LONDON (AFP) - Tottenham Hotspur players held a heated two-hour debate about how to save their campaign after their 4-0 thrashing by Chelsea, Brazilian midfielder Sandro said.

The Premier League defeat on Saturday dealt a heavy blow to Spurs' chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League and prompted manager Tim Sherwood to publicly question the "character" of his squad.

Spurs had previously lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool and been beaten 6-0 and 5-1 by Manchester City.

Sandro said the Chelsea defeat - which left Spurs in fifth place four points behind City who have games in hand - prompted often "stressed" exchanges between the Tottenham stars.

"We spent more than two hours in a meeting amongst the players and we said what we had to say," he said, ahead of the first leg of Spurs' Europa League last-16 tie against Benfica on Thursday.

"From now on, we know that we all have to listen when anyone says something. It was after the manager's conference with the press.

"We had a meeting with the players. Sometimes one player got a bit more stressed out and we tried to calm him down and talk in a nice way. We spent about two hours that way. Every player had their fair share to say, put it that way. We all spoke amongst ourselves.

"For me, to be honest, it helped a lot because now I can go and tell another player, and another player can tell me. The manager likes it. Everyone can go for it now, and I think it will help.

"I think that is positive from ourselves and we have to show in the next match that we can do much better. And we will prove that. I am sure we will show much more character in the next matches."