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London - Mauricio Pochettino has insisted a book he has published about his time at Tottenham Hotspur cannot be blamed for the north London club's recent dip in form.
Tuesday's 2-1 loss to Leicester City meant Spurs have now won just once in their last five Premier League games.
The slump has seen Tottenham drop to seventh in the table and they are now a huge 16 points behind leaders Manchester City, with Spurs' hopes of being crowned champions of England for the first time since 1961 now unlikely to be realised this season.
This run of poor results has also coincided with the publication of Pochettino's book 'Brave New World', which chronicles the Argentinian manager's time in charge at the club.
When Spurs great Glenn Hoddle published a diary while still England manager after the 1998 World Cup, he was widely criticised by both players and pundits alike for breaching the confidences of his squad.
But Pochettino was adamant his book had not caused similar disruption, saying the Tottenham players knew where they stood with him, even though since the first extracts were released in the middle of October they have won only four of their 10 games compared to eight victories in 11 prior to publication.
"The problem is when you lie, no? When you lie inside and you want to show that you are different," Pochettino said. "But for me I am here how I am inside, and all that has appeared in this book the players know better than me. There is nothing to hide."
Pochettino also appeared to indicate that any players looking to blame Spurs' woes on the book would get very short shrift.
"We won a lot of games when the book appeared," the former Southampton manager added. "I'm more than happy if the book is the problem, it's easy -- on the bench or out of the list."
