Lloris wary of this route to the stars
HUGO LLORIS is painfully aware of how selling your star player and filling the gap left behind with a collection of expensive replacements can end in disarray.
After Gareth Bale left Tottenham for Real Madrid last summer, in came seven new signings to fill his boots, and the goalkeeper could only watch in horror as the ambitious plans of Andre Villas-Boas blew up in his face and the club imploded.
After an unbeaten start to the season under new manager Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs seem to have put the upheaval behind them at last.
And now it is the turn of Liverpool, visitors to White Hart Lane tomorrow, and their manager Brendan Rodgers to pull off such a tricky transition.
Luis Suarez has gone to Barcelona, and in have come a host of newcomers, including Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert Adam Lallana.
It will not, Lloris warned, be easy as he recalled Spurs’ rapid last season.
When Liverpool turned up at the Lane last December, things were just beginning to go pear-shaped for Villas-Boas and his expensively assembled team. Three weeks earlier they had been alarmingly clattered 6-0 by Manchester City away. On that dismal Sunday Liverpool ran riot, thrashing Spurs 5-0 on their own turf, Suarez scoring twice. A day later Villas-Boas was sacked.
But Suarez is not there any more, and the early-warning bells at Anfield are sounding. What a difference the brilliant Uruguay striker could have made at the Etihad on Monday, when Liverpool were cast aside 3-1. The new men were found wanting.
“We know it is never easy to try to bring new players in,” said Lloris. “When you have a lot of new players in the squad it is not easy for them to adapt.
“You need time. There is a different profile when you are from another country or continent, you have to adapt to another culture and a new kind of football, because it is different in England.
“Maybe it is easier for European players or those who are used to playing in the Premier League. But the players need to learn quickly. We don’t still talk about those big
and
decline defeats last year. But our confidence.”
In that horrific run, Spurs were also hammered 5-1 at home by City, lost 4-0 at Chelsea and by the same score at Anfield to prove comprehensively that, despite all the buys, they were not able to compete with the elite. Lloris, who captained Spurs in Thursday’s Europa League win over AEL Limassol which saw them through to the group stages again, said: “When you lose once it can happen, but when you lose against the top teams twice, three, four times it means there is something wrong.
“We have been working to find the best solution and improve.
“But it belongs to the past now. As a team it is very important to keep hold of your philosophy. We are in the best league in the world and you have to play at a high level. We have changed a lot of things. We have a new manager. We believe in
it did break his concept and his philosophy. Things have started well, but we need a couple more games, a few months to be 100 per cent.
“This will be a tough game against a top side. It will be a good test for us to know where we are. To have confidence in the dressing room you need to win, win, win. That is what we expect from this season.”
Lloris, the France keeper, finds his position under threat from Michael Vorm, signed from Swansea, but is philosophical about the challenge.
“It is not my decision. It is a club decision and if they made this decision it is because they had this feeling,” he said.
“Am I the No1? The manager makes the decision. We just think about the team.”
New defensive signing Federico Fazio could figure against Liverpool after joining from Seville on Wednesday, and Pochettino is still looking for striking reinforcements before Monday’s transfer deadline. A loan move for Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck is being considered.