Totteham Hotspur Midfielder Paulinho Admits Struggles Under Tim Sherwood

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paulinho is refusing to be held accountable for the club's expected failure to qualify for the Champions League after admitting he is struggling to adapt to Tim Sherwood's management style since Andre Vilas-Boas' mid-season departure.

After being a crucial figure under Villas-Boas during the first half of the season following his summer move from Corinthians, Paulinho has failed to make an impact under Sherwood amid sporadic injury problems which forced him out for a month with an ankle injury while his absence for the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool was due to an eye problem.

But when fit and available, 19 year old Nabil Bentaleb has been preferred ahead of Paulinho of late, with the 25 year old reduced to a role from the bench in the games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Southampton in March.

Paulinho is expected to be part of Luis Felipe Scolari's Brazil squad for the summer's World Cup finals, but falling out of favour for his club could threaten lose his place in the hosts' starting eleven, with Sherwood unconcerned by his international aspirations.

And Paulinho admitted: "It is difficult, of course, when the manager who signed you and who brought you here to play after just a little time loses his job.

"It is hard because of the connection you have, but all you can do is try and do your job to the best of your ability and try to impress the manager who has come in and hope he wants a player with your characteristics.

"It is hard to know the style of every player and how they want to handle things. But I can only speak with respect for him – every manager has their approach, their philosophy, their way of talking, a different opinion.

"I speak with him about training, about tactics, positioning. I do not feel rattled by the fact he is still learning his job."

Recruited by Sherwood during his time as Spurs technical co-ordinator, Bentaleb was plucked from obscurity to become a regular for Tottenham having start 10 of the club's last 12 league games.

Despite becoming Tottenham's record signing at the time of his £17m move from his Brazilian homeland, Paulinho is unconcerned by Bentaleb's rise.

"It is not hard for me, no, because we are different players," he added. "We do different things, have a different style. He is playing very well, so it does not worry me. It will not go through my head to worry about it."

With Louis van Gaal expected to replace Sherwood in a reaction to Tottenham's expected failure to qualify for the Champions League, Paulinho faces another summer of upheaval.

The north Londoners made Paulinho one of seven new signings in the summer transfer window amid the departure of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid but the new additions have made a limited impact in their maiden season at White Hart Lane.

But Paulinho is refusing to shoulder any blame from Tottenham's disappointing campaign as one of the underperforming new signings.

"We are prepared for that [criticism]," he explained. "The foreign players were signed by the club and they are not playing often.

"The foreigners were playing at certain moments. If we do not reach the Champions League then we should not speak about foreign players.

"It is not the responsibility of just the foreign players. I take responsibility for what I do, and it is up to all of us to do the same. Everybody has to know what they did. When we lose, we all lose together."

Paulinho was speaking at Hertforshire University as the Brazil Football Confederation, Gatorade and Gatorade Sports Science Institute confirmed an exclusive relationship ahead of the 2014 World Cup.