Pochettino honest with the squad

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino spoke with the squad in the dressing room after the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth on Saturday about the slow start. he emphasised that we must start games with the freshness we showed at Manchester City.

Kyle Walker came out and spoke to the press about the slow start, suggesting Bournemouth surprised Spurs with their early intensity. It is something our young team has to learn to deal with because several sides now are trying to play a high press on us and stopping our back line having time on the ball. It clearly affects us.

However we should certainly have taken advantage of the situation in the second half. Walker was right be annoyed when he crossed the ball from the right and nobody had gambled by running towards the near post, all hanging back. It is at those moments you need the different options and a more clinical mindset.

"We missed a bit of freshness that you need in the first 15 minutes. If we want to be contenders, we need to win games like these. We were much better than them in the second half but you have to score if you want to win the game. Maybe we need more depth in the squad to avoid a situation like the first 15 minutes."

I think mindset is playing a part in not killing off teams. Against WBA we were happy to go through the game without any intensity until we went behind, then for 10 minutes we actually looked as if we were trying to score and making an effort. That need to score, needs to be the mental norm, not the fallback position and it is certainly how we need to be starting games to put the opposition under pressure.

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