Legend wants ‘fantastic’ Spurs European night as manager proves he isn’t feeling pressure

Spurs have endured a terrible start to the season, winning just three times in 12 games, which has seen manager Pochettino face scrutiny for the first time in five and a half years at the club.

However, the manager says he is not feeling the pressure as his hair hasn’t gone grey.

“The rumours happen in any club when you don’t win,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they are true and you need to care or pay attention about what has happened.

“But I understand it’s the business. I am 47 – look, why do you think that I don’t have white hair?

“Because I don’t pay attention to any of this. I only pay attention to what we need to do to improve our performance.”

Manwhile ex-Spurs star Martin Chivers is hoping Tottenham can get bacj to winning ways against Red Star Belgrade. The former Tottenham forward helped the north London club knock Red Star out of the 1972 UEFA Cup in the only other time the clubs have met.

But Chivers expects the Argentinian to turn things around.

“It is a must-win but I don’t think Red Star are the Red Star we played against,” he added. “There is a good chance we will go out next Tuesday and have a fantastic night.

“We are not as strong as we were. But I am sure the manager will get us back there, I have great faith in him. I am quite confident that we will come back.”

Chivers reckons the former Espanyol and Southampton boss deserves credit for the job he has done.

“Pochettino has got a lot to do before he is a Bill Nicholson but what he has done over the six years that he has been with us is something to get excited about,” he added.

“He has taken us nearly to the brink, he took us the Champions League final, we have touched it, but we have not won the games that Bill Nicholson did in his career.

“You just need that little bit of luck and a settled team because that is the secret we had.”

However Pochettino has admitted that the team are going throuhg a tough time, he said: “We are in a period where we are fragile like any team. In five years the team did a lot of good things, we put standards so high.

“Nearly all the players – 99 per cent of them – have enjoyed a good period at the club in the five and a half years we have been here. It had always been very positive so this, what is happening now, is a very new thing for us.

“But if you look at the history of Tottenham, now it looks normal for Tottenham to be in the Champions League but five years ago it wasn’t normal. We need to face a different period but the belief is there and the faith.

“It’s normal to have questions like, we train too much, we are tired, all the rumours that can appear. Our answer is to only laugh.”