Tottenham's Mousa Dembele on West Ham loss: We must learn to win small games

 
Tom Collomosse7 October 2013

Mousa Dembele believes Tottenham cannot become one of the top teams in England until they learn to cope better with being favourites.

Spurs lost 3-0 at home against West Ham yesterday, one of the surprise results of the season, to miss the chance to join Arsenal and Liverpool as joint-leaders of the Premier League.

It was the first defeat at White Hart Lane of the campaign for Andre Villas-Boas’s side and Dembele admitted Spurs need to improve their attitude when they face teams who are below them in the table.

“You see from the top teams that if they want to be champions, you have to win these small games,” said the midfielder, whose side is now in sixth place.

“That is what makes the difference and if we want to be there with the top four, we need to win these games.

“It’s easier to play against the top teams for the motivation but if we want to be a top team, we need to be concentrated for these kinds of games. It’s a mental thing, so we have to talk as a team and make sure we’re all focused.

“We have a lot of players and we can change the team very quickly, so everyone knows it can be a difficult season. When we play against sides like West Ham, we have to be very careful.

“They have a different kind of style but this is the Premier League and you have to be used to these kinds of days, so it is a shame that we weren't prepared yesterday.”

Second-half goals from Winston Reid, Ricardo Vaz Te and Ravel Morrison secured West Ham’s first away win of the season and Spurs now have two weeks to regroup before travelling to Aston Villa on October 20.

Dembele added: “In the second half we looked very tired and we didn’t have too much passion. You have to win these kinds of games if you want to have a good season, so it’s a shame.”

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