‘Alarm bells are ringing’ - Shay Given fears for Spurs before derby as Les Ferdinand demands ‘self-respect’ from players following Newcastle loss

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Former Tottenham striker Les Ferdinand said that the club's current squad could not continue to start games at such a slow pace after a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Tuesday. Fellow TNT Sports pundit Shay Given agreed, and said that blaming under-pressure manager Thomas Frank did not obscure poor showings from the squad.

Highlights: Newcastle end winless run with victory at troubled Spurs

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Shay Given and Les Ferdinand both made plain their disappointment in Tottenham's players despite pressure growing on manager Thomas Frank and the club’s hierarchy.

The Danish coach faces speculation that he will not be in place for Tottenham’s next match, a north London derby against their arch-rivals Arsenal on February 22.

Spurs slumped to 16th position in the table after a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle after another lacklustre first-half display, though they could point to 11 first-team players being out before either side had kicked a ball.

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Tottenham could soon find themselves credibly threatened by relegation. Given said that despite injuries - and despite questions levelled at Frank - the continued struggles spilling over from the previous season meant that players now needed to step up and not look for excuses.

"You ask, when do the players step up and are they bringing enough to the table?" Given said.

"First half, totally different reaction to the second half. They should start the game as they did in the second half. It's easy to blame Frank, the recruitment.

"Last season it was the same in the Premier League, well below par. Forget Thomas Frank for a second. You're starting to get worried. You don't want to get relegated, you don’t want that on your CV.

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"This is a special stadium. This is a fantastic place to play football. This won't be a fantastic place to play football in the Championship. The alarm bells are starting to ring.

"The next game is Arsenal in the north London derby. That's a huge game. Arsenal will be rubbing their hands together. It feels like they're on the ropes.

"It's become too easy to blame the manager. The players have to look in the mirror and ask if they're bringing enough to this football club, and I don't think they are."

Former Tottenham and Newcastle striker Ferdinand had similar thoughts, and said that players needed to come up with their own ways to improve their game.

Ferdinand said that while Frank had lost the confidence of many supporters, there was more than one factor at play.

"You heard the groans at the end of the game. The boos were very loud, and they have been all season," Ferdinand said.

"A lot of the supporters have lost faith in what Frank is doing here. Difficult because he's worked most of the season without any of his creative players.

"He's been really unfortunate in terms of that. But the performances at home just haven't been good enough, and that's what counts.

"If they've got any pride and self-respect, they'll know it's not just about the manager, it's about them as well.

"You can point the finger at the manager all the time. They need to look at themselves now, and they should have been looking at themselves all season and saying 'What should we do to get out of this situation?'

"It's been happening all season. The first-half performances have been nowhere near the performances in the second half. How can it be that you have to wait to go a goal down before you start performing?"

'I don't see way out for him' - Butt fears for Frank at Tottenham

TNT Sports pundits Nicky Butt, Michail Antonio and Karen Carney were left baffled by the situation at Tottenham and felt that there were deep-seated problems at the club.

Antonio thought that Frank looked under real pressure, and felt that the club could now be dragged into a relegation battle if things were not improved soon.

He said: "It's a man under pressure, but I could see inside he was boiling and just wanted to get off. The constant questions about him and his job, I could see... if I could swear right now, that was what he was basically saying.

"Tottenham are in a bad place. If West Ham won, they would have been three points behind Tottenham. It could easily be a relegation scrap for them. Because West Ham are performing.

"The fans are not happy, and the fans have not been happy for a while"

Butt agreed, and said that Frank was not the first highly-rated manager to come to Tottenham and struggle with the setup of the club above him.

'I don't see a way out' - Antonio and Butt on Frank 'boiling up' in interview

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He explained: "I think Thomas Frank is a fantastic manager, but I think that club has got an issue, something fundamentally above the manager. I don't know the ins and outs of that football club. They've had amazing managers and can't seem to get it right.

"Tottenham went to United last week, played unbelievably well with 10 men.

"I feel sorry for him, I don't see a way out for him really."

Carney returned to the idea that the players had failed to reach the required standard, particularly captain Cristian Romero, who is suspended for a further three games after his red card against United at the weekend.

"He alluded to that in his interview," she said of Frank, pointing out that he was not suffering from unfamiliar problems at Spurs. "It hasn't just been this season, it's been two seasons where the squad hasn't been capable of competing in Europe in the Premier League. Injuries have accumulated, 12 players are unavailable.

"Romero, your captain, gets sent off and is out for four days. He's probably thinking, 'What can I do here?' I think there needs to be a whole look at the football club."

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