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Tottenham is still a happy camp, insists Toby Alderweireld

<span>Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Toby Alderweireld has rejected suggestions that Tottenham’s players are unhappy under José Mourinho, joking that if anything the squad is “too nice” and stressing it is their responsibility to deal with the heightened expectations around the club.

Spurs overcame Norwich 2-1 on Wednesday to end a four-game winless run in the Premier League but rarely looked convincing and the result came after a report that senior players were frustrated over the manager’s training methods. Mourinho was repeatedly at pains to refer to his side as a “family” after the game and that sentiment was echoed by Alderweireld, along with his teammate Eric Dier.

“I can say with my hand on my heart there’s no negativity,” Alderweireld said. “We have an unbelievable group. I think we have such nice guys. Maybe we are too nice, you know? That’s maybe the problem! But no, everyone is very happy with the manager, the way we train.”

Related: Tottenham in surprise talks to sign Real Sociedad striker Willian José

Dier, who came on as a second-half substitute for the injured Harry Winks against Norwich, admitted that results had affected the atmosphere but asserted that morale remained high.

“Any club, when results aren’t going well, is not a happy atmosphere,” he said. “But it definitely isn’t a negative atmosphere. I don’t feel anything along those lines personally and I think everybody has been training very well, training hard, enjoying themselves in the same way as always.”

Tottenham sit sixth in the Premier League, six points off the Champions League spots, and while it is a position the club might have craved in the not too distant past Alderweireld is acutely aware that demands have shifted markedly.

“I think we’ve been so consistent the last four or five years, so it’s a little bit human sometimes to drop a little bit,” he said. “Not that you want to drop or anything like that. But sometimes it doesn’t go your way and we have to find a way to get back to our level. But on the other hand I think we are fifth [sic] now so we’re not doing so bad.

“It’s the next step that this club has taken whereby if you are fifth [sic] everyone is not happy, so that’s positive as well. So again, no negativity. I don’t know where that’s come from. Maybe there’s a player that’s not happy and maybe he wants to say something, it’s all possible. But from 99% I’m telling you we’re happy with the group.”

One of the less appetising facets of Wednesday’s victory was another frosty reception for Christian Eriksen when the playmaker continued what seems to be a protracted goodbye with an appearance from the bench. Eriksen was jeered but Dier believes it is no way to treat his teammate of five and a half years.

“There is nothing negative you could say about Christian,” he said. “I have been here almost as long as he has and he has always handled himself in the best way. He has always been one of the most professional players I have known and one of the best players at Tottenham on the most consistent basis.

“When you look, he has probably played the most games in that period … whatever he has done, he has done with the best intentions. So he does not deserve that from anyone.”