Brad Friedel has called for some perspective after rejecting suggestions Spurs are feeling the pressure following their recent slump.
Spurs keeper urges perspective following last weekend's events
Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel has called for some perspective after rejecting suggestions Spurs are feeling the pressure following their recent slump.
Harry Redknapp's men narrowly avoided a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat on Wednesday night when Rafael van der Vaart's strike salvaged a 1-1 draw at home to Stoke.
That result saw Spurs slip to fourth in the table behind local rivals Arsenal ahead of Saturday's trip to Chelsea, having seen their imperious lead over the Gunners cut away over the past few weeks.
The near-miss against the Potters came on the back of a traumatic encounter with Bolton last weekend, when midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch at White Hart Lane during the FA Cup quarter-final game.
The Bolton player remains in intensive care in the London Chest Hospital and Friedel believes the incident brings a sense of perspective to Spurs' league struggles.
"Football is not pressure," he told the
London Evening Standard.
"It might be for some, if you want to heap the pressure on then that's you as an individual person. But you play football, it's a game.
Pressure
"We want to play well, we want to win but we all saw here last Saturday what pressure was. I've got three kids and raising them is far more pressure than a football match.
"I don't think it's about holding your nerve, it's about going out and enjoying yourself and expressing yourself because those are the type of players we have. It's continuing what we've been doing all season long. Sometimes you can play very poorly and win a game and then nobody says anything.
"But we've been playing really good football without getting the results we want.
"I'm not concerned at all and we will go into the Chelsea game confident, expecting a good result."
