LONDON, Sept 15 — Tottenham need to improve a lot if they are to be considered contenders for the Premier League title, manager Mauricio Pochettino said after their 2-1 defeat by Liverpool at Wembley today.
“We need to improve a lot,” Pochettino told a news conference. “This type of game shows you that we need to improve if we want to contend in the end to win some titles.”
Having suffered a surprise defeat against Watford last time out, Spurs were under pressure to get back to winning ways against a Liverpool side who had started the season with a 100 per cent record.
However, having been outplayed for large swathes of the match in the Wembley sunshine, Tottenham slipped to a second successive defeat for the first time since the start of the 2015-16 season.
“First of all I want to say that they deserved the victory,” Pochettino said. “I think that the performance wasn’t great. Today if you make a lot of mistakes then of course against Liverpool, one of the best teams in Europe, you will be punished.”
Harry Kane again struggled in front of goal, mustering just one shot on target all match, and posed very little threat to a solid Liverpool backline.
Pochettino, though, was not laying any blame at the England international’s door, believing the team as a unit have to turn things around.
“I think I respect every single opinion but for me it’s a collective problem,” Pochettino said. “I am not going to point the finger at some player. I am happy with all the players. I told you the challenge is massive this season. We need to give time to the players to get to their best and of course to show our potential in time.” — Reuters
