Sherwood pins blame on new signings for Spurs' loss to Southampton

Ex-Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood has piled in on new signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur, blaming the duo for the club's shock defeat by Southampton. 

Spurs missed the chance to move up to sixth and just one point off the Champions League places in the Premier League table after two late goals in three minutes secured a 3-2 victory for Ralph Hasenhuttl's men.

Winger Kulusevski and midfielder Bentancur - who joined on transfer deadline day last month from Juventus on 18-month loan and permanent deals respectively - were once again named on the bench on Wednesday night.

Bentancur came on for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, 10 minutes before Son Heung-min put the hosts 2-1 ahead in the 70th minute, while Kulusevski replaced Lucas Moura 14 minutes from the end of regulation time.

Kulusevski's introduction came four minutes prior to Mohamed Elyounoussi's equaliser and then Che Adams' 82nd-minute winner.

And speaking to Premier League Productions via The Mirror, former Spurs boss Sherwood slammed the duo - who made their Spurs debut in the weekend's FA Cup fourth-round win against Brighton - insisting they 'changed the game' for the worse. 

'In the end, the best team beat the best players. Southampton were quality. They knew, in possession and out-of-possession,' he said.

'They had a game plan. I thought their game plan was a lot better than Tottenham's. You look at the attempts. 23 attempts to Tottenham's eight? I thought they deserved the game.

'It's not about holding on. Antonio [Conte] needs to get better control of the football match. Then you don't have to hold on. You can't just rely on holding on and gamesmanship just to preserve your three points.

'I think he [Conte] has done a brilliant job since he has been in