Tottenham’s captain wants his club to step up and play like an elite club
Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris isn’t a player who talks a great deal. When he speaks, everyone at White Hart Lane listens. His recent comments about the club’s need to stop pretending to be an elite club, and actually play like one, must be heard loud and clear by everyone at Spurs.
The French keeper said that he “hopes” the club can offer a strong performance against the Gunners, but he certainly won’t abide another effort like Wednesday’s Champions League clunker. It’s fair to wonder whether Lloris’ latest comments were intended to fire up his team, or were signs of him losing faith in his chances to win silverware with Tottenham.
Spurs supporters will certainly hope it’s the former. Lloris doesn’t speak publicly all that often, but this seems like an occasion that would warrant his comments. Tottenham clearly aren’t playing up to their potential as of late, and today’s match against Arsenal is a gigantic fixture. Earning three points from the Gunners would set everything aright at White Hart Lane. Suffering an embarrassing to Arsene Wenger’s club could plunge things into chaos.
On the other hand, Tottenham fans couldn’t blame Lloris for losing patience with life at Spurs. For several years, he’s been the world-class star performing well in spite of unrest swirling all around him. Let’s not forget, he’s had to play behind the likes of Vlad Chiriches and Younes Kaboul lately. He clearly hasn’t been surrounded with many players of his quality.
At the beginning of the season, it seemed that Spurs were finally surrounding their captain with players of similar quality. Dele Alli and Eric Dier appeared to be emerging stars, and the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen seemed primed to pour in goals. Unfortunately, things haven’t quite gone according to plan.
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Kane’s missed significant time due to injury although he should be back for today’s match. Eriksen still hasn’t found the back of the net in Premier League play this year. Alli has been good, but not great. Dier has suffered a dip in form that no one could have predicted. The point here, is that the club’s future is now much less certain than it was even a few short weeks ago.
Still, you have to expect that Lloris still has confidence in his squad. He has an obvious bond with manager Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham are still in the thick of the Premier League title race. Today’s match against Arsenal will illustrate whether or not Tottenham’s captain can really light a fire under his Spurs teammates.