EPL

No pride, no fight – Tottenham captain Lloris apologises for 'very embarrassing' thrashing at Newcastle

By Sports Desk April 23, 2023

Hugo Lloris made a grovelling apology to Tottenham fans after admitting sorry Spurs showed "a lack of pride" in their humiliating defeat at Newcastle United.

Tottenham were 5-0 behind after only 21 minutes at St James' Park and at that point might have settled for a 6-1 defeat, which is how the game ended.

Hopeless defending and a lack of will from the visiting players saw them picked apart by hosts who moved third in the Premier League.

Tottenham's grip on fifth place is increasingly tenuous, with their season rapidly unravelling.

They were beaten at home by Bournemouth in their previous game and have tough assignments coming up against Manchester United on Thursday and Liverpool on Sunday.

At this rate of decline, they risk missing out on European football next season, and Lloris admitted their efforts at Newcastle had been abject, describing the showing as "a bit of a mess".

"It's very embarrassing, and the first thing is probably we should apologise to the fans who travelled and to the fans who watched the game," Lloris told Sky Sports.

"Obviously we didn't show a great face today. I think we could not match the performance of the Newcastle players. We were late in all the aspects of the game, and we completely missed the first part of the game.

"Obviously the second half is another story, but it's really painful today. It's not even about talking of tactics; it's just we couldn't fight.

"I think Newcastle just had a great performance. They were very aggressive, very offensive every time they got the ball. They were looking forward, and probably it's difficult right now to assess and analyse the performance.

"But the first thing is it was probably a lack of pride. To concede four goals in 20 minutes... On the pitch, it was something strange, like we could not react. We could not bounce back into the performance, but also Newcastle deserve a lot of credit.

"They started the game at 100 miles per hour, and they were very dynamic and knew exactly what to do with the ball and without the ball, and we were a bit late everywhere on the field in all the aspects of the game."

Tottenham are operating under the leadership of interim coach Cristian Stellini, who took over from Antonio Conte last month. They also lost sporting director Fabio Paratici in the week leading up to this game, so there is a lack of experienced stewardship for a team who have blatantly lost their way.

"We can try to find excuses and try to analyse the performance," Lloris said, "but the first thing is I think we miss the fight.

"In football, if you go out on the pitch without the desire to show aggressiveness to win duels, to win the battles, it makes things very hard. You have to be very good with the ball technically and tactically, and it was a bit of a mess on the field.

"We cannot hide ourselves behind the club problems. We are players, we are professional, and every time we go on the field, we try to deliver the best, but today there was too much slack in all the aspects.

"Now there are two other games, very difficult, in the week [ahead], and we have to bounce back as a team."

Lloris was substituted at half-time due to a thigh muscle problem.

"I felt something on the long kick, and it doesn't sound good," he said.

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