Mauricio Pochettino's Press Conference: Tottenham vs West Ham

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino addressed the media prior to Saturday’s London derby against West Ham United.

After fielding questions regarding Tottenham’s injured players, Mauricio Pochettino was asked about having this past international break happen at a good time after not winning any games following their 2-0 win over Manchester City to start the month of October.

“If we win on Saturday, it was good,” Pochettino said (via Spurs’ official website). “It was good to have more time to rest and time to recover for the injured players. That was good. In terms of the result, we’ll see.”

Standing in front of the north London club’s way from making up ground in the league table (they’re in fifth place and three points from fourth) are eight difficult London derbies. Two of which saw Spurs take four points out of a maximum of six.

Against a much improved West Ham side, who have lost just once in their last six matches in all competitions, not only is a win a must, but just like Arsenal who were in form, Spurs will be up for Saturday’s match.

Pochettino knows that his team must end their winless run with a win. Facing a London club in a derby could help as he believes these matches will see both sides play at their best.

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Though at the same time, this season has been quite difficult for Tottenham to play their best football when they’ve been hampered by injuries one after another.

It’s a stark contrast compared to last year when the squad remained relatively healthy for 53 games in all competitions and slightly rotated the team around.

Because of the amount of starters missing time this term, it has forced Mauricio Pochettino to shift systems from his favored 4-2-3-1 formation and go with multiple formations to counter the absences of Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembélé, Harry Kane and Érik Lamela.

It didn’t help that Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli weren’t their usual selves to begin the season. And while things haven’t picked up yet, they’re slowly getting a little better as the months have passed.

“This can happen. You can control many things but a percentage of injuries you can’t control,” Mauricio Pochettino said when reflecting back on the amount of games a few of his starters have missed.

“Toby’s injury was very strange, Ben Davies was a twisted ankle – it happens and we’re not worried. The only thing that we would be worried about would be if it was the same injury. These are all completely different.”

If injuries are uncontrollable, creating chances are something that they do have full control over. And so far, Spurs have created plenty of chances but their finishing has faltered one too many times.

Next: Tottenham Injury News Roundup: Kane, Eriksen Fit to Play

“Yes, we’re creating many chances every game, the problem is that we need more chances to score.” Mauricio Pochettino said. “Maybe we’re not as clinical as we were last season. It’s about working hard and trying to improve.”

Indeed, Spurs are not clinical like they were last season. And a big reason had to do with Kane’s seven-week absence due to ankle ligament damage. Eriksen and Alli’s forms played a part too.

Besides injuries and/or a lack of form, being unable to score has hurt Tottenham from having a much better record through 11 Premier League games.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Press Conference: Tottenham vs West Ham

By Alexander Balano | Nov 17, 2016

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino addressed the media prior to Saturday’s London derby against West Ham United.