Agony of the last seven minutes
MANAGER: UNTIL THE 83RD MINUTE WE WERE STILL ALIVE
With some justification Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino praised his side’s first-half display against Bayern Munich on Tuesday but looked as shell-shocked as his players trying to come to terms with a 7-2 home defeat.
Tottenham have been inconsistent this season but when Son Heung-min fired them deservedly ahead after 12 minutes of their Champions League Group B clash it appeared the spark that has been missing had returned.
Even when Bayern equalised through Joshua Kimmich’s sublime strike, shortly after Tottenham recovered to look the better side against the five-time champions. Then the ceiling fell in. Robert Lewandowski’s superb effort seconds before the interval knocked the stuffing out of Tottenham and Serge Gnabry’s second-half hat-trick and another masterful strike by Lewandowski inflicted Tottenham’s worst home defeat in Europe.
That it happened on his watch was especially galling for the proud Pochettino and will add to the feeling that all is not well at Tottenham, just four months after they contested the Champions League final for the first time.
“I feel so bad because when you concede seven it’s so tough, but you need to face this type of situation,” Pochettino told reporters. “You need to show your quality like a man first, then face it like a professional.”
Pochettino said conceding a goal seconds before half-time having been the better side was the turning point.
“The timing of the (Lewandowski) goal arriving in a moment that was massive, crucial and a very big impact for us.
“To concede the second goal in the first half after playing a really good first half ...
“The team were playing so well and nobody expected what happened to us in the second half.”
Bayern scored three times from the 83rd minute onwards.
“Until the 83rd minute we were still alive,” Pochettino said. “Then it was like the team was tired and gave up a little bit,” he admitted.
It left them with one point from their first two games, one more than they had at the same stage last season.