Tottenham Hotspur took on Manchester United in the International Champions Cup this afternoon in Shanghai, losing out 2-1 to the Red Devils.
Just like in the win against Juventus earlier this week, Pochettino fielded a mixed team of senior regulars and academy starlets against the Premier League opposition.
Anthony Martial opened the scoring after Gazzaniga let the ball slip in at his near post, before a deflected Lucas Moura effort levelled things up in the second half.
Despite Tottenham dominance, a brilliant solo goal against the run of play from Angel Gomes saw United take all three points in the pre-season match.
While it was technically a friendly, the atmosphere on the pitch was anything but, with a number of late challenges flying in.
In particular, Moussa Sissoko crunched young Dan James a number of times, and even appeared to stamp on the Man United winger when he was down.
Pochettino has now apologised to Manchester United for some of the late challenges, and although he did not mention Sissoko, one would assume that the apology stemmed from the Frenchman’s actions.
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Poch said (Football London): “I was a little bit annoyed about some situations, I was not happy. It was a friendly game and in some situations of course when you are tired, when it’s so hot you are not right with the tempo to arrive at the actions, sometimes you arrive late and something can happen.
“I apologise on behalf of our players to Manchester United, I think in the second half they made it to us, but then it’s football. It wasn’t their intention, but sometimes when you are tired you arrive late and somethings can happen and I was worried because in this period of preparation it is sometimes you need to be aggressive and you need to play with passion but sometimes the focus is to build your fitness and develop the way you want to play.
“Of course I was worried, Manchester United, Eric Bailly got injured and I am sorry for that but he was alone and always when the players start to build their fitness and start to fight for their place in the team, when something happens in the pre-season it’s always tough and I was a little bit worried but in the second half the game was a bit more relaxed.”
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