Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen confirms player inquest into how Spurs can recover from Manchester City thrashing

The 6-0 defeat on Sunday was their worst for 17 years but Vertonghen is targeting a return to form when they take on Manchester United next weekend

Jan Vertonghen attempts to stop Samir Nasri during Tottenham's 6-0 defeat to Manchester City (GETTY IMAGES)

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has admitted that the players will hold an inquest into how they can get their season back on track following the embarrassing 6-0 demolition at the hands on Manchester City on Sunday.

The defeat represented Spurs’ biggest Premier League loss for 17 years, with pressure increasing on manager Andre Villas-Boas as he searches for a way to get his squad firing on all cylinders following the £100m-plus investment in the summer.

The Evening Standard reports that Vertonghen has admitted the squad need to find to motivation to regroup and bounce back when they take on City’s fierce rivals Manchester United this weekend, having seen Jesus Navas begin the onslaught at the Etihad Stadium after just 14 seconds.

“We need to talk now with the group and get ourselves motivated to bounce back in the next few games,” said the defender.

“Of course we didn’t play well against Manchester City but we’re better than this and we can sort the problems out by talking and bouncing back on Sunday against Man United.

“It’s a good thing that we’re playing against them next. We play at home and I know we have the support of our crowd and we’ll be able to win the game on Sunday.”

The defeat not only saw Spurs fail to score for the third League game in a row but also concede as many goals in one League match as they had in their previous 11.

They fell behind in farcical circumstances after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who was making his first appearance for the club since recovering from concussion, cleared straight to Sergio Aguero and the ball was eventually turned in by Jesus Navas.

But Vertonghen admits the whole team have to take responsibility for the defeat and added: “We came here with a good motivation to get a good result but to concede a goal after a few seconds was a bad thing if you want to win.

“We did well after that but then we conceded a second and it was a difficult game for us after that.

“They scored very easily, we gave at least three or four goals away too easily. That was our own fault. City are a very strong team but I’d love to play this game again next week because we’re better than this. We were very disappointed when we came off the pitch because we felt we could do something here.”