TOTTENHAM MANAGER MAURICIO Pochettino joked that he will give his players a day off to stop all the rumours about unrest at Spurs following their Champions League victory.
Last season’s runners-up claimed a confidence-boosting 5-0 win over Red Star Belgrade in London last night.
But Spurs have been unable to reach the lofty heights of last term after a difficult start to 2019/20 – highlighted by a 7-2 humbling against Bayern Munich – amid doubts over Pochettino’s future.
There has been speculation that players are unhappy with Pochettino’s methods following just three wins from nine Premier League matches to start the season but the Argentine boss joked about the rumours post-game.
“I think it’s about now staying calm,” Pochettino said in his post-game news conference.
“It’s a good result but only three points. Now we have ahead a lot of tough games that are coming. We need to be solid. I want them to all be fresh that is why tomorrow they are going to have a day off, you know to stop all the rumours,” he laughed.
“Of course Thursday we are going to start to train and prepare for the game on Sunday. It’s going to be a fantastic game. A few months ago we were playing the final against Liverpool and now in Anfield, a great atmosphere, with all the confidence to go there and try to have a very good performance again.”
Asked if he is happy with the dynamic, Pochettino – who has been linked to Real Madrid and Manchester United – told reporters: “I am not happy and not not happy. I am facing the situation how the situation is, the situation we are living now.
Of course, I am very realistic but in the same way it’s a massive experience for us, a group that has never before lived this situation. It’s all new.
“We have more experience because we’re older men, Jesus is more than me, more experienced than me, but I think it’s a great moment to grow, be more mature and of course it should help us to be stronger in the future.”
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min led the way with braces, while Erik Lamela was also on target against Red Star and Pochettino added: “It was so important, an important result for our confidence and to add three points in the table for us was very, very important tonight. Of course very pleased.
“After the second half against Watford I was happy, not great as I told you, now the same, not great but good. I feel good. We start to see that it’s only time that we need to recover our best feelings.
“We need to build that confidence of course. We need to go step by step, being solid again and that is only the first step, like the second half at Watford, to build again our confidence and try to perform in the way that we and everyone expect.”
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