The last week has been extremely disappointing for Spurs. After big wins against Manchester City and Aston Villa, Ange Postecoglu’s side fell to defeats against Galatasaray and Ipswich Town to go into the international break on a loss for the fourth time in a row, if you date back to last season.
Spurs defender Pedro Porro, who registered his first assist of the season against Galatasaray, teeing up Dominic Solanke, before adding another one against Ipswich, has taken to social media to address the fans after this frustrating week.
On the defenders Instagram, he said: “A team we have to take responsibility for these results. We must come together to be better and will now look forward to coming back stronger after the break. The effort you put into supporting us must be reflected in our effort on the pitch and it is something we will never take for granted. See you after the break.”
Whilst it is good of him to acknowledge the fans, they will believe it when they see it. So many times over the years they have heard these things from players, with things often not changing afterwards. This is not criticism of Porro, what he has said is fine, but we need to see it happen after the international break.
The 25-year old will not be at Hotspur Way for the next week or so, having received his second Spain call up in a row, having missed out on the previous two squads, including the European Championships back in the summer.
His side will face Denmark and then Switzerland in the UEFA nations league. Spain currently sit top of their group, with ten points from four games. If they can see the job through, they will qualify for the nations league quarter-finals, that begin in March.
The nations league used to only have four teams advance to the knockout rounds, but UEFA have decided that the fixture schedule was simply not intense enough, and have decided to add quarter-finals, and two legged ones at that. Because of course, what football needs right now is extra games.
As for Porro himself, after a good start to the season, it has been a disappointing few weeks for him. Some have suggested that the external interest may be distracting him, with coincidental timing of his drop in performances. The full-backs are so important to the way Ange Postecoglu wants to play, and if they are not performing, it is very hard for Spurs to win games of football.