Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he could get sacked next week after confessing Tottenham’s players have been left been “traumatised” by their disastrous run.
Pochettino is stuck in the middle of the worst run of his four-year reign after losing three games on the bounce and he faces a tricky trip to Brighton on Saturday, followed by a Carabao Cup tie with Watford — who they lost to in the league 11 days ago.
Pochettino said: “I am going to stick with the club, I am not going to criticise the club. All the decisions are our decisions and of course always with the club until the end.
“Maybe we are still here in five years or maybe in one week we are not here, but we will always be talking well about the club and helping them to achieve all they want.
“The only way we can stop that [criticism] is winning games and if we don’t win, everyone is going to criticise more than now. And you know what is going to happen when we don’t win games — the first responsible is me.
“I am so relaxed. In football, something can happen with the situation but I am going to give my best until the end.
“It’s true, we concede a lot. It’s something we talk a lot about but sometimes [if] you talk a lot and then it happens again, it’s like you create a trauma.
“The way we concede the goals is so painful but it happens in football and we need to be strong. It’s so important to keep our belief. I’m sure we will win games. The group is a little bit anxious, of course, about winning games.”
Pochettino, who dropped Toby Alderweireld and Kieran Trippier for the Champions League defeat at Inter Milan, has promised more changes this weekend and warned Dele Alli may not be fit despite returning to training.
They will also be without first-choice keeper Hugo Lloris again and Pochettino admitted his World Cup-winning France captain may have suffered his thigh injury as a result of the added “stress” of his drink-driving conviction.
Pochettino added of his skipper: “I think he was under stress during the game against Manchester United[the last game before his court date].
“I think the injury and with the added stress maybe created that injury.
“The injury now is helping him to take time and think and be a little bit more relaxed. To compete after what happened was a massive stress for him.”