Pochettino Pleased with Tottenham’s Performance After Tough Game
Tottenham’s eighth home game this season ended exactly the same way on six other attempts, Spurs came away victorious in front of their home fans.
After scoring Tottenham’s third and final goal of the game last night, Victor Wanyama would run towards Spurs’ bench and celebrate with his coaches.
It was the Kenyan midfielder’s way of sticking it to everyone when they gave him some flack for missing his header against Manchester United this past Sunday.
Of course it was all in good fun between both parties as Mauricio Pochettino described it: “Yes, in a funny way we’ve killed him a little bit, but in the same way we said ‘okay, in the next game you must score, you need to score’.”
“He came to the bench with Jesús [Pérez], Toni [Jiménez] and Miguel [D’Agostino] and it’s important for the player. It was funny and I’m happy, the third goal helped us to be more comfortable in the game and end with a good feeling.”
All jokes aside, Pochettino was pleased with his squad for responding well after losing their second game of the Premier League season just four days ago. Picking up three points against Hull City now sees Spurs win their third match in December in all competitions.
Although they remain in fifth place just behind Manchester City, Tottenham continues to keep pace with the four clubs above them just before the schedule is set to become more congested next month.
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“It was a tough game, it always is in the Premier League.” Mauricio Pochettino said.
“I’m happy, very pleased to get the three points to stay close to the top four. We are fighting and there is a long way to go to the end of the season, but it was important to get the three points.”
Securing a win using a different formation (the 3-4-3) despite reverting back to the 4-2-3-1 only recently, Pochettino made the switch to get more out of his full-backs. The Argentine manager may have spotted something that would exploit Hull City’s already porous defense.
The result obviously is a 3-0 win with Danny Rose and Kyle Walker bombing forward and picking up an assist each that led to Christian Eriksen’s brace.
“Yes, and we played with a different formation, looking to use our full-backs more as wing-backs and that worked well.” Pochettino said in response to Spurs playing well after completing 30 passes before scoring the opening goal of the game.
“In some periods of the game we played well and that was fantastic in the way we scored. I’m very pleased because we’ve come through a very busy period with a lot of games and to keep the level, the fitness and the mentality is always difficult but we’re dealing with that.”
As for the Man of the Match, Christian Eriksen, Mauricio Pochettino is happy for him after stringing together some very good performances in the past couple of games (Swansea City and CSKA Moscow).
Next: Tottenham's Wanyama Makes Up for Mistake, Scores Against Hull City
“I’m very happy for him.” Pochettino added. “He nearly scored the third as well, it was an unbelievable free-kick. I’m happy for Victor Wanyama too because he missed a big, big chance at [Man] United.”
“I’m happy for the players, we suffered a lot after Manchester [City] and it’s good to recover the feeling of winning games.”
Indeed, Spurs have suffered quite a bit since mid-October. But through all of the down times, oddly enough, Tottenham have maintained their spot at fifth place and still have a shot for a top four finish.