What Pochettino said to Luke Amos before he made his Premier League debut

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed the words he spoke to Luke Amos after the midfielder made his Premier League debut.

I’m sure we all agree that for those who watched the International Champions Cup matches that Amos was one of the star performers of the tournament in the USA.
After impressing in the States, Amos was given the opportunity to be named among the substitutes for Saturday’s Premier League opener at Newcastle United and was given a surprise cameo off the bench.

It looked initially that striker Fernando Llorente was set to come on, but Eric Dier, who had only returned to the club on Monday following his World Cup exploits was suffering with cramp in the 88th minute which forced Pochettino in changing his substitute choice to Amos.

“He was so relaxed and calm and I said ‘Come on, you need to show energy’,” Pochettino told Football.London. “He was so calm and relaxed and I said to him you just play how you know how to play, easy and enjoy. Football is about enjoyment.”

The Spurs boss has no qualms in integrating his youth talent into first-team action, if they are going to prove their worth.

“It was important for us to provide good balance to the team, try to assess the squad, the possibility that we had to play. Of course the players are going to have a process to improve in their fitness,” he said.

“But we are in the competition and in the competition if players like the young ones like Luke Amos deserve to be on the bench and maybe play, they are going to play.

“You know me. It’s not because they were at the World Cup that they are going to play in the team. That is the most important thing.

“If we want to win and challenge for big things we need to all put our minds and energy into the collective and understand that the collective is the most important. If some individuals’ goals or targets are the priority for them then sure they are not going to help the team and sure that is why they are going to be out of the pitch and the squad.”