Nuno Espirito Santo insists his players ‘totally believe’ in him and has discussed ‘the Tottenham way’ of playing football.
Spurs have lost each of their last three Premier League fixtures to drop into the bottom half of the division, with last weekend’s 3-1 defeat in the North London derby against Arsenal raising the pressure on club’s manager.
Nuno started the season strongly with successive wins as Spurs led the division ahead of September’s international break, but has received criticism following a series of disappointing defeats since with the Portuguese’s pragmatic style of play criticised.
Nuno insists that he retains the belief of the Spurs squad however, as the north London side look to revive their faltering fortunes against NŠ Mura in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
“Yes [the players] totally believe,” Nuno said at his pre-match press conference.
“There’s no doubts about that because we work together every day, we prepare together and these moments we need to stick together and the belief is the first step to do things and we have it. You have to realise sometimes it’s not possible.
“Sometimes opponents are better than you and you have to be humble to give credit and sometimes you don’t perform. Sometimes the plan is no good. The belief in all of us is here.”
Spurs have scored just four league goals across their six Premier League fixtures in 2020/21, with Harry Kane having particularly struggled for form following a summer of transfer speculation.
Nuno has discussed the demands for Spurs to play ‘the Tottenham way’ with offensive football, but admits it is not always ‘possible’ as the club seek consistent results.
“I’ve been told and everybody knows [the Tottenham way] and it’s football,” Nuno said. “Everybody wants to play good. Everybody wants to play offensive, everybody wants to score. This is what we chase, sometimes it’s not possible. But we are aware that this is how we want to do but it takes a building process to achieve it and we are trying.”
