Pochettino: Tottenham´s mentality could take 10 years to change

Mauricio Pochettino believes a mentality issue is holding Tottenham back from mounting a serious Premier League title challenge.

Tottenham failed to close ground on Manchester City and Liverpool, losing 2-1 to Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Pochettino’s side now take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, with Maurizio Sarri’s men reeling from their EFL Cup final defeat to City.

But Tottenham’s manager insisted it could take him a decade to undo the club’s problems and turn them into a title-winning side.

“My relationship with [the players] is so good, I am not upset with them,” Pochettino told a news conference.

“I am only so surprised that we cannot build that feeling that each game is going to be the most important game.

“My worry is what happened and to change that is not only five years of work, maybe it is 10 years of work to change that thing that happened here.

“It’s going to be a battle and we need to be ready to fight.”#COYS pic.twitter.com/HQZemBj9Ni

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 26, 2019

“You need to show like a team that you are fighting for big things and I think to be honest, I am so frustrated because we didn’t show more attitude than Burnley, we didn’t show more energy than Burnley, we didn’t show more ambition than them, fighting for the Premier League.

“That is what worried me. That is my point. Of course it’s easy to go to Chelsea and be motivated to play, and play against Arsenal or Borussia Dortmund, it’s easy you don’t need a manager that tells you, ‘Oh, you need to be motivated, excited to play’, no, because that’s normal.”