Pochettino: League Cup heartbreak will help Spurs grow

Tottenham’s League Cup final heartbreak will help the team to grow, according to head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Mauricio Pochettino is confident his Tottenham players will ultimately be galvanised by Sunday’s League Cup final defeat to Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho collected his first trophy since returning to Stamford Bridge as a John Terry strike and an own goal from Kyle Walker earned Chelsea a 2-0 victory in the Wembley showpiece.

Tottenham have no time to dwell on the setback, though, as they host Swansea City in the Premier League on Wednesday looking to end a five-match winless run.

Head coach Pochettino admits the mood at training this week has been somewhat despondent, but he is sure he can lift the squad in time for the visit of Garry Monk’s men.

“We need to lift the players,” he said. “We need to put the idea into the team that [Swansea] is the most important game.

“We know that is difficult because the expectation was so high for Wembley. But we need to forget that.

“It [training] was difficult – that is the reality. Because we get two feelings, one a bad feeling but also you feel good because you did your best and performance was good.

“I spoke about the final to improve, this is a good game for growing, I think this is a very, very good opportunity to improve.”

On the challenge posed by Swansea, he added: “Swansea are a team who can play very good football, very good players and we know players like [former Tottenham midfielder Gylfi] Sigurdsson.

“It is important to get the three points. We need to get some good feelings and this game is important.”