Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier made his first Premier League start of the season at the weekend.
Tottenham have come in for fierce criticism in recent weeks, with their form since the start of the season very poor.
Spurs suffered a 3-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend, and the lack of effort on display was alarming.
Tottenham’s players were outrun and outfought by Brighton, as they slipped to another heavy defeat.
There have been widespread suggestions that Spurs’s players are now lacking motivation and not responding to Mauricio Pochettino’s words.
Tottenham’s squad have been together for a long time, as there has not been great changes made.
But Dier insists that all the rumours about the squad being unsettled are completely false.
“The stuff about the squad, I know that’s not the case,” Dier, who was once valued at £50 million (Guardian), said.
“But it’s natural these things will come up now because of the situation we find ourselves in.
“We are obviously going through a difficult period. Is saying it’s a crisis a bit too strong? No.
“If you lose like we’ve lost in these last two games, it’s normal. For us, this is the worst period we’ve been in, but we have to be all together and push through it.
“It’s the first time that we’ve found ourselves in this position, we can’t back down from it. We’ve got to push through it.”
Dier came back into Tottenham’s starting line-up in the Premier League for the first time this season on Saturday.
However, the Spurs midfielder failed to impress, meaning that he could lose his place again.
Tottenham are next in action after the international break, when they play host to Watford.
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