Mauricio Pochettino terms Inter defeat as "cruel"
In an exhilarating end to the game between Inter Milan and Tottenham, a 92nd-minute strike by Matias Vecino gave Inter 3 points in their first game back in the Champions League after a long break.
Tottenham went into the lead shortly after the start of the Second Half as a Christian Eriksen shot was deflected into goal to give the visitors a well deserving lead. But the script of the game changed as Mauro Icardi struck a brilliant volley in the 86th minute to level the game and Vecino gave Tottenham the knockout punch with a goal in the dying minutes.
On the whole, the game looked to be evenly poised for most parts of the game with both teams looking to attack the opposition goal right from kick-off. Tottenham fielded an unusual line-up with the likes of Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld left out of the line-up due to "technical reasons".
Pochettino was questioned in the post-match interview for leaving out Trippier and Alderweireld in a difficult trip to Italy with Hugo Lloris and Dele Alli out injured. Pochettino didn't take those questions well.
“Why? They were on the pitch against Liverpool and Watford. They are easy targets,” Pochettino said before losing his cool.
“I’m happy with the performance — we dominated until the end — but of course the result was so cruel. For me it was our best performance since the beginning of the season,” he further added.
However, he conceded that the last few games have taken a toll on the team and that they will have to step up in order to perform against the likes of Barcelona who thrashed in form PSV 4-0 in the other Group B encounter.
“The last few games, we’re paying a lot and suffering the punishment for our mistakes,”
Pochettino accepted.
“We need to talk about football,” he said.
“You force me to say something that is not good. You disrespect the players who were here today. You can blame me on my selection of the starting 11 but please don’t disrespect the players on the pitch.”
Pochettino's Tottenham will look to get back to winning ways in this weekend's fixture away to Brighton and try to avoid the second loss to Watford as they face them in the Third Round of the Football League Cup. The next few matches will be crucial before they face FC Barcelona in the next Group Stage encounter in the Champions League.