Pochettino rues one ‘painful’ moment of Spurs draw

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said he was “very disappointed” with his side’s 2-2 draw with Olympiacos on Wednesday, adding that the way his side conceded their opponents’ first goal was “so painful”.

Spurs raced into a two-goal lead before the half-hour mark with a penalty from Harry Kane and a Lucas Moura strike four minutes later, but after Daniel Podence pulled one back a minute before the interval, Mathieu Valbuena equalised on 54 minutes.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Pochettino added that he was concerned at the number of chances they conceded to the hosts.

“I feel very disappointed,” the manager said. “To be honest, first half I wasn’t happy with our performance. From the beginning we had a plan. We didn’t respect the plan. I told the players at half-time.

“We scored two goals but if you only analyse the performance it wasn’t great. We conceded a lot of chances to them and the first goal was so painful. We didn’t translate that type of aggression these type of games demand.

“How many times we didn’t anticipate today and how we weren’t proactive like we were against Crystal Palace. At this level you need to match your opponent. That is the first demand.”

Pochettino added, however, that Olympiacos deserve praise for the way they played, saying: “t didn’t surprise me the quality that Olympiacos had. This is one of the toughest competitions in the world. They deserve big credit and played so well.”

Spurs return to Premier League action on Saturday when they travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester.