Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Spurs are currently straggling behind their rivals following a harrowing 3-0 defeat to the riches of Manchester City.
In last night’s International Champions Cup fixture against Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur were put the sword by Pep Guardiola’s side and ultimately had to count themselves lucky they only lost 3-0.
Speaking after the game, Mauricio Pochettino admitted that Tottenham have fallen behind their rivals over the course of the pre-season, but reiterated that Spurs were working hard to bring the squad up to speed. He said:
“Of course, Man City have more senior players than us and they invest more money than us. You can see that we have a lot of young players on the bench.”
“It’s true the squads are completely different but we are building the squad. Maybe today they have a little bit of an advantage, they are ahead of us because they have signed and kept the players that they want.”
“We are a little bit behind but working hard to sign some players who can help us and bring some energy, and make us more competitive.”
Tottenham were also beaten in their previous fixture against Roma and now only have one warm-up game left before the start of the new season, against Juventus at Wembley on the 5th of August.
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Pochettino however insisted that the focus of the Argentine’s pre-season is still on fitness, not performances and results.
“We prioritised training,” He added. “And tried to get fit, over the result, as I told you before Paris Saint-Germain and Roma.”
“It’s true you want to win but Manchester City was better than us, showed better quality. We lost and deserved to lose, and they deserved to win.”
“It’s not trying to justify, for me they were better, but our main players 14 days ago started training and it’s very difficult to get fit if you only focus on playing games.”
“We pushed a lot to train to train and develop our physical condition. Yesterday it was a tough training session and we knew it would be difficult to compete with City, who have a lot of quality.”
The Spurs gaffer then went on to confirm that defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama is a doubt for Tottenham’s opening clash at St James’ Park against Newcastle United due to an injury in his left knee. He said:
“He played against PSG and he suffered a small problem in his cartilage in his left knee. But sure, for next week, he will be available to train again.”
“We need to see how he develops and how he is next week when we come back to London.”
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