“It’s a thing that worried me” – Poch reveals what made him nervous after loss

It looked to be the perfect return to the Premier League for Tottenham yesterday during the first 45 minutes of action at St Mary’s.

Spurs created chance after chance, pegging the Saints back into their defensive third and giving little away in the terms of counter attacks.

Tottenham were wasteful when opportunities presented themselves to our players. The woodwork was also struck twice and spurned a whole host of chances before Harry Kane finally gave them the lead.

Going into the halftime break, many would have expected Spurs to have picked up where they left off but the second half was a polar opposite.

Southampton got their act together and showed some fighting spirit in their battle against relegation to turn the game around, while Spurs simply rolled over.

The energy was lost from Spurs’ rampant first half form and defensively were all at see to allow the Saints to take all three points.

Pochettino admitted in his post match press conference that he was concerned (Football London): “I think my reaction is the same as yours and our fans. It’s difficult to understand the second half, the way that we started the second half and the way that we gave the belief to Southampton. I feel so disappointed. It’s too difficult in this level of competition like the Premier League when you are much, much better than your opponent and after 45 minutes you create a lot of chances and you dominate the game, I don’t understand why we change in the way that we change. Of course it’s too difficult to accept that. It’s a thing that worried me.

“I think it’s collective football, it’s about mentality. The spirit of the collective. When you play well it’s because the 11 players on the pitch and the seven on the touchline are connected with the same level or energy. Of course after 45 minutes to lose the momentum you need to translate the momentum to the second half and finish the game and kill the game.

“It was a game that we need to spend time here, it’s going to be easier, okay the opponent didn’t show too much, they didn’t fight too much, fight for survival in the Premier League and I think that we showed a lack of aggression and hunger to kill the game and win.”

Related Topics