As for witnessing a historic milestone on Harry Kane’s 50th league goal for Tottenham, Son Heung-Min was proud of his teammate.
Advertisement
Pochettino’s side will take on Ligue 1 side AS Monaco in their opening Champions League group-stage clash at Wembley on Wednesday night.
The more interesting aspect of the table is that other top ten finishers from last season like West Ham who let a two goal lead slip at home to Watford, and Southampton who lost with a alte goal against Arsenal are also struggling for points.
“It’s a very hard game away at Stoke, we won 4-0 and we had unbelievable support”.
“The lads are excited and we wanted a good result here”, he said.
“Last season was tough for Son and we had to make the decision, in or out”, Pochettino said.
“At the moment we are going behind in games, chasing them and then not doing the ugly stuff – that has to change”.
“When momentum shifts and the game is getting a little bit pressurised, in terms of going against you, we’ve got to recognise those moments in the game and adjust our play accordingly”, he said.
“The past is in the past and now in the present we have a lot of challenges we need to be focused on”.
Having finally reached the fifty goal milestone in just his 87th Premier League appearance, Tottenham academy product Kane admitted it was “a great achievement” but won’t stop the handwork now as it makes him “even hungrier to get to that next mark”.
“Stoke, in the first 10 minutes, did well but after more and more time we were doing very well. The decision was for him to stay and I am very pleased”.
Speaking after the match, Pochettino did confirm he considered the player’s future after the end of the 2015-16 season, but believes his decision to give him another chance has now been vindicated.
The home side’s players were taunted with chants of “Stoke City, it’s happening again” as they unravelled in the second half despite starting brightly with new signings Wilfried Bony and Bruno Martins Indi handed debuts.
Hughes was sent off in the first half at the bet365 Stadium for stepping out of his technical area to protest what he thought was an initial foul on Jonathan Walters, in a game that also saw Marko Arnautovic booked for diving.
Advertisement
I’m sure that what I have seen Mark and his coaches have seen and they will want to sort it very quickly. When you come out of your technical arena, it’s not allowed, sometimes you forget that.
