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Mauricio Pochettino was not afraid to praise his squad after Tottenham’s dominating 2-0 win over league leading Manchester City today at White Hart Lane. Spurs capitalized on an own goal from Aleksandr Kolarov and added a first half goal from Dele Alli to take the three points and move to within a point of City at the top of the table.
After the match, manager Mauricio Pochettino was effusive about his team’s play in post-game comments:
“I think both teams have the same values, and we share a similar philosophy. It was an exciting game! City’s a great team, and to beat them was a fantastic thing for us.
“You always need some luck in football, but I think we started the game really well. We had some good chances right away, we pressed very well, and put City under pressure. It was a good start and the reward was to score. It was an exciting game.
“Manchester City’s a great team. It was a difficult game for both teams, and you know in the end we deserved [the win], but I think Manchester City are clear contenders for the title.”
Spurs welcomed Danny Rose back to the starting lineup for this match, but played the majority of the game with Eric Dier and Vincent Janssen on the bench, and starting midfielder Mousa Dembele not in the matchday 18 at all. Pochettino went on to praise his team’s mental fortitude in how they bounced back from what was a disappointing loss to Monaco in the Champions League a few weeks ago, touching on Spurs’ big win over CSKA Moscow last week.
“After Monaco we weren’t very good. We changed our mentality and started to play [better]. That is the way we can play and what we need to do on the pitch. And then you can win or you can lose, but if you can play with passion, with aggression, I think we have quality enough to fight in every game.
“It was difficult to come back from Russia, but always it’s about mentality, about attitude in football. We had time to recover and play the way we wanted to.”
Spurs now will be able to rest a few key players during the international break before their next match against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthornes on October 15.