Tottenham no longer the soft touch

Tottenham are no longer the soft touch that former players like Gary Neville thought us to be during their playing days. A skillful side but if you got among them you'd always have the upper hand.



Under Mauricio Pochettino though Spurs are a side who take the game to the opposition and attempt to play as much of the game as possible in the opponents half. Players have had to buy into the tactics and it took a while for some to do so, others decided they won't work or are too lazy to implement the tactics. In a system like this ego's have to go out the window and in some cases that hasn't happened.

The Spurs team now is a unit that fights for each other, the team ethic over the individual star, the youngster have taken on that ethos but it would appear some of the older players haven't. Top level sport is a mental game where wanting to win isn't good enough, that's not what a winning mentality is, it's about being prepared to put plans into practice over time to produce improvements, both individually and as a team, that make up the winning mentality that Pochettino is instilling.

Nabil Bentaleb has had to show a winning mentality to even get this far when everyone but Tim Sherwood gave up on him. Sherwood saw the mentality above all else and gave him a chance at the academy. Now he is one of the first names on the teamsheet and in the most important role too.

He has many times said Tottenham is his club and he no doubt feels he wants to give something back to the club who gave him his chance, he spoke about the confidence the head coach shows in him and his desire to continue to improve.

"Now, we are coming into these big games with more confidence. We are coming into them with the belief that we can win these games. We kind of like this type of game - to prove to everyone they're wrong about us. 

"It is just the faith. We all believe we can win these games. We showed it against Chelsea and against Arsenal. We believe in ourselves and will push higher to press the teams. We never give up, and we have shown that a few times now. Now we have to stay strong, keep our feet on the ground and keep working the same way in training.

"He showed faith in me. I think I have to give something back to the coach. That's what I am trying to do every time I step on the pitch. In training, he shows us clips. He talks to you one by one and shows you what you are doing wrong and doing right."

There seems to be a real bond between Pochettino and the young players in the squad, almost as if they have had their eyes opened to a whole new world and they are trying to take in as much as they can. That bond is playing it's part on the field as Bentaleb says, they want to give something back for showing faith in them. Bentaleb certainly did that with his performances against Chelsea and Arsenal, it was his measured cross for Kane to head the winner.

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