FLOP SPURS ‘STILL HAVE THE BELIEF’
ERIK LAMELA reckons the Tottenham dressing room is still full of confidence – despite their worsening run of form.
The North Londoners collapsed for the second time in three matches, going down 2-1 at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The defeat was also their third on the spin – the first time Spurs have lost three in a row under Mauricio Pochettino since he took over as manager in May 2014.
But Lamela (below) said: “No, I don’t think we’re losing our confidence. We still believe in each other in this team.
“It’s time to win again and show we do have confidence in ourselves.”
Christian Eriksen’s 53rd-minute strike looked to have put Spurs on course to banish the nightmare of a shock defeat at Watford and their home loss to Liverpool.
But Pochettino’s men surrendered the lead again, this time with Mauro Icardi lashing in a superb 20-yard volley.
Matias Vecino then wrapped up a sensational late comeback for Inter by heading their winner in the second minute of stoppage time.
Lamela added: “We’re disappointed because we were winning and to lose like that in the last 10 minutes is bad.
“But we need to move on. It’s the only way to recover from this – to keep putting everything on the pitch and try to get back to winning ways.
“I don’t know honestly if we deserved to lose. In the second half, we scored and then we managed the game. They were tired, we should have scored more goals.
“Their keeper did well. Then they had two chances – and they scored two goals.”
Harry Kane failed to register a single shot on goal, hesitating over a first-half chance set up for him by Eriksen.
Another below-par display from the Spurs striker intensified the widely held belief that he now needs a break.
And Lamela insisted the Tottenham side could cope without the England captain. He added: “Harry scores a lot, but he is not a machine. Against Inter, he didn’t and for two or three games he didn’t. But he will score again.
“It’s not like Harry needs to score every game. Against Inter, Christian scored and I scored against Liverpool. All the attacking players need to score – and that’s it.”