Mauricio Pochettino’s Press Conference: Tottenham vs Burnley

By Alexander Balano | Dec 16, 2016

ENFIELD, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 4: Tottenham Hotspur Manager Mauricio Pochettino during a press conference at the clubs' training ground on November 4, 2016 in Enfield, England. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images) /

Sunday sees Tottenham host Burnley but today, on Friday, Mauricio Pochettino spoke to the media and previewed the match-up.

When Tottenham faced Hull City on Wednesday, Mousa Dembélé was unable to play due to a foot injury he suffered during the 1-0 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

According to Mauricio Pochettino, they will assess Dembélé’s status tomorrow — along with Vincent Janssen and Érik Lamela — and see if he will be available on Sunday. But at the moment it doesn’t look like the Belgian international (or the others) will be a part of the 18-man matchday squad.

“We need to assess him tomorrow.” Pochettino said (via Spurs’ official website). “He is improving in the last few days but I’m not sure if he will be available, like Vincent Janssen – he is improving a lot in the last few days but we are not sure if he will be available or not.”

“We are happy and, if not this weekend, be sure that in 10 days against Southampton he will be available. Érik Lamela is improving a lot but for this week he is still out. It will be difficult [for him to make the Southampton game] but we’ll see.”

“He’s improving a lot in the last few days after he got back from Argentina. We are happy in the way that he is recovering but it’s too early to say if he will be ready for Southampton.”

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Against a Burnley side who has performed quite well this year (13th in the Premier League), Mauricio Pochettino is expecting yet another difficult fixture.

“Difficult because it’s a team that has a very clear idea of how they play, they are strong physically and mentally.” Pochettino said. “It’s a very difficult team to play, we can see that in different games.”

“In their last game against West Ham [United] it was difficult for West Ham and in the end a [goal after a] penalty decided the game but you know, the Premier League is always tough. The most important thing is to try to arrive fresh with the ideas clear of how we need to play and what we need to do, then try to give our best.”

Fresh ideas is something that Pochettino has done quite a bit this term because of injuries and new players coming in. The form of others has played a factor as well, but for the most part the results haven’t been as good as they could have been.

Which is why seeing Tottenham lineup with three defenders on Wednesday was quite a surprise knowing that tinkering with the formation has caused problems. Against Hull City, the 3-4-3 worked very well but it’s not something that will be common moving forward.

“I think it’s important to have different positions to play in during different games, to use different formations. Mauricio Pochettino explained. “After the [Hull] game we were very pleased, happy that things are working well but [although] it’s a different way to play, always our philosophy is to respect the principles.”

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“We only change some positions on the pitch but in the end the team always shows the same principles and mentality on the pitch. I think we respect that a lot.”

“It’s about how we feel sometimes with the team, the players, the momentum – there are many reasons when we take a decision to change.” Pochettino said on which formation to use for certain games.

“The good thing is that during the season, sometimes we changed in different games but now it’s a natural habit and the players are not affected by that. They are very pleased to play in different situations and that is very important – to have different alternatives to play and to cope with all the demands of the game.”

Lastly, a recurring theme is how Spurs will handle the January transfer window.

During the winter holidays, rumors begin to spiral out of control. Almost all of it is pure speculation but yet it still persists and Mauricio Pochettino has continued to answer the same way he has done every single time.

Signing someone in January — the halfway point during a season — is very difficult.

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“It’s a lot of rumours, if not players in then players out but that is the period that we need to accept. We are very calm but I think it’s too difficult to talk about rumours.” Pochettino added.

“I told you before that it’s always difficult in January to take decisions to bring players in. I think it will be tough but we are open. It will be difficult to try to improve our squad in January because it’s not an easy job.”