Spurs will go for the kill, says Pochettino
SPURS manager Mauricio Pochettino has demanded his players go out and ‘kill’ when they face Liverpool after blasting their ‘testimonial’ showing in the defeat at Watford.
The Argentine was exasperated after his team beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford, with Harry Kane on target, then lost a one-goal lead to fall to a 2-1 defeat at Watford before the international break.
Pochettino said: ‘It was a huge wake-up call for us. The first half was like a testimonial game. It’s about mentality, not tactics.
‘The mentality is to beat United at Old Trafford then go to Watford and show the same capacity.
‘Come on. If, against Liverpool at Wembley, you do not have the desire and the focus to play... it is not about playing well, it is about attitude and to say: “Hey, come on, we are aggressive and we try to win”.
‘If you watch the Watford game, you see we played so slow, so sloppy. It was like we thought: “Okay, it is a nice afternoon in Watford, Elton John is in the stands...” like going to Hyde Park with my child.
‘To respect the opponent is to score one, two, three, four, five, ten goals. To not show respect is to think: “It is a poor team, we can play so slow, 2-0 or 3-0 is enough”. We must go and kill with every action.’
Pochettino is without injured Dele Alli and Hugo Lloris, but has Heung-Min Son back from international duty, while Harry Winks is also fit.
This is only round five of 38 in the rumble for the Premier League, yet it is one loaded with significance as Tottenham have it within them to blow a hole in the optimism flooding Liverpool.
It was at Wembley 11 months ago that the Anfield side were torn asunder in a 4-1 defeat.
‘Last year we made it too easy for them,’ said manager Jurgen Klopp. ‘We lost the ball and they only had to play one pass behind our lines. They are a top team in Europe, not only in England. We should be better organised this time. If we are, we can get something.
‘It is not that you go to Tottenham, have an average day and still get something. You get nothing for an average day there. We have to be on our top level.’