to feel the pressure of these games to improve, to make one step more.
"All the players talk about [winning trophies] in the media. Of course this is the next step for our young team but you cannot buy experience. You need to face that kind of situation to improve. Chelsea are a in a comfortable situation but we still need to fight for the top four."
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has tended to make wholesale changes for the cup competitions but Lloris recognises the value of the Europa League, which resumes with the first leg of the round-of-32 in Belgium on Thursday.
"We need it because we are young," the France captain said. "We have plenty of young players with a lot of talent but we need to get through those kinds of situations because you can't buy experience.
"You need to live situations, face situations. The Europa League is a top competition. We would have liked to have been in the Champions League but we need to enjoy this competition because we have a status. We are Tottenham and we need to show that in every competition we are involved in."
Spurs have now played the other top five away from home without a victory, drawing at Arsenal and Manchester City, and losing at Chelsea, Manchester United and now Liverpool.
"Before thinking about next season we need to finish this one as high as possible," Lloris added. "We need to learn about this game, there are a lot of things, especially the first half. I think my feeling is it's not the first time we started the first half in this way, especially in this way, Manchester City or even Manchester United. I don't know. Hopefully ... we have done well at White Hart Lane and we need to keep that and improve a bit our away performances."