Tottenham were stunned by Inter’s late comeback at San Siro and their head coach believes his side were hard done by in their Champions League opener
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Mauricio Pochettino felt his Tottenham players deserved more from what he described as their best performance of the season in a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Inter.
With five minutes remaining at San Siro in their Champions League Group B opener, Spurs led thanks to Christian Eriksen’s heavily deflected strike.
Pochettino’s side looked in little danger of dropping two points, let alone all three, until Inter captain Mauro Icardi lashed in a superb 85th-minute volley and, in a stunning finale, Matias Vecino headed in from a corner in stoppage time.
The defeat was Spurs’ third in succession – the first time they have endured such a run since Pochettino took over in 2014 – but the Argentine was not too disheartened by the overall display.
“I’m happy with the performance, we dominated but of course it’s cruel the lesson at the end because the team deserves more. It was the team’s best performance since the beginning of the season,” he told BT Sport.
“We’re so disappointed and annoyed because the players deserve more. In two actions we concede two goals. Until we concede the first goal the game was under control. After we conceded, everything can happen in a place like San Siro.
“Now it’s so important to look forward and try to understand that is football and when you’re in a negative period you have to bounce back.”
Tottenham visit Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday and Pochettino urged the importance of improving his side’s defending at set-pieces, as well as their ability to see out matches after losing from a winning position for the second time in three games.
“It can happen in football, you can only fix that by working harder than before,” he said. “We cannot say it’s bad luck, we made some mistakes and sometimes you pay.
“We are suffering the punishment of our mistakes, that is football. Yes it happened at Watford, it’s not 10 games it happened, but it’s true in the last three games in two we were in winning positions and lose. We need to review and try to improve.
“It’s so difficult to win, now in that negative period, the most important thing is to be calm and assess in the best way and understand why and help the team to bounce back again. The next game is another opportunity to win and stop that period of negativity.”