Spurs have brilliant future, says Pochettino
TOTTENHAM manager Mauricio Pochettino believes a bright future lies ahead despite his team failing to end their seven-year trophy drought in yesterday’s Capital One Cup final defeat to Chelsea.
The White Hart Lane club were unable to repeat their 2008 League Cup heroics against their London rivals as they succumbed to strikes from Chelsea skipper John Terry and a Kyle Walker own goal.
The Wembley showdown doused any hope of the club lifting silverware this season after their Europa League aspirations were ended by Fiorentina last Thursday, although Pochettino remained upbeat.
“I think we are in a very good place. It shows that we can play a lot of finals in the next few years. I think we will learn and improve a lot from this final and I think this group have a brilliant future,” said Pochettino.
“We need to take a lot of positives. This is step one for this group because the team is very young. For many players it is their first final and it is never easy to play at Wembley.”
The Argentine also refused to blame defeat on Tottenham’s heavy fixture schedule, with the Wembley showdown coming less than 72 hours after their clash in Florence, while Chelsea had seven free days from their last match against Burnley.
“If you analyse the game in the final minutes we create many chances and if we score we are in the game,” he added.
“When you have a lot of days to prepare for the final it is not the same as when you play in Florence and a very tough game. But this is not an excuse. We need to learn from that.”
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho reiterated Pochettino’s view that Tottenham are on course to make finals and silverware challenges a more regular occurrence in the years ahead.
“Mauricio has come to England and proved himself. Nobody gave him anything for free. He did fantastic work at Southampton, came to Tottenham and is building a fantastic team,” said Mourinho.
“I think the natural tendency of this team, with the young guys they have, is to win trophies. They have to win, I don’t know when or which ones, but they have to win trophies.”