Pochettino: "Not Fair" to Criticize Attacking Midfield

Speaking to the media ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League match against Hull City on Wednesday, Mauricio Pochettino declined to criticize his team’s creative unit.

Tottenham’s loss on Sunday to Manchester United soured the mood around a club that had earned commanding wins over Swansea and CSKA Moscow over the previous week.

The disappointment surrounding the result led some of football’s more cynical critics to claim that it was all the result of a central deficiency in Tottenham’s attack, specifically the lack of production from any one not named Harry Kane.

Heung-min Son began the season in fiery form, scoring five goals and his first five matches along with two assists. Since those early days of the season, though, the South Korean’s failed to impress.

Concurrent with Son’s struggles, both Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen suffered through fitful starts to their own campaigns. The result was a series of disappointing draws, especially after Kane and Toby Alderweireld went down injured.

Recent signs of improvement across the board, to Pochettino at least, go a long way to disqualifying such criticisms.

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“I think it’s not fair (to criticize the team) after Manchester United when we didn’t score,” Pochettino said on Tuesday, “One week ago after the Swansea game when we won 5-0, it was all praise about our players.

“Now we played against Manchester United, a difficult game, we had some chances, we didn’t score but I think it’s a little bit unfair to start to say now that we need more goals from our second line or the players in behind Harry Kane.

“In football it’s about having a clear philosophy, to be aggressive in both boxes, first of all to try to defend your box and then to try to score and that balance is the most important thing. It’s unfair to say that we need to score more goals. We know that we need to score more, be more aggressive and increase our level and our performance but I think it was an even game against Manchester United and there’s nothing to complain about.”

United’s win was indeed narrow, coming only after a mistake in the center of the pitch gifted possession to the home side thus allowing Henrik Mkhitaryan to score the match’s sole goal. Were it not for that moment, things might just as easily have broken the other way.

Rather than dwell on mistakes made and chances missed, Pochettino instead seeks to look ahead toward Wednesday’s match against Hull City and beyond.

“I think always in the Premier League it’s important to win,” the Argentine opined. “To perform as well and play under your philosophy.

“After Swansea we lost against Manchester United, it was an even game but now it’s important to try to win the three points against Hull, important to be in a good position to fight for the top four and I think it’s very important to get the three points. It’s important first of all to play well and deserve to win the game.”

Tottenham are currently fifth in the Premier League table, just three points shy of Manchester City. A win against Hull and then more positive results in the busy festive period over the next few weeks might dramatically change the complexion of what, rightly or wrongly, has often been called a turbulent season.

Next: Who Starts for Tottenham Against Hull City?

Pochettino didn’t hold back in his optimism, even faced with the 10 point gap between Tottenham and league-leaders Chelsea.

“I think it’s a long way until the end of the season and many things can happen in football,” said the Tottenham boss. “It’s true that 10 points is a big gap but in football always anything can happen. I repeat, it’s a long way to the end of the season and it’s for that reason always we need to believe to win games, believe to try to perform and try to fight to reduce that gap.”

Pochettino: “Not Fair” to Criticize Attacking Midfield

By Ryan Wrenn | Dec 13, 2016

Speaking to the media ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League match against Hull City on Wednesday, Mauricio Pochettino declined to criticize his team’s creative unit.