Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has insisted that his side must improve defensively as it has been a problem for them all season.
Spurs crashed out of the FA Cup on Wednesday night after losing a penalty shoot-out against Norwich City.
It comes amid mounting pressure on Jose Mourinho and his side as they continue to battle to keep up the pace in the battle for Champions League qualification.
With their FA Cup hopes over for this season, they will hope to overturn a 1-0 deficit against RB Leipzig in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie next week.
While many will arguably point towards their lack of goals, particularly with Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son currently sidelined due to injury, Vertonghen believes that they have to improve at the back.
“It is a big disappointment. We started well and I think we had chances to kill the game but we didn’t,” he said after the Norwich game, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“It’s definitely a fact that we don’t keep enough clean sheets, that we concede too many goals. Not just now, in the last week, it’s since the start of the season, even more than a year ago we started to concede too many goals. It’s a problem we need to solve.”
Given Tottenham have the joint-worst defensive record of the top 10 teams in the Premier League standings, having conceded 39 goals in their 28 league outings, the statistics would back up Vertonghen’s point.
With Burnley away on Saturday evening, it remains to be seen if they can put those issues right and keep things tight at the back to try to secure three crucial points.