Pochettino: Tottenham’s Effort was Fantastic Despite Loss to Liverpool

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino had nothing but effusive praise for his team’s efforts even after getting eliminated in the League Cup.

Losing is never a good feeling but despite the final result in last night’s match, Mauricio Pochettino only looked at the positives that Tottenham showed against Liverpool.

Seeing Spurs battle throughout the game — though it didn’t exactly go as planned — was something that Pochettino could take solace in.

Prior to kick-off there were 10 changes throughout the lineup with the front four having zero experience playing together and the back four only playing once this season. It would take quite the effort to pull off a win after trailing 2-0 after 65 minutes.

Having 54 percent possession didn’t matter much when a majority of the time it was in Tottenham’s own half. If Spurs entered the attacking third, their chances weren’t threatening enough as players were tentative and indecisive.

Again, that wasn’t enough to deter Mauricio Pochettino from praising his team’s performance for a hard fought match with many youngsters getting valuable playing time.

“I’m very pleased with the performance. I’m disappointed with the result of course, but the effort from the team was fantastic,” Pochettino said (via Spurs’ official website).

“We played against Liverpool, they’re a very good team and we fought and we competed until the end of the game and that is very important for us.”

“Always the important thing is that we believe that we can come back. We created chances, it was a great experience and we can take positive things.”

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“We are in a different process to Liverpool, a different project and we need to feel pleased for all the players – players that don’t play too much and are not regular choices in the Premier League or in the Champions League. The experience today was very important.”

Giving minutes to the likes of Harry Winks, Josh Onomah, Georges-Kévin N’Koudou, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kevin Wimmer and Tom Carroll will go a long way this season when rotation will be needed on short rest.

With one less competition to worry about now, it lets Pochettino play his starters in important matches in the Premier League and the entire Champions League, while rotating for other games.

This gives all the players mentioned above a chance to improve themselves and the entire squad for the rest of the year.

“All the players [took their chance] for different reasons,” Pochettino said. “We have young players that are from England, youngsters that have come from outside of England and it was important today to play.”

“Playing at Anfield is always very difficult but I think it was a great experience to push our level, to improve a lot and learn from the game. It will improve our squad for the future.”

Singling out two players who impressed for keeping Tottenham in the game, Mauricio Pochettino had nothing but good things to say about Vincent Janssen and Michel Vorm. With each appearance they continue to get they get better.

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“Today I think he [Janssen] was fantastic,” Pochettino added. “He played very well, he made a big effort and he scored. We are very happy with him.”

“We need to understand that he’s 22, he’s come in from the Netherlands, a different league, and always we need to give time. But one thing is clear, that he is a player who works a lot, who is always involved and the commitment he shows in every game and every training session is fantastic.”

Speaking about Vorm, Pochettino had this to say: “He made some key saves. Michel is a fantastic keeper, we are lucky to have Hugo [Lloris] and him, and of course youngsters like Pau López and all the younger ‘keepers.”

“We are very safe in goal with Hugo and Michel – he was fantastic today but we’re a little bit disappointed because it was a competition which is a good opportunity for different players to play more.”