Pochettino: The Players Believed, Leading Tottenham to Victory
Tottenham had to come from behind to win against Burnley, but they picked up another three points to continue closing the gap with the top four teams above them.
Mauricio Pochettino and his players all had mentioned that Burnley would be a tough team to play against leading up to yesterday’s match-up. And for 26 minutes that held true.
Burnley would score the game’s opening goal against the run of play. For 20 minutes Tottenham had completely overwhelmed the visitors creating a few chances to take an early lead.
An error that will largely be credited to Kyle Walker put the hosts on their back foot after dominating possession and shots (10 total). Seeing Burnley lead after 21 minutes was all down to Spurs rather than the Clarets’ doing.
All Sean Dyche’s men had to do was to take advantage of Walker’s slip up to not punt the ball upfield after Harry Winks passed to him. This isn’t the first time that Tottenham have trailed early in a game this season, but against a struggling side whose performances are worse on the road than at home, there were some early concerns.
But eventually, six minutes passed and Spurs scored the equalizer. From there, it was all about continuing to maintain pressure on Burnley who were an inferior side.
According to Mauricio Pochettino, it was his players’ beliefs that helped lead them to victory on Sunday.
More from Match Reports
- From glory, glory to gory, gory, for Mason and Tottenham Hotspur
- Ryan Mason’s Elegant Solution to Tottenham’s Problems
- Tottenham – Defensive needs show over last two games
- Tottenham Hotspur hold off Brighton in much needed 2-1 win
- Mason moves make the difference for lucky Tottenham against Brighton
“The way we conceded was a little unlucky but we feel very pleased because the players always believed, they never lost their faith in trying to win,” Pochettino said (via Spurs’ official site).
“It was a good performance, it’s always hard to win in the Premier League and congratulations, it was a big performance and a big three points for us.”
When the Argentine manager was asked to further explain what he meant by belief, in the context of coming back to win a game, the 44-year-old had this to say: “That is football, and that is the Premier League. It is one of the best leagues in the world. You never have complete control of the game.”
“We started well, created lots of the chances but if you don’t score sometimes you can then concede, we conceded but the most important thing is we came back, scored twice and maybe could have scored more.”
This season, Tottenham have won 10 points from a losing position, only second to Everton who leads the Premier League with 11.
So it’s not far-fetched to think that Pochettino really does believe that his team can indeed pick up a win or at least draw when they are trailing in the game. In fact, one of Spurs’ two draws at home this year have seen the north London club come back to draw with Liverpool after conceding a penalty just before half-time.
And ironically enough, Danny Rose was the goalscorer in that game. So it’s fitting to see him score the game-winner against Burnley in the 71st minute yesterday. A performance that has seen the 26-year-old play some of his best football to date.
Next: Davies, Dembélé, Sissoko React to Tottenham's Win Over Burnley
“It was a brilliant goal and a very good performance.” Mauricio Pochettino said. “In the last few games he’s really showing his quality and I’m very happy, very pleased.”
“We play in a system that finds the best for them, we try to provide the tools for them to show their quality and we’re happy, in the last few games they are showing high quality.” Pochettino added on the full-backs’ performances as of late.