Pochettino reacts to the hard-fought win against Southampton – ‘I feel proud’

Pochettino says that he is proud of the way his team performed in difficult circumstances today at home to Southampton.

While Spurs would have been clear favourites to win the game at the new White Hart Lane, they certainly looked anything but at one point in the match.

New recruit, Tanguy Ndombele, swept home a well-deserved goal in the first-half after a slow start to the match from Spurs.

However, everything took a turn for the worse when Serge Aurier managed to pick up two yellow cards within four minutes of each other, earning himself his marching orders.

Again, just moments later, Hugo Lloris saw his Cruyff turn go horribly wrong, handing Danny Ings a tap in on the goal line to make it 1-1.

At 1-1, with the Saints on top, Spurs down to ten men, and the crowd demoralised, it seemed as if the game was Southampton’s for the taking.

However, Spurs grabbed another goal after a superb breakaway just before the break, before defending for their lives in the second 45 to earn all three points.

Poch has now spoken of his pride (Football London): “To be honest I am not surprised about the character of the team. We have the character. Sometimes we need to realise that every time we compete we have to use this character in different circumstances. In some games, we struggle to show that, but we have an amazing squad, and amazing players. A few months ago we played in the Champions League final, not because of luck, it was because we fully deserved to be there. We cannot have changed too much in a few months.

“I feel proud. I was so happy for them, my players, my squad, we have unbelievable players, only we needed to recover the spirit that we showed today.

“The game was fantastic because 1-0 up and Serge sent off and we start to play with 10 men and then we concede a goal 1-1. Then we scored with one less and 2-1 and how we fought in the second half against a very good team like Southampton, to keep the clean sheet in 45 minutes I think showed that we have an amazing spirit, we are all together. That is the point to start to work and keep going and be consistent in the future.”

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