Dele Alli Insists Tottenham Players Are '1,000%' Behind Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham hasn't had the success it expected so far this season, but the players aren't wavering.

Dave Shopland/BPI/Shutterstock

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli has said that under-pressure manager Mauricio Pochettino retains the full support of the squad, stressing that the coach is the reason why the club has achieved so much in recent years.

Spurs blew off recent cobwebs to thrash Red Star Belgrade 5-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday, ending a run of three games without a win in all competitions that began when they were smashed 7-2 by Bayern Munich at the start of the month.

Their malaise stretches back to February of last season, though, when they went on to win just three of their final 12 Premier League games of the campaign. They did, of course, go on to reach the Champions League final amid the domestic struggles. The Red Star win is only a fourth win in all competitions in the opening 10 weeks of the 2019-20 season.

All of it has raised questions over whether Pochettino might have done as much as he can and whether his players are still performing for him, but when asked if the anager has the backing of the dressing room, Alli was staunch in his reply.

"Yeah, 1,000%," he told the Telegraph. “A lot of us would not be where we are now if it was not for him. All we can do is thank him. We have always trusted him 100%, and we are going to keep doing that."

Alli suggested the blame for bad results should be shared by the squad as much as the manager, stating: “We are a team. When things are not going our way it is easy for people to try and get at the manager but we need to look at ourselves as players. We are doing that and we are going to keep working hard."

But because this is the first time Tottenham has had a really bad patch in the five years since Pochettino joined from Southampton, Alli also thinks that "people are making a bigger deal out of it" than it might be in reality.

“Every club has it where they have a little bit of a dip,” he said. "When we are so used to winning, it is important we show our character and how strong we really are as a team and a club."