Pochettino says Tottenham ´gave up´ as Spurs boss warns of ´tough season´

Mauricio Pochettino admitted Tottenham “gave up” in their humiliating Champions League loss to Bayern Munich as the Spurs manager warned of a “tough season”.

Last season’s Champions League runners-up Tottenham were embarrassed 7-2 by Bayern on a forgettable night in London on Tuesday.

Spurs – who took the lead in the Group B fixture through Son Heung-min before capitulating – conceded seven goals at home for the first time in a major competition following Serge Gnabry’s four-goal second half.

Pochettino, whose future has dominated headlines amid uncertainty at the struggling Premier League side and links to Real Madrid and Manchester United, told reporters: “The feeling at the end when we conceded the three goals – it was like the team was tired and gave up a little bit.

5 – Tottenham’s 2-7 defeat to Bayern Munich was the biggest ever margin of defeat by an English team at home in any European competition. Crushing. pic.twitter.com/LnUf8PKaWO

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 1, 2019

“Maybe that showed a little bit our frustration with the game because up until 82 minutes, the team were alive, we were fighting, trying to create chances to score [for 4-3].”

“It’s difficult to talk now. I said nothing after the game. We have to stay together, but you can imagine we cannot talk now,” Pochettino said. “It’s a situation where we have to be calm first, after we will talk tomorrow. But not today.

“The feelings aren’t so good. We are very disappointed. But the moment now is to be calm and not make a mistake after a result like today. We are not going to fix anything by shouting, when the emotion is on the skin.”

Pochettino added: “This is going to be a tough season. After the final of the Champions League, it was a chapter closed and now the club is in a period when they need to open another chapter and decide a project, medium, long-term.

“Like I told you, that defeat won’t change my opinion. This type of situation will happen and you need to show your quality like a man first, to face like a professional, like a man. You need to put your quality, how you are strong, to face this type of situation.

“What comes after is the professional side. Now we need to be a man and be strong all together to try to bounce back and change that feeling. I think it’s more psychological now. To try to move with no damage between us and talking in different ways to each other. The most important thing now is to have one idea, one analysis, one assessment.

Mauricio’s reaction to tonight’s defeat: pic.twitter.com/cUaljQf3vz

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 1, 2019

“We need to stick with this assessment and from there start to improve. Last season was similar but this result is tough. But the most important now is to stay calm, not rush to analysis, assessment or judgement.

“It’s important now to take a few hours to see what happened. But after 30 minutes, my feeling was good. Nobody in that stadium expected this type of result in the end. We need to work, but it was a little bit of a strange game.

“This type of situation you have to face. It is tough and you need to be strong and keep going. Stay together, help each other and be all together. When you receive this type of result it is important to bounce back and believe in yourself. It is the only way to recover.”