Hugo Lloris was once again in the headlines following Tottenham's 4-2 defeat against Man City on Thursday evening. Leading 2-0 at the break courtesy of Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal strikes, the hosts turned the game around with three second-half goals in the space of 18 minutes, before Riyad Mahrez grabbed his second of the game in stoppage time.
The Algerian's first of the contest once again raised questions about Lloris as he was beaten at his near post by a powerful drive that took a slight deflection off Ben Davies. Already under the spotlight following his own goal against Arsenal four days earlier, the Frenchman opened up on the two goals and his own form following the winter World Cup in Qatar.
“I can’t complain. You’re a professional and you just follow a rhythm," he told the Evening Standard in an exclusive interview. “But obviously when you’re involved with the national team and you go until the last day of the World Cup, you come back and miss mental freshness. But you need to get back on track and help your team.
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“When you look at the Arsenal goal, I can be in a good position but the deflection hit the ball on my chest and with the spin it goes over [the line]. It’s something that even if I wanted to do on purpose, I can’t. Even last night, when you look at the third [City] goal, a deflection makes the ball go over my knee.
“At any moment I try to anticipate, just setting and waiting. There are a lot of things like that happening to our team. It’s a period where we need to stick together, keep working and hopefully bring the luck back.”
Following their second-half collapse after conceding four goals at the Etihad Stadium, Lloris, who was asked if Spurs have a mentality problem, pointed to a lack of consistency in their performances.
"On the mentality, there’s nothing to say,” he said. “When you look at the guys working every day, we can’t blame anyone. Probably we have a lack of consistency in our performances. I believe we struggle a bit to play 90 to 95 minutes at our best, things we were able to do last season, especially in the last two to three months.
“But the most important period is ahead of us: February, March, April and May is where you play for everything and it’s important going forward to get our level back and everyone to finish the season strongly, hopefully.”
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