Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Ben Davies on Spurs' struggles: 'I think it's about being more street-wise'

LONDON -- Ben Davies has accused Tottenham of lacking street-smarts after familiar failings the 1-1 draw against Burnley, and says they must improve quickly after more frustration at Wembley.

Spurs followed the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea by conceding another late goal at the national stadium on Sunday, and they have now dropped five points in two games at their temporary home -- one more than they dropped in the whole of last season at White Hart Lane.

Last weekend, Victor Wanyama was caught in possession for Marcos Alonso's 87th-minute goal, as Spurs tried to play out from the back at 1-1. And against Burnley, they missed opportunities to run the ball into the corner before debutant Chris Wood found space between Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld to score in the second minute of stoppage-time.

Spurs finished the match with 68 percent of possession and 28 shots to Burnley's 13 and took the lead through Dele Alli's 49th-minute opener, and a frustrated Davies believes they need to be cleverer to see out matches.

"It's just simple things. I think it's about being more street-wise sometimes, just slowing the game down," the Wales international said. "It's not always about going for the second goal.

"Sometimes you just have to slow it down, put it into the corners a little bit more and not always look to play the perfect game. Sometimes you have to be a bit scrappy to get through these games.

"It's disappointing to concede late again. We should have managed the game better. We have to learn our lessons quickly."

Spurs have now won just once in eight attempts at Wembley under Mauricio Pochettino and, asked if Spurs were struggling to adjust to landmarks around the stadium, he said: "It's Wembley -- you can't see anything around the ground. It's a big stadium.

"No, I don't think so. We've played enough games here now. If we'd held on for another couple of minutes then it's a nice win and it's a totally different outlook on it all. We're going to get used to it, we're going to pick up points here I'm sure this year. It's just about getting our focus on the next game."

Pochettino prefers his players to play out from the back in every situation, while the club has a reputation, dating back decades, for entertaining, attractive football.

Davies does not want to see a change to Spurs' style but he suggested that playing ugly could be beneficial at times.

"I don't think it needs to change -- we play football the right way and we always will try that," he said. "But in those last five minutes of games you just have to manage it a bit better, go a bit long sometimes. But other games we'd have scored three or four and it could have been a totally different outcome.

"We've all been in games where we've been in those situations before, and we've come out on the winning sides plenty of times. It's just today it didn't work out for us."

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