Harry Winks warns defensive problems will be Tottenham's downfall in Premier League top four race

Tottenham's top four hopes suffered a major blow on Sunday.
Action Images via Reuters

Harry Winks fears Tottenham’s defending will be their “downfall” in the race for a top-four spot and says they must start learning from their mistakes after Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Wolves.

Spurs’s hopes of a fifth consecutive season of Champions League football were further dented as Raul Jimenez’s 73rd-minute strike condemned the hosts to another defeat against a top-four rival.

Spurs had twice led through Steven Bergwijn and Serge Aurier but shipped calamitous equalisers to Matt Doherty and Diego Jota either side of half-time.

Despite dropping Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen to the bench, Jose Mourinho stuck with a five-man defence, but individual errors — notably from Aurier, Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga — cost the Portuguese’s side again.

Winks captained Spurs for the first time in the absence of Hugo Lloris, who was missing with a groin strain, and afterwards struggled to hide his frustration at their ongoing problems at the back.

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Wolves | 01/03/2020

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“We need to learn our lessons,” the England midfielder told Standard Sport. “The top-four run-in is becoming tighter and tighter and we need to start winning games and stop shipping goals because that is going to be our downfall at the end of the season.

“If we take away the goals we have conceded cheaply, we are in a completely different situation and talking about a much more positive outcome.

“All season we have been trying to defend better and concede less. The problem is not scoring goals. To score two and concede three is frustrating, especially when you’re the home team of Tottenham’s level. You should be winning the game.

“It is a disappointing atmosphere in the dressing room. It is not all doom and gloom. As I said, we are scoring goals, we have got a lot of injuries and we are still managing to create chances and score goals. As soon as we stop conceding, we will be fine.”

The defeat leaves Spurs in seventh place, above Sheffield United only on goal difference, having played a game more than the Blades.

Three of their next four Premier League fixtures are against sides within two points of them in Burnley, Manchester United and Sheffield United, with the fourth against London rivals West Ham.

“There is no point giving up on the top four,” said Winks. “We were 12 points off [when Mourinho was appointed], we managed to bring that deficit shorter. We are sort of in and out at the moment, but two or three wins and you are back in the running. It is something that we definitely believe we can do.”

Mourinho, who said he does not think Lloris has a serious injury, afterwards described the result as “totally unfair” but accused his players of being “too nice”, an assessment Winks agrees with.

In Pictures | Chelsea vs Tottenham | 22/02/2020

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“I do think that,” said Winks, when asked about his manager’s comments. “What he said to us in the dressing room was spot on. We are a very good side and when we play our football and defend with aggression, but there were moments in the transition on the ­counter-attack where we could have been more cute and been more like a winning team. If we stop the counter-­attacks earlier, then we come away with the win.”

Winks has been at Tottenham since he was five and he said to captain the club for the first time was the fulfilment of a dream.

“It was a special honour to be able to walk the team out, something that I’ve always dreamed of doing,” he said. “It was a special moment.

“Before the game, at the team hotel, [the manager] just pulled me to the side and told me that I was captain and, of course, it was an amazing moment for me and my family.

“Talking about it now it’s a lovely ­honour and a great honour, but when you lose the game it kind of takes [some of the gloss] away.”

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