Toby Alderweireld has revealed there was a rallying cry at half-time in the Tottenham dressing room before the Londoners went on to beat Southampton on Saturday.
Spurs went into the break 2-1 ahead despite a first half in which almost everything went against them. After taking the lead through Tanguy Ndombele, Serge Aurier was sent off for two bookings and Hugo Lloris made a dreadful mistake, allowing Danny Ings to equalise for the Saints.
But just before half-time, Harry Kane finished off a flowing move to give Tottenham hope of holding on for all three points. And that’s exactly what they did with a little help from Lloris, who recovered from his error with two excellent saves.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Alderweireld admitted a stern talk before the players came out for the second half contributed to the team’s “most important” victory of the campaign so far.
“We said at half time, ‘This is the moment to prove that we are a team’,” Alderweireld said (via @BenPearceSpurs). “It had all the ingredients to lose the game and I think we were wonderful. This is the most important win of the season.”
Alderweireld’s comments tie in with quotes from Kane, who was also keen to emphasise the togetherness in the squad after Saturday’s win – read more about his words here.
Spurs face Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and Mauricio Pochettino has two injury problems going into the game – find out more here.
this performance has the potential to re- ignite our season —
has anyone else thought that any notion that southgate could fill mauritio”s shoes is living in another world as his track record as a club manager was useless and only qualified him for the england job
a team is a team in the good days and the bad days, we win together and we lose together. That is the mentality of a successful team. My beloved Spurs are well on their way to make this their best season to date. Long may the team development continue.
What’s happening is players are becoming too complacent.
Believe we can be a team and play like a team
Spurs are clearly not firing on all cylinders. The manager clearly wants to bring in new players and this causes anxiety & uncertainty for those players targetted for non renewal of contracts. Eriksen, a great servant of Spurs, is likely to leave. Vertonghen, Rose & even Dier may be off. It’s unsettling but let us hope we can cobble together some victories before the January transfer window. #COYS
We are poor strategically in our defensive approach after taking a lead. We need a Gerrard type personality in such situations.