Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino: 'We always felt we needed time, as we have different methods, but we also need to do so quickly'

Published: 9 November, 2014 
By DAN CARRIER at White Hart Lane

Premier League 
SPURS 1, STOKE 2

UNDER-pressure Mauricio Pochettino admitted today (Sunday) that the clock is ticking as he struggles to get his expensively-assembled Spurs side playing like a team. 

The manager saw his side slump to a 2-1 defeat against Stoke City, making it four home defeats in six attempts. 

He has only had four months at the helm, but with chairman Daniel Levy looking on thunderously from the directors' box, Pochettino accepted the pressure was on to start putting points on the board. 

“It is clear we need to improve,” he said. “This defeat shows that. We always felt we needed time, as we have different methods, but we also need to do so quickly.” 

Pochettino has yet to find a settled team, chopping and changing his starting line-up once again against Stoke. He brought in Federico Fazio, Andros Towsend and Harry Kane, dropping Erik Lamela, Emmanuel Adebayor and Jan Vertonghen to the bench. 

Pochettino did not question his starting XI – though admitted he made a double substitution at half-time for tactical reasons. 

Instead he blamed individual errors. “We did not make the right decisions. We were rash," he added. "We made mistakes that are not possible in the Premiership.” 

Kane nearly gave Spurs a dream start after only three minutes when he dived on to a cross from Nacer Chadli, but his goal-bound header was caught on the line by Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic. 

It was as close as Spurs would come in the first 45 minutes. Minutes later Stoke raced into a lead they never seriously looked like relinquishing. Bojan Krkic stormed through the centre of the midfield and coolly planted a shot home. 

The visitors' lead was doubled on 33 minutes when a Mame Biram Diouf cross was turned home by Jonathan Walters. 

Pochettino swapped Christian Eriksen with Mousa Dembele and Andros Townsend with Erik Lamela at the break – but these were like-for-like replacements and did nothing to shake the Sunday lunchtime lethargy out of his players' limbs. 

The home fans were finally given something to cheer in the 78th minute when a deep cross from Danny Rose found Chadli, who smashed a ferocious volley into the net. 

Stoke, however, managed to hang on, with Pochettino's sticky start spiralling towards a disastrous one. 

SPURS: Lloris, Rose, Kaboul, Naughton, Townsend (Lamela, 45), Kane, Fazio, Chadli, Eriksen (Dembele, 45), Capoue (Adebayor, 62), Mason. 
Subs not used: Vorm, Vertonghen, Soldado, Dier. 
Attendance: 35,699 

SPURS COMMENT by Dan Carrier

TODAY'S morale-crushing defeat wasn't simply representative of another three points lost at home to supposedly inferior opposition, underlining the sense that this year is going to be a mid-table struggle of patchy football and few thrills. 

It brought into focus the continuing issues Spurs have with the layout of an expensively-assembled bunch of players. 

It is a well-worn adage that you get the spine right first. In defence, Poch's chopping and changing at centre-back is unsettling. Fazio and Kaboul never looked comfortable together. 

Is it time to try the experienced Vertonghen and coltish talent of Dier together? 

Centrally, Capoue looks tired and Eriksen unsure of his role. Only Mason, with his spring lamb enthusiasm, can say his season has gone well. 

One up front has not brought the best out of any of the forwards picked to plough that lonely furrow. Add to this inverted wingers, leaving no wide outlet, and the tactics look a mess. 

Poch says he needs time to get the players used to his "philosophy" – but does he genuinely have the personnel available to adapt to what he wants? 

Today was the fourth home defeat so far, the league's worst record, and there have been five red cards too – another unwanted table-topping statistic. 

On days like this, Poch's "philosophy" looks like it was written in Ancient Greek.