Tottenham boss Cristian Stellini brushed away a question about his future after his side were humiliated by Newcastle on Sunday afternoon.
Spurs were thrashed 6-1 at St James’ Park in a shambolic performance which led club captain Hugo Lloris to apologise to fans for a “very embarrassing” game. The away side started atrociously and were blown away inside the opening stages by their top-four rivals.
Jacob Murphy opened the scoring inside two minutes and Newcastle did not let their foot off the gas, racing into a 5-0 lead after 21 minutes. Murphy and Alexander Isak both scored twice, while Joelinton also found the back of the net.
Harry Kane pulled a goal back after half-time before Callum Wilson rounded off a miserable away trip for Spurs. The result left Spurs in fifth, six points adrift of the Champions League places, and drifting towards the end of the season.
Stellini has been in charge of the team since Antonio Conte was sacked on March 26. The Italian was Conte’s assistant and knows he has no chance of being given the manager’s role on a full-time basis.
The possibility that he might be sacked and replaced did not seem to concern Stellini. Asked if future in doubt, he told Sky Sports: "I have no answer for this. This is not a question for me."
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Tottenham are searching for a new manager, with former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann, ex-Barcelona and Spain boss Luis Enrique and Feyenoord’s Arne Slot among those linked with the role. Stellini has overseen one win, one draw and two defeats from his four matches in charge and was forced to front up after opting to change tactics and field a back-four.
“It went so badly because we were not prepared enough to play an important match,” he said. “We have a good squad I think, but nobody showed how we are good. It was my responsibility to decide the system for the game and we decided to defend differently because we had many injured and we had Ben Davies and [Clement] Lenglet who could maybe play 15 minutes. But this is my responsibility to make this type of decision. I took it, and it was wrong.
“I take responsibility because when I changed the system the game was already gone. We played better, we scored, we tried to fight. It’s very difficult to understand why the first 25 minutes was so bad.
“We were not prepared to play this type of tough game. To be prepared means to be ready to suffer, to be ready to control the space and be ready to fight. But this? We were not prepared.
“We had a good mood before the game, but if you don’t show your mood during the game, then you are not prepared. Maybe the system being changed created a different idea between me and what the players thought.”
