Experienced hitman Fernando Llorente has issued a warning to his Tottenham teammates ahead of their Champions League clash with Ajax by insisting they will lose if they do not pick up their performances.
Tottenham dropped points for the first time at their new stadium on Saturday, losing 1-0 to West Ham, and return to action looking to take a first leg lead against the Dutch giants in Europe.
Speaking to the Guardian after their result versus the Irons, Llorente said: “But I don’t think I can understand why the mentality of the team wasn’t ready to play against West Ham. I don’t know [why] but I told you, if we play like that against Ajax then for sure we will lose.”
The veteran Spanish striker went on to add: “It’s right, we need everyone to wake up because if we play like this on Tuesday we will lose, easy.”
OPINION
Fernando Llorente is right, if Spurs don’t turn up then they will be turned over quite easily by a young Ajax side. This has been shown in the last two rounds of the Champions League with Ajax knocking out two of the favourites for the trophy in Real Madrid and Juventus. The game against West Ham was a one off, Spurs struggled to get any fluency in their forward play and conceded a poor goal in terms of tracking their attacking runners. Jan Vertonghen was a massive miss for the home side and his partnership with Toby Alderweireld is key to their European hopes. Alongside this, the absence of Moussa Sissoko effected Pochettino’s side throughout the game on Saturday, his power was missed in defence and going forward after a groin problem. Tottenham will need to be at their best to get past this youthful Ajax side, they will have to disrupt their passing play with a high press and take the game to their opposition from the first whistle, if they don’t then it could be a long night for Spurs.