‘The January window is shut for us.. the players I have must find solution to our slump’

SAYS MAURICIO POCHETTINO

MAURICIO POCHETTINO says Tottenham will not make any signings in the January transfer window.

He has warned it is down to the current squad to “find solutions” after the club’s poor start to the season. The Spurs boss had previously suggested he could buy in the next window, but revealed he will leave it up to his players to get themselves out of trouble after humbling defeats to Bayern Munich and Brighton. “I never was keen on January and I will not change now because we are in a tough period or tough few games. Most important is to try and stay together,” said Pochettino.

“Of course, a situation can arise in December or January, and you need to take some decisions. But we are going to force nothing because we believe the squad is a decent squad now. “We need to be strong that our decision was right – just because we are suffering a storm now we cannot change quick.

“Now is the time to be responsible. Now is not the point to talk about January and refreshing the team. Now is about trying to find solutions because we need to win tomorrow and we need to win after tomorrow. We need solutions now.

“We cannot think, ‘OK, we forget about it now but in January we will fix the problem’.

It’s not like this. My opinion, the way I love to work, is that when you take decisions in the summer, then you need to be responsible, and then you need to find the way to make that work. For me, that’s it.”

Pochettino has revealed his players have invited him out to dinner as they show their “love” for the under-pressure manager.

He received a message on his phone after the squad decided on their Whatsapp group to get him and his staff out for a meal next week to lift spirits.

Pochettino said: “Only two things can happen. Because they want to say goodbye! Or because they feel that they love you and want to show that they are with you. And I think it’s the second.

“They are not about to say goodbye to me. To say goodbye to me, they would say goodbye here at the training ground. Not inviting me to dinner.”

It would be unthinkable for Spurs to not win against rock-bottom Watford tomorrow which, in its own way, brings pressure. They are expected to hit back with a comfortable win.

But Pochettino believes that Tottenham are not in crisis, not least because he does not understand the meaning of the word.

“Crisis? Crisis means madness? What does it mean? Ah, crisis,” he said. “You can accept the word crisis when you lose two games.

“But you can use different words. The most important thing is how we feel inside.

“After a couple of days together, we all have the hope we are going to turn it around, and start to perform in the way that we expect. It won’t be easy.

“When you are not performing in the way you want, it’s difficult. But we are working hard and I really believe we are going to find a way to find the balance to start to perform.”