Mauricio Pochettino rips into Spurs flops for not following game plan after throwing away 2-0 lead at Olympiakos
MAURICIO POCHETTINO ripped into his Spurs flops after they threw away a 2-0 Champions League lead in the 2-2 draw at Olympiakos.
The Spurs boss fumed as his players did not follow his game plan and rapped: “I feel disappointed. I wasn’t happy with our first-half performance, we had a plan and we didn’t respect the plan.
“That’s what disappointed me the most. We conceded a lot of chances and the way we conceded the first goal was so painful.
“We didn’t translate the aggression needed in these games from our 4-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
“I told them at half-time we had scored two good goals, but the performance wasn’t great.
“Second half we realised and changed but conceded a very soft penalty. Overall the result is fair.”
Harry Kane’s penalty and a thumping finish from Lucas Moura put Spurs on top in the space of four minutes.
But Olympiakos hit back through Daniel Podence and Mathieu Valbuena, also from the spot.
‘GUTTED WITH A FEW PLAYERS’
Poch added: “When we don’t show the intensity, the competition demands we struggle.
“We can talk about scoring twice and playing better second half but this season we’re conceding a lot of chances and a lot of goals and we need to change that way.
“And the only way to change is to be more demanding. Show me more performances like Palace — not like this.”
It was Kane’s 15th Champions League goal in 20 appearances.
WEDNESDAY'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS
Group A
Club Brugge 0 – 0 Galatasaray
Paris Saint Germain 3 – 0 Real Madrid
Group B
Olympiakos 2 – 2 Tottenham
Bayern Munich 3 – 0 Red Star Belgrade
Group C
Dinamo Zagreb 4 – 0 Atalanta
Shakhtar Donetsk 0 – 3 Man City
Group D
Atletico Madrid 2 – 2 Juventus
Bayer Leverkusen 1 – 2 Lokomotiv Moscow
The England skipper said: “Conceding the goal before half-time changed the momentum and is disappointing. Second half was 50-50.
“I still felt we could have done better on the ball but it’s a point away from home that we have to try and improve on.”
And former Three Lions star Rio Ferdinand was more blunt – claiming Pochettino will be “gutted” at the display from some players.
The Manchester United legend also accused Tottenham of failing to learn lessons from their run to the 2019 final.
BT Sport pundit Ferdinand said: “Spurs will be kicking themselves, two up away from home you go and silence the crowd and then throw it away, show a lapse in concentration.
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“You’d think they’d take experience from last season and what they’d learned but they haven’t. I thought they were just slack and lax.
“Pochettino will be gutted with a few individuals.
“[Hugo] Lloris epitomised it, coming out all lacklustre. So yeah it was ‘Spursy’ really if you wanna put it like that.”