LONDON -- Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has taken responsibility for his team's slump and says he can deal with the criticism coming his way. But he pointed out that he could soon be flavour of the month again if Spurs' reverse their poor form, starting at Watford on Saturday.
Spurs have taken just four points from their past five league games and last season's runners-up have slipped to seventh, closer to bottom-club Crystal Palace than runaway leaders Man City.
Pochettino accused his players of lacking "fight" in Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Leicester, their third consecutive league game without a win, but he says the blame for poor results ultimately lies with him.
"Always the responsibility is mine. But not because I want to protect the players or I want to be the victim," Pochettino told a news conference.
"But because always [there] is one person who needs to analyse [the poor results] and accept [them] and try afterwards to be better for the team, to perform better and win. That is the objective.
"It is so difficult because we take defeats so personally. When we win, I feel okay but when we lose it is like I am responsible. I don't like to share the responsibility of the defeat."
Pochettino added that he occasionally wants to "be alone" for days after a defeat but said it was his responsibility to show "the right message, the right emotion" to his players and staff.
"You can show you are upset and angry but always be careful because you are going to affect the team," he said.
Pochettino has been widely praised since moving to the Premier League with Southampton in 2013 but he is facing as much scrutiny ahead of the short trip to Vicarage Road as at any time in England.
Questions about his tactics, dismissive attitude towards the domestic cups and controversial autobiography -- written as the manager's diary of last season with journalist Guillem Balague -- have all been raised during Spurs' bad spell.
The Argentine insists he can handle the criticism, and says this is not the first time he has taken flak.
"When I was a player I felt it. As a manager at Espanyol too. The media criticised me a lot. When you don't win, you are not safe and it is normal to be criticised when you don't win," he said.
"I think [I handle it] very good. Of course, we are all agreed that always it is better to hear the good things -- the praise, the love -- but you always learn when people criticise you.
"Sometimes you can say it's fair, it is not fair but it makes you have more perspective and find different options or ways to be better, to improve and it is so important to take in a good balance is important."
But he added that he could soon be receiving plaudits again, saying: "In the summer, there was not too much expectation. Then the team started doing well and we beat Real Madrid, Liverpool and again the expectation was amazing.
"And then a few results didn't arrive and after the defeat against Arsenal, it's all negative again. In a few weeks, it can change again. A few weeks ahead, maybe we win, win, win, win, and maybe we are in the top four, and we are going to talk in a different way. That is football."