Villas-Boas defends Lloris after cup defeat

Andre Villas-Boas has avoided criticising goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after his error saw Spurs dumped out of the Capital One Cup at Norwich.

After the French international was preferred to Brad Friedel at Carrow Road, Lloris failed to deal with a Grant Holt header, leading to Simeon Jackson’s winner near the end of the match.

But the Portuguese boss refrained from blaming the 25-year-old for the mistake.

“He did extremely well in the game. He had a good solid performance. It is difficult for goalkeepers in situations like these,” Villas-Boas told reporters.

On the topic of the team’s shaky defence, though, Villas-Boas sounded more worried about the lack of form from his back four, insisting that they have to improve as a unit.

“It is obviously something that is in our mind at the moment. It is obviously difficult but the further you train these situations sometimes the worse it becomes,” he said.

“You cannot match the emotion and concentration players face during the game. We obviously have to do better and try to improve things for the next game.

“It’s a pity to see the game slip from our hands. We had a good performance.”