Tottenham Hotspur captain Younes Kaboul has slammed the performance of his team following Sunday's defeat at home to Newcastle United.

Emmanuel Adebayor gave the hosts a first-half lead at White Hart Lane, but Newcastle scored twice after the break to hand Spurs a second successive loss in the Premier League.

With Tottenham now languishing in 11th place in the table, Kaboul believes that he and his teammates have a lot of hard work ahead of them if they want to climb up the standings.

"We have to be braver and more focused. At this level there is no mercy. If you're not focused, brave and ready, you pay the price," he is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard. "After the equaliser we looked defeated on the pitch.

"We need to be more consistent and regular and more mature on the pitch. It's about knowing how to control the game, kill the game, knowing how to defend all together in certain phases of the game and to be more confident, too."

Tottenham can get back to winning ways on Wednesday when they host Brighton & Hove Albion in round four of the League Cup.