Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has revealed what he's told his players over their sudden form slide.
Postecoglou is urging his squad to "embrace" the tough times.
"I have been there and I have the benefit of experience. I've been through this many times. So I know, unequivocally, what we need to do," said Postecoglou ahead of Spurs' match against Newcastle United. "But for a lot of these guys, it's the first time and I'm always mindful of that wherever I've been. That's why I know that invariably, sometimes it's happened at the beginning of my tenure, sometimes it happened in the middle, sometimes at the end of the first season, but always in the first season there are challenges.
"Players need to go through that and come out the other side and see that 'okay, we've survived that. It hasn't killed us, we're still going, we're still alive, we're still up for it', right? Then if anything it can make us stronger going forward, but obviously, I have the benefit of that experience. The players don't and my role in this is to guide them through it. I know how we get through this, and I know what the road ahead looks like."
He added: "But they've got to go through it themselves and find out about it themselves. Do they want to be part of this because it's not gonna get any easier. That's the one thing I keep telling them.
"There's never going to be a time where it's going to be smooth, not while I'm at the club. Even when things are going well. I'm going to be pushing for us to be better. I'm going to be pushing for us to improve and pushing for us to bring success to this football club. So there's never going to be a time where they can feel any sort of comfort that things are going to run smoothly.
"So the more they embrace this side of it the better and it's a great time for me to be somewhere, apart from the beginnings this is where I'm most alert, not just with the players with the staff, everyone at the football club. How is everyone reacting to this? It gives me a good indicator about what we need to do going forward."