Spurs will put things right after Manchester mauling, says defender Dawson

Michael Dawson calls it his ‘worst day in a Tottenham shirt’ — a ‘humiliating’ 6-0 defeat at Manchester City that he could not even bear to watch on Match of the Day a few hours later.

The Spurs skipper is desperate to wash away the hurt on Sunday against Manchester United to help alleviate some of the pressure on his young manager, Andre Villas-Boas, whose long-term future at White Hart Lane is said to be in jeopardy.
Dawson insists the Portuguese has the full support of the players, many of whom arrived in a £100million summer spending spree to counter the exit of Gareth Bale. 

Confident: Tottenham captain Michael Dawson, who was speaking at the unveiling of the new Calling All Spurs photo mural inside the players' tunnel at White Hart Lane, believes the team can bounce back from the 6-0 loss to Manchester City

Manchester misery: Dawson and his team-mates were thrashed 6-0 at City

Under pressure: Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas saw his team lose heavily at City and questions have been asked about his tenure at Spurs since

‘We’re all pulling in the same direction,’ said Dawson. ‘We all want the same things. The manager’s 36 and he wants to be successful, like we do as players, and he wants to lead us to that success.’
Tottenham fans will find out on Sunday if the thumping by City was a blip rather than a sign of deeper problems. It affected them in an area of the pitch where they have previously been strong, with more clean sheets (seven) than any other Premier League side.
‘Losing any match is hard but to get humiliated — and that’s how it felt — it was my worst day in a Tottenham shirt,’ said Dawson. ‘You can’t describe how you feel after losing like that.
‘We know we’ve got to go out there and perform —and we’ve got to do it better than we did it last Sunday. I usually watch Match of the Day, but  I couldn’t last week. You can’t enjoy that.’

Too much to handle: Dawson attempts to hold up City's Sergio Aguero but the hosts were rampant

New surroundings: Spurs sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for £85.3million and have used the money to bring a host of players in

What is going wrong at Spurs?

1. They are struggling for goals
Spurs have kept seven clean sheets this season, more than any other team in the Premier League, but they are one of just five sides yet to hit double figures in goals scored. Failure to score on Sunday will equal their worst ever run of games without scoring in PL history (four games in Feb 2001 & Sept 2006).
2. But they are creating chances
Only Manchester City (20) and Liverpool (18) have created more ‘big chances’ (where the player is expected to score) than Spurs (17). They have also created the most goal chances (164) so far and have had the most shots (168) before Saturday’s matches.

Dawson reaffirmed his comments from the start of the season that the Spurs squad, bolstered by the summer signings of seven players costing £107m, were the strongest in his time at the club he joined from Nottingham Forest in 2005.
‘We spent heavily,’ said Dawson, ‘and six weeks ago everyone was talking about how well we’d started with all the players we’ve brought in, how we’d gelled so quickly.
‘Now we’ve had a few bad results, everyone’s saying otherwise. You can’t get carried away when things are going great and also on the other  side when things aren’t going so great.’
The 30-year-old insisted that a Premier League title was still a possibility for Spurs.
‘At the start of the season our aim was to be in the Champions League and to win a trophy,’ said Dawson. ‘Things haven’t changed just because we’ve lost heavily to Man City. We still believe we can finish in the top four.
‘We’ve got West Ham in the Capital One Cup — a trophy we want to do well in — and we’ve qualified for the Europa League, so we’re still fighting in all competitions.’

Low point: Dawson can't hide his disappointment at the 6-0 loss to City but says Spurs will bounce back

When he leads his players down the tunnel today, Dawson will walk past a newly-installed mural with the faces of 2,500 Spurs fans looking out from it as part of the club’s ‘Calling all Spurs’ campaign by their sponsor, Under Armour.
‘The players know full well the passion that our fans have for this club,' he said.

'As well as the thousands cheering us on from the stands, this mural is a reminder to us of all of those that are backing us from around the world through their TV screens.’

Good memory: Spurs won 3-2 at Manchester United and Bale scored one of the goals

Dawson is still captured by the magic of hosting United. ‘It’s obviously one of the first games you look for,’ said Dawson.
‘It’s no different now and they’re the champions. Last year we had two big results against them — 3-2 at Old Trafford, the first time we’d won there since 1989 — and we took the draw here with a late goal from Clint Dempsey, so we’ll be preparing for this one the same as we did last year.
‘We’ve had the hurt and humiliation of City, but we’ve got to move on now. It’s still there, but there’s no moping around.  It’s preparing for the game and hopefully putting things right.’

 

Tottenham captain and Under Armour athlete Michael Dawson was speaking at the unveiling of the new Calling All Spurs photo mural inside the players’ tunnel at White Hart