Tottenham Hotspur have had a dismal start to the Premier League season, with injuries and poor performances having a big impact on results.
After 12 league games they lie in 14th place, with only the bottom three teams in the league having won fewer matches than Spurs this season.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has naturally come under more scrutiny as a consequence, but ex-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood says the culprits lie elsewhere.
Instead of the man in the dugout, Sherwood says that poor form is down to those on the pitch, some of whom are “hiding” from responsibility.
“I don’t blame the manager, I blame the players,” he said on Talksport.
“They have to look at themselves and have that bravery when things are not going well to get on the ball in dangerous areas and really take the game to the opposition.
“Because, at the moment, a few of them look like they’re hiding.
“When you have a bad run of form you always look for excuses why, and everyone is pointing to the obvious one, which is the uncertainty among the squad.”
On that point, Sherwood expanded on how an element of the unknown in terms of players’ futures can impact on performance level.
Even with that caveat though, Sherwood acknowledges that it’s down to the manager to get the best out of his squad – which reached the Champions League final in June.
“Three or four players are out of contract and others are coming quite close to running their contracts down next year. That’s not what Pochettino wants, he wants players who are going to be there for the long term.
“But you still need to get the best out of what you’ve got.”
