Mauricio Pochettino has insisted
Tottenham Hotspur cannot repeat the transfer failings that have tied his hands ahead of the must-win Champions League game against Inter Milan.
Tottenham must beat Inter at home and Barcelona away to stand any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages, but Pochettino cannot pick central defender Juan Foyth for either game.
Manager Pochettino has no option but to bring Jan Vertonghen back from injury into his side on Wednesday night because Foyth is ineligible after being left out of the club’s Champions League squad and Davinson Sanchez is injured.
Pochettino could only name a 22-man A list, three short of the permitted 25, for the group stages of the tournament because Tottenham do not have enough ‘locally trained players’.
Tottenham failed to sign a host of Pochettino’s English targets over the past 12 months, missing out on the likes of Jack Grealish, Ross Barkley, Ryan Sessegnon and Wilfried Zaha.
Pochettino described the decision to leave Foyth, who has performed well over the last three games and was handed his Argentina debut in the last international break, as “painful” but stressed he could not be held responsible for the error.
“It’s in club hands,” said Pochettino. “It’s not in my hands only. We share the responsibility. If not, it looks like the bad things are the gaffer and the good thing we share all together. Sometimes, when something wrong happens, it’s Mauricio Pochettino, the coach.
“I am so disappointed from the beginning. Not only Juan. Also (Georges-Kevin) Nkoudou and Vincent Janssen are out of the squad for the Champions League.
“That’s so painful. It’s a mistake that we made, which at this level of football we cannot repeat again. For different reasons, we need to find solutions before the start of the season.”
Other than being annoyed that Tottenham did not land any of their English targets, Pochettino also suggested he was unhappy with the fact no players were sold. Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele and Danny Rose had all been expected to leave, but ended up staying put.
“Now we are going to finish and we hope that in March we can do a new list and include Juan on the list of the Champions League.”
Win, lose or draw, Pochettino hopes Tottenham’s final group game against Inter will be their last ‘home’ match at Wembley in the Champions League and has urged supporters to fill the national stadium.
Spurs played their Premier League games against Emirates Marketing Project and Chelsea in front of empty seats, and Pochettino acknowledged his team may need their fans to help them in Wednesday night’s must-win tie.
“I hope Wembley will be full,” he said. “But if it’s not, I’m not going to say anything. Our fans were fantastic in the last year-and-a-half. We understand the frustration and disappointment because they expected to be in the new stadium.
“I know even with 50,000 or 60,000, Wembley seems empty, but I am so happy with the fans. I will always have in my heart the fans because they are amazing, on the street, on the pitch, they translate a massive energy for us.”
Pochettino insisted he is relishing a task that has been labelled a ‘mission impossible’ in many quarters, but he also claimed Tottenham’s season will not be defined by whether or not they qualify past the group stages.
“When people say something is difficult for me, it is exciting to try to show them it is possible,” he said. “For us, it is massive motivation. We need to win two games, but we are going to try.”
On the need to qualify to prove Tottenham are still progressing, Pochettino added: “Tottenham can aspire to go and play in the Champions League and then to go to the next stage you need luck, good performances, to arrive in your best form.
“In short competitions like the World Cup or Champions League, you need luck. We play the last two games and then you go to March, and you cannot guess how you arrive - injuries, or at a good level.
“That is why the Premier League, the competition where you spend 10 months, is always important who wins. Not always who wins the Champions League or FA Cup is the best.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ottenham-cannot-repeat-painful-disappointing/