Martin Keown claims Mauricio Pochettino is ‘trying to force’ certain Tottenham players to stay

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Tottenham Hotspur’s difficult week was ended by them securing a hard-fought win against Southampton.

Ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown has stunningly claimed that Mauricio Pochettino is ‘trying to force’ some of his wantaway Tottenham stars into signing contracts.

The BBC Sport pundit also claimed that Tottenham’s form is ‘a bit like Arsenal’s’ whereby they have a strong home record, but their problems lie away from North London.

On Saturday afternoon, Spurs recorded a much-needed three points against Southampton, with the home team also winning despite being down to 10 men.

Prior to that game, speaking to Football Focus on BBC One (28/09/2019 at 12:10 pm), Keown also stated that Pochettino needs to ‘put a lid on his public messages’ as he also claimed that the Argentine ‘wouldn’t mind’ going to Real Madrid, just like Eriksen.

“When you don’t win trophies, this is the fallout,” Keown told Football Focus. “You have got players as well and you talk about agendas. You have three players whose contracts run out at the end of the season. And obviously they want to go somewhere else.

“It seems like the manager is almost trying to force them into signing contracts. I think essentially these are good lads he has there, good people, but they maybe want to go elsewhere. I think Pochettino himself has been linked with Real Madrid. He has to pull all this together now and this could implode. They haven’t won an away game since January.

“It really hurts when you don’t feel that glory – they are the bridesmaids, aren’t they? The Champions League would have hurt them to the core. Eriksen, you can’t turn his head with money now. He now wants to go to Real Madrid. But the manager is saying that he wouldn’t mind going to Real Madrid either, he needs to put a lid on what his public messages are – they have gone a bit like Arsenal, dare I say it. Their home form is very good. It’s away from home [where their problems lie].”

Tottenham’s season has been marred with off-field problems, but on Saturday, they put all of that to bed by fighting their way to three points.

Playmaker Eriksen has been the player who has received most media limelight, with the Dane set to be out-of-contract in the summer [transfermarkt].

Whatever happens in January, or even next summer, Spurs fans will be hoping, at the very least, the current crop of players can guide them to a top-four finish once again.