“It’s a difficult time for us at the moment, we’re the only ones who can get ourselves out of here,” said the 27-year-old centre-back.

“It’s going to take hard work.

“There’s been a lot of change in personnel. We’ve lost two forwards, which is like 50-odd goals from your team, so it’s difficult to replace.

“New players have come in and it doesn’t always gel as quickly as you would like. It does take a little bit more time, but we do believe we have a very good squad, and when we get it right, we can start moving.”

Darren Bent is doing his best to make up for the loss of Spurs’ two main strikers.

Roman Pavlyuchenko was cup-tied against Wisla this week and Bent grabbed the winner, his third in as many matches.

“It’s a great opportunity for Darren because the two strikers have left who were playing a lot of minutes last season,” said head coach Juande Ramos.

“Darren is obviously getting more time on the pitch now and he’s got to demonstrate he can make up for the loss of Robbie Keane and Dimitar.

“He’s a goalscorer, he’s quick, he’s very good with his head. He is a very lethal striker in the last few metres leading up to the goal.

“I’ve got a broad knowledge of international footballers, so I knew who he was when he was at Charlton, but not in the same depth I know him now.”

Spurs are bottom of the Barclays Premier League and face Wigan on Sunday, where Emile Heskey is expected to be used to rattle Ramos’ defence.

However, the Spaniard said: “I only know what weapons Tottenham are going to use against Wigan. I don’t know what Wigan are going to use.”

Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka are back after being cup-tied in midweek, while Luka Modric has been struggling with a knee injury.