Having overcome our latest little wobble ending our back to back defeats with a draw against Arsenal and a hard fought victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Tottenham Hotspur faced Southampton back in Premier League action earlier today.
Making the trip to his former club and St Mary’s Stadium, manager Mauricio Pochettino was looking for another victory in the 2018/19 campaign and Spurs started brightly. Dominating the opening 45 minutes we did only have Harry Kane’s effort in the 26th minute to show for our efforts and that ultimately proved to be our underdoing. The hosts were lucky to only be 1-0 down, and second half it was a different story, they came at us and inside of the final 15 minutes scored twice to send us to another top flight defeat.
FULL-TIME: The home side turn it around in the second half to take the points at St Mary's.
🔴 #SaintsFC 2-1 #THFC ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/Xfa2uhpaGt
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 9, 2019
The wobble continues, yet there’s no way we should’ve lost that.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle, Poch said of the affair.
“It is so difficult to understand why we changed so much from the first half to the second. I am very disappointing, we were better in everything and then we lose the game. It is about competing better for the first goal if you want to be a contender for big things. The second half we did not take it seriously, I don’t want to criticise too much but when you lose a game that was under control after 45 minutes, should be 3-0, 4-0 and finishes in 2-1 defeat, it is difficult to accept. We started to take some risks that were unnecessary and that was the main problem. It gave them belief and they started to build their game. When you lose the momentum after 45 minutes, that is about mentality, that is about begin strong and keeping the right. For us, we lost the momentum and gave them relief. Their first goal was a cross in front of the goal where four players can put the ball out of the stadium. We were not capable of doing it and it is a tough moment and a tough result.”
His frustration was clear as he continued.
“This is our reality. People talk about perceptions but we need to realise if you do not fight with intensity for the Champions League, you will struggle. The reality is you cannot only play for 45 minutes, we are a Champions League team, into the quarter-finals. The team does not have the experience of competing in these circumstance, it is good to learn but we have to fight every single opponent. We are fighting against big sides. We had a big gap, welcome to the reality, we are under pressure to win games. It is a massive challenge for us.”