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Hugo Lloris has urged Tottenham Hotspur to get back to winning ways against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, per the London Evening Standard.
Spurs will open their new stadium against Crystal Palace in midweek after their disappointing 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
What’s the word?
Lloris was at fault for Spurs’ defeat at the weekend.
After Lucas Moura had cancelled out Roberto Firmino’s opener, Lloris conspired to concede an own goal in the last minute, parrying a routine Mohamed Salah header against Toby Alderweireld, leading the ball to trickle over the line.
Spurs have subsequently gone five games without a win in the Premier League and have seen their hopes of qualifying for the top four placed in serious jeopardy – they are just one point clear of sixth-placed Chelsea.
Lloris, though, has insisted that the result was down to “very bad luck” and has called on his team-mates to rally against Roy Hodgson’s men.
“There’s a big moment for the club on Wednesday,” he said.
“That’s the moment to get back on the winning way and get the big feeling back because it was a bit unlucky for us yesterday against a title challenger. We showed our quality but it was not enough.
“It’s one of the best stadiums in England – and maybe in Europe or the world. It’s a very interesting moment for all the Spurs community. Now it’s up to the players to make history inside this club, step-by-step.”
Lloris also insists that there is much for the club to play for this season, with a Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City looming large on the horizon.
“There’s still the Champions League quarter-final to play [against Manchester City]. Of course, we’re disappointed because we try to win every game. But after this defeat and especially the way we played in the second half we need to keep pushing and keep going.
“In the second half we showed a great mentality, we were very positive. We controlled the game, we should have won the game probably. Then we conceded a late goal in a very bad luck way.”
Shut up and move on
How dare Lloris try to rally his team-mates?
Their loss is as a direct result of a simply terrible mistake that he is attempting to blame on bad luck.
Lloris has cost Spurs all too many times and there is a very salient argument to be made that he should not be playing for the club at all, such has been his form this season.
To have the brass neck to claim “we need to keep pushing” will gall many fans.
Spurs did just that against Liverpool and came within a whisker of a creditable result. Instead, Lloris decided against catching a simple ball and now Spurs are in very real danger of losing the initiative in the race to qualify for the Champions League.
That, at the end of the day, is on him.