Tottenham need to react quickly after dropping their standards, says Frank Lampard

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Apoel fans during the reverse fixture against Tottenham
Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
Frank Lampard5 December 2017

Since Tottenham beat Real Madrid, you have to question whether the players have taken their eye off the ball.

Having had such a great result against the Spaniards last month, everyone got excited - and rightly so - but their Premier League form has dipped.

Sometimes you can think too much as a player after beating such a great side. There is a lot of praise and you drop your standards slightly, but if you do that in the Premier League you know about it very quickly.

Spurs have won just once in the League after that Madrid game and it has seen them slide down the table.

Photo: AP Photo/Rui Vieira
AP Photo/Rui Vieira

After getting into the Champions League for the past two seasons, they don’t want to drop out of it again now by failing to finish in the top four.

I still think they are too good a team for that to happen and coach Mauricio Pochettino won’t allow this run to continue. It is just a bad patch. People are looking at them more critically because they have set a standard. How they react now is the most important thing.

The timing of the final Champions League group fixture at home to Apoel is perfect for the club.

I expect them to win comfortably and then they can take confidence from that back into the League.

The team need more from players such as Christian Eriksen, though. I was surprised to see on the weekend that it was his first assist in the Premier League since the first game of the campaign.

Over the past few seasons he has been up there with everybody for creating goals. That’s what he’s known for, plus scoring goals.

Eriksen is not a young player anymore and he has a responsibility now. He scored a great hat-trick against Ireland for Denmark and Pochettino labelled him one of the top 10 players in the world.

But to deserve that accolade you have to be consistent because that’s what the best players do.

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