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Pochettino tells Spurs to face the flak

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino said they must "accept the criticism" after dropping to seventh in the English Premier League table.

Spurs travel to Watford tonight with their hopes of winning the EPL all but extinguished following defeats by Arsenal and Leicester City, either side of a home draw with West Bromwich Albion.

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WATFORD TOTTENHAM

It is a bitter pill for Spurs fans to swallow given it is 56 years since the north London club were last crowned champions of England.

But Pochettino has vowed to "change the dynamic" in a bid to get back to winning ways.

"It's true that we struggled against Arsenal and West Brom and the performance against Leicester wasn't the best," he said.

"Sometimes you need to be more clinical or a little luckier to win the game.

"We are in a period where we need to change the dynamic and start to build our momentum again.

"It's a great opportunity to start again against Watford. We need to be calm and not make decisions with emotion."

The Argentinian added that Spurs must find out what went wrong and also accept the brickbats.

He said: "We accept the criticism because, when you don't win, something wrong must have happened. We need to reduce the mistakes, be solid and try to be more clinical."

Dele Alli's recent performances have mirrored the team's, but Pochettino refused to be too critical of the England man, who was the two-goal hero of a 3-1 Champions League victory over Real Madrid at the start of last month.

"I am so happy with Dele," he said. "He's very talented and every game he does unbelievable things.

"It's normal for a player to be up and down... He is young. It is normal for a young player."

Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama remain sidelined by injury, but Harry Winks has recovered from the illness that forced him to miss the Leicester match on Tuesday. - AFP

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