Tottenham still evolving despite qualification
Friday, November 28, 2014
Article summary
Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane believe Tottenham Hotspur FC are still adapting to Mauricio Pochettino's style but will improve in the knockout stage with better confidence and expression.
Article top media content
Article body
• Hugo Lloris admits Tottenham are still not at their best despite beating Partizan 1-0
• Goalkeeper feels they have to learn to break down counterattacking teams
• Harry Kane says Spurs should have added more goals at White Hart Lane
• The striker is relieved Tottenham can focus on league form before the round of 32
• Next games: Beşiktaş v Tottenham, Partizan v Asteras (11 December)
Hugo Lloris, Tottenham goalkeeper
Other teams know how to play against us – they stay behind the ball and play on the counterattack. We have a style with a lot of short passes and therefore any mistake can be a big opportunity for the opponents. We need to resolve this problem, to be tighter and try to find confidence again. You need to have the feeling at the end of the game that you have no regrets and in the last few games at home [in the league] we left the pitch with a lot of regrets.
At the moment we are trying to find solutions for the team and to improve, and we will see in the second part of the season if we can do that. We need to keep working and believing. It's been frustrating for the staff and all the players so far and we need to resolve our problems. We know we have a lot of talented players in the squad, and we also have a lot of young players, but there is a lot of expectation and we have ambition.
Harry Kane, Tottenham forward
We won and that was the main thing. It wasn't the best first half for us and not what we wanted but we came out in the second half and got the goal early on. Then we started playing well and creating a few more chances, and we should have had a couple more.
We have to go out there and express ourselves more, get on the ball and not be afraid to give it away. Hopefully we can get that into our game and really establish ourselves. I want to be playing at the best level I can and fortunately I've been able to do that recently. Now we've qualified for the next round we can concentrate more on the league as there are a lot of games coming up in the next one or two months.
