Misfiring Tottenham seek route to goal against Arsenal to end worrying run | David Hytner


Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris says the team must change their mentality as they prepare to meet neighbours Arsenal on Sunday

For Hugo Lloris, the low point of Tottenham Hotspur’s season was defined by something unacceptable. The team’s style suffered a jarring breakdown in the 1-0 Champions League defeat against Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley on Wednesday night but it was the reason why that so infuriated the captain. According to him, the players had lost their focus. The mentality was flawed.

“You cannot pretend to be a challenger, you cannot pretend to be a big club in Europe, if you are not ready to compete,” Lloris says, his measured tones somehow amplifying the force of the sentiment. “My feeling was that the team was not ready to compete against Leverkusen because, under pressure, we lost a bit of our strength, we didn’t create a lot and we made a lot of mistakes. We have a proper style to play football and I didn’t recognise the team.”

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