Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli has admitted that the confidence has gone from the Spurs squad following their 3-0 defeat against RB Leipzig in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday night.
Trailing 1-0 after the first leg in London, Jose Mourinho’s side travelled to Germany in the hopes of mounting a comeback, but Marcel Sabitzer struck twice in 11 first-half minutes – with Hugo Lloris exhibiting questionable goalkeeping for both – before substitute Emil Forsberg rubbed salt in the wound, scoring the third with his first touch of the game.
The defeat means Spurs are now winless in six games across all competitions, and Alli has revealed that the mood is low in the Tottenham dressing room.
"It's devastating,” Alli said on BT Sport after the final whistle. “We had belief before the game, and we didn't perform. This is the Champions League, if you don't step up you will be punished.
"After the first one went in it didn't change much but we conceded too many chances as a team. It's hard to come back from those two goals. We had to show our maturity and fight and we didn't do that.
"We apologise to the fans, to go out and lose like that, they deserve better.
"We have to fight. We can't be in the position we are in in the league, we can't hide. This hasn't been a good season for us.
"The reality is we are in a bad situation, confidence has gone at the minute."
The 23-year-old alluded to his side’s injury woes, with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Steven Bergwijn all missing in attack, forcing the midfielder to play up front out of position.
However, he insisted that the lack of available personnel was no excuse for the manner of their exit.
"We can't use excuses, we still have quality on the pitch,” he continued. “We are missing good players but that happens. The players coming in have to step up and we haven't done that today.”
Tottenham, in addition to their European exit, have slipped to eighth in the Premier League table – having played a game more than bitter rivals Arsenal, who are just one point behind them – and were knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties by Norwich City, who are bottom of the league.
Their next game is a crunch clash against top-four rivals Manchester United at home on Sunday afternoon.