POCHETTINO WARNS WASTEFUL SPURS

MAURICIO POCHETTINO has told his Tottenham Hotspur team to start taking their chances or kiss Europa League glory and a Premier League title goodbye. Spurs were knocked out of the FA Cup yesterday by Crystal Palace, despite dominating the fifth-round tie at White Hart Lane. Dele Alli almost scored the opener when his shot hit one post, rolled along the line, then bounced against the other post before being cleared. That moment summed up the home side’s fruitless bid to make a breakthrough. And Pochettino (below) was frustrated, not only by his side’s failure to convert chances but also what he saw as Palace’s attempts to wind up midfielder Alli. He said: ‘Our opponents tried to provoke him (Alli) and stop us. We can’t complain, because we created chances and had good chances to score and win the game. It was our fault. ‘At this moment, in this very tough period, every game that we play is a final. ‘Maybe we didn’t play fantastically but we played better (than Palace), we created more chances, we had the better chances to win the game.’ Next up for Tottenham are Italian side Fiorentina at home on Thursday in the Europa League. The last-16 tie stands

at 1-1 after last week’s first leg. Then Spurs face Swansea in the League three days later. ‘We need to be ready for Thursday when we have another final,’ added Pochettino. ‘Every game is important. We take all games seriously. We need to play at the right level. We want to win every game. ‘The next game is the most important. The game against Fiorentina (in the first leg), we ran seven kilometres more than them. I’m sure that our effort was bigger than Crystal Palace’s, but it is all about getting the win. It is important to realise that if you create more chances. I think we had nearly 80 per cent possession of the ball and didn’t score. ‘You need to feel that the players are giving their best. We need to be focused, to recover quickly and be ready for Thursday.’ Palace now head to Reading in the FA Cup quarter-finals, with manager Alan Pardew one match from a Wembley semi-final. Pardew played in the 1990 final with Palace and copied then manager Steve Coppell’s strategy by taking his team on a training trip to Spain last week. Palace have dropped to 13th in the Premier League, but Pardew is optimistic they will finish strongly. ‘We can still have the best season Crystal Palace have ever had in the Premier League,’ he said. ‘We can still finish higher than 10th. That was our best, last year. ‘We can do that and we’re in the quarter-finals of the Cup. At the start of the season, if you’d offered me that I would have taken it.’