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Nuno says Tottenham players "totally believe" in his philosophy

Nuno Espirito Santo says Tottenham's North London derby defeat to Arsenal is hanging over his player...


Nuno says Tottenham players

Sport

Nuno says Tottenham players "totally believe" in his philosophy


Nuno Espirito Santo says Tottenham's North London derby defeat to Arsenal is hanging over his players, but he will not panic in his response. 

Spurs had an encouraging start to the season, winning each of their first three Premier League games 1-0.

However, the wheels have come off in spectacular fashion since with underwhelming European results against Paços de Ferreira and Rennes exacerbated by consecutive league losses to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal.

That's led to intense scrutiny of Nuno's abilities as a manager, with many calling for his sacking.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa Conference League group game with Mura, the Spurs boss was taking the criticism in his stride.

"The criticism is normal," he told reporters, "You’ve been in football, I’ve been in football, everybody that is on screen knows how this industry works.

"When you don’t play good, and you don't perform, and the results don't go along, criticism is something that you have to deal with. So we understand it, it's up to us to react and to change it."

Nuno told his pre-match press conference that his players are "sad" and "disappointed" after Sunday's 3-1 defeat at the Emirates.

He was asked if the Tottenham players had bought into his philosophy as a coach.

"Yeah, totally believe," was his response, "There’s no doubts about that because we work together every day, we prepare together and these moments we need to stick together.

"And the belief is the first step to do things and we have it. You have to realise sometimes it’s not possible.

"Sometimes opponents is better than you and you have to be humble to give credit and sometimes you don’t perform. Sometimes the plan is no good. The belief in all of us is here."

Spurs' current woes are something Nuno admits to have not seen coming after their winning start to the Premier League season.

But the former Wolves chief says adversity is teaching him a lot about his players.

"Since day one, we are knowing each other better, we are realising our strengths and weaknesses so we can improve," he said.

"The moment that we were winning was only disguising to the outside. Inside we knew we still had things to improve. Now it's obvious that we have things to improve.

"In terms of what I'm seeing, I'm seeing players that want to achieve, that work hard to achieve it, but we are not able to be consistent to do it.

"We are still having problems when we concede a goal. We lose our focus. We lose our solidity and how compact we are and that we must avoid.

"So a lot of analysis is going on. A lot, but with the tools and the belief that we have a talented team with quality players to get out of this situation and play much better football."

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Conference League Nuno Nuno Espírito Santo Premier League Spurs Tottenham Tottenham Hotspur UEFA Europa Conference League

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