One mistake will not force a change of playing style insists Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham Hotspur were 1-0 up and in control against Southampton at the new stadium on Saturday when Serge Aurier and Hugo Lloris decided to shoot themselves in the foot… twice.

First up, Aurier picked up two yellow cards in the space of four minutes to send himself down the tunnel early and leave his teammates with just ten men.

Then, to make matters worse, Hugo Lloris decided to dwell on the ball instead of clearing it downfield, before attempting and failing a Cruyff turn that left Danny Ings with an easy tap in.

Spurs suddenly went from 1-0 up and comfortable to 1-1 with ten-men and fighting for a result. Fortunately, a brilliant breakaway provided a much-needed second strike and some expert defending saw out the win.

Despite being caught out at the back for a reluctance to hoof the ball, Pochettino insists that he won’t change the way Spurs play off the back of one mistake.

He said (Football London): “That is a situation that happens in football but the philosophy and the ideas are bigger than from one mistake to change everything or one action we are going to change the ideas. I see no point.

“Of course, that situation happened but it happened when the striker misses a goal or some player misses a penalty or misses a pass, that is the same type of mistake that happens, and in my opinion or judgement it is the same. Can cost a goal, can cost not scoring a goal, but that is football. It can happen, it’s an action but we forget and the player will forget now. Let’s move on.

“I think you saw my reaction and approach. Football is all about mistakes and I don’t want to say anything in case you compare with another manager or different coaching staff. Football is about mistakes and you are never going to stop the mistakes. You can train, but football.

“For me I was a professional footballer and for me to be on the pitch only he who is there knows what it is to play under this stress and pressure. That’s why I understand completely when a player is not as good as you expect. This situation happened in the past, in the present and is going to happen. No one is going to stop this kind of situation that you are going to change in football.

“I am never going to talk about that. A lot I say to them: I allow you to make the mistake because it means you are trying, when you’re not trying it’s impossible to make the mistake. If you don’t make a mistake you are not too much involved in the game. That is the difference of how we assess the players and their performance.”

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know