The reason why Pochettino believes his Spurs side lost against Girona

Mauricio Pochettino believed that jetlag was to blame for Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 defeat at Girona yesterday evening.

It is a clever move by Pochettino to take the focus off his young crop of players who struggled against the side who finished ninth in La Liga last season by instead citing the fact that his players have only recently returned from their involvement in the International Champions Cup in the USA.

We all understand that the side which faced Girona wasn’t even close to being a first or second Tottenham XI, and the boss believes that there was still positives to take from the match, despite the heavy scoreline.

In reality, none of the youngsters are likely to be involved in the squad for Saturday’s Premier League opener at Newcastle United.

Tottenham’s World Cup stars including Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld are all set to report back for duty at training tomorrow.

“I am so happy because at the end it’s a lot of positive things,” Pochettino told Sky Sports.

“We cannot see only the result – there were a lot of conditions to play, it was so hot, we feel jet lagged because 48 hours ago we were in America and that is why for me it’s important to say thank you to all the young players because they were fantastic.

“To have this type of game against a top-level Spanish team is always important for them. At 17, 18, 19 years old, to have the possibility to play with the first team – I think it’s fantastic.”

“The last thing is the result – sometimes you need to feel disappointed and sad but we are in a different direction and way than after the games against Roma, Barcelona and AC Milan (in America),” he added.

“In the context that we played today, the game was very useful for us and there are many positive things to take.”