’WALKER BOOS ALL BECAUSE OF FANS’ LOVE’

MAURICIO POCHETTINO defended Tottenham fans after they jeered Kyle Walker every time he touched the ball in the 3-0 defeat by Manchester City.

Walker, who left White Hart Lane for City in a world record deal for a full-back of £54million, was given a rough ride by Spurs supporters in the 56,232 crowd at the Nissan Stadium.

But Pochettino said: “I totally understand. Fans showed they are disappointed with the situation but Tottenham fans love him really.

“He spent nine years at the club. It is not personal. It is not a big issue. It is only to show him they were disappointed he left.”

Despite the heavy defeat, Pochettino isn’t worried about the new season, with his focus on beating Newcastle in the opening Premier League game.

“They played better than us. It is difficult to judge the level on pre-season. We prioritised training and to try to get fit,’’ said Pochettino (left).

“They showed better quality and deserved to win. Our main players only came back 14 days ago.

“It is very difficult to get fit if you only focus on playing games. We pushed a lot to train and develop our physical condition.

“We had a tough training session the day before the game so we knew it would be difficult to compete with a team like Manchester City that have a lot of quality and very good players.

“For us we were focused today more on helping the team to arrive in two weeks’ time in our best condition. The reality is we want to win against Newcastle.

“City have more senior players than us. They have invested more money and you can see for us we have a lot of young players on the bench. Today they are ahead of us because they signed and kept the players they want. We are a little bit behind.

“We are working hard to try to sign players who will help us, bring us some new energy and make our team more competitive.”