Alderweireld: West Ham loss a good “reality check”

There are a lot of annoyed Tottenham Hotspur fans, and undoubtedly a lot of upset people at the club too, after Spurs gave up a 2-0 second half lead, falling 3-2 to West Ham in the League Cup yesterday. But there’s evidence that at least some of the players are taking the long view on this loss. Toby Alderweireld said that the players involved are using last night’s loss as motivation and a means to stay sharp ahead of Spurs’ visit to Old Trafford this weekend.

"We were not flying or anything in our heads, but I think it's a good reality check. You still need to work very hard, even if you're 2-0 up, to get results. You have to keep the level up because if you drop it a little bit you see what happens. It's a good thing to learn.

"Of course we'd love to have won, but we don't have to be too dramatic about it. Next time we have to do better, and we focus on Saturday."

Toby seems to imply the players feel about the Carabao Cup about the same way that we do: that it’s pretty low on the priority list when it comes to goals and achievements this season. The Carabao Cup isn’t the Premier League. Heck, it isn’t even the FA Cup. While nobody likes to derp away a two goal lead against West Ham, in the grand scheme of things I think Toby would much rather lose here than see the team put in a bad shift at Old Trafford.

Some fans might view Toby’s “we don’t have to be too dramatic” comments as a little dismissive. However, after what was a really really good week for Tottenham, if this loss is a swift kick in the pants to keep the club from becoming complacent, that’s a pretty good thing and could pay dividends.