Nuno Espirito Santo: Tottenham boss not worried about criticism from fans

Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo is not bothered about fans turning on him following three Premier League defeats on the spin.

After winning their first three games of the season, the tides have turned and Nuno’s side have now lost their last three games and dropped from first to 11th in the league.

They only managed a 2-2 draw against Rennes in the opening game of their Europa Conference League campaign and needed penalties to beat Wolves in the League Cup.

Striker Harry Kane is yet to score in the Premier League, and a defeat against visiting Mura in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night could be devastating to their hopes of qualifying to the next round.

But manager Nuno Espirito Santo is not concerned growing agitated with a section of the fan base and is just focusing his energy on improving the team.

What Nuno Espirito Santo said

Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I’m not worried about the judgements. What I’m worried about is how we can play better.

“How can we play better? The judgement, and the criticism, and the opinion and all of that is all part of it and we have to deal with that, we have to deal with that.

“That doesn’t interfere with the way we work, it can only distract us.

“I’m very simple, telling you: my focus is how can we improve, how can we improve. In terms of the fans, now is not the moment to ask them.

“Of course we need their support, because the players and the team need the support of the fans.

“But it’s not the moment to ask them, it’s the moment to deliver. Now we have to give them, so they feel good again with the team.

“They see a team that is solid and is playing good, and things go back to normal.

“You mentioned the time and the preparation. Yes, of course we have since the beginning of the season and we have unbalanced situations.

“Players that have a lot of sessions, and players that have not many sessions, that arrive late. Players that were on international break, players that got injured.”

Asked if the difficult period was teaching him something about his team, Nuno replied affirmatively.

He added: “A lot of things. It tells me a lot of things. Since day one, we are getting to know each other better, we are realising our strengths and weaknesses so we can improve.

“The moment that we were winning was only disguised to the outside. Inside we knew we still had things to improve.

“Now it’s obvious that we have things to improve.

“In terms of what I’m seeing, I’m seeing players that want to achieve, that work hard to achieve it, but we are not able to be consistent to do it.”

Five facts about Tottenham this season

• Tottenham began their Europa Conference League with a 2-2 draw against Rennes in France. 
• Tottenham have conceded nine league goals in their last three Premier League games, scoring only one in the process. 
• Tottenham won their first three league games by a 1-0 score line. 
• Thursday’s game unsurprisingly marks the first-ever meeting between Tottenham and Mura in any competition.
• Spurs have never lost in their three previous meetings with Slovenian sides, most recently beating Maribor in the 2012-13 Europa League group stages.