|
MOSCOW -- Mauricio Pochettino hailed the strength of Tottenham's squad after Tuesday's 1-0 Champions League win against CSKA Moscow in Russia. Pochettino was without five key players, but Son Heung-Min scored his fifth goal in as many matches as Spurs won in the competition for the first time since February 2011. The injured quartet of Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Harry Kane were left in London, while Pochettino rested Kyle Walker ahead of Sunday's Premier League match against Manchester City. For the second game running, Spurs saw out a victory with youngsters Harry Winks and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou on the pitch, and Pochettino said afterwards: "Now you can see all the players are key. "You never know when players can become key for the team. Maybe I am boring you about that -- it is true some players play more than others -- but always it is important you need all the players ready to compete. "Some players in specific moments -- that player who has not achieved much -- can be important for achieving important things. "It is important to recognise the squad. And I want to say thank you to our fans -- 200 people here was very tough and in a very difficult moment. Their support is very important for us. "I am very pleased with the victory. I think it was fully deserved, we played much better than our opponent. It was a difficult game, it is always difficult to play here in Moscow. It was a game we must win as we said yesterday." Pochettino replaced lone striker Vincent Janssen with 21-year-old summer signing Nkoudou four minutes before Son's 71st-minute winner. "We tried to find more mobility in our offensive position," he said. "It is for that we changed Vincent for Nkoudou, to have more pace down the sides. "Sometimes when you change, it goes well and sometimes not. That is football and it gives a solution to the team. It was a very tough game to come here and get the three points. For that we feel very pleased for our players." Pochettino questioned his players' "passion" after the 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the opening group game a fortnight ago, but he was delighted with the response in Moscow. "I questioned myself too because I am responsible always for what happens on the pitch," he said. "After Monaco, I think our performance about passion and attitude [today], to play how we need to, was fantastic. Today I feel happy. It was a very important game and it is about recovering well and to arrive in very good form for Manchester City on Sunday. "It is too early to assess [our Champions League chances] but always football is about belief, it is about working and trying to do things. Football for us, we are ambitious and we cannot set the limit. "It is very open but it is too early to say what the team can achieve in this competition. Only to be free and feel all is possible and try to win games. It will be very important to try to go to the next round. Step by step is very important now." CSKA Moscow head coach Leonid Slutsky added: "The goal was marginally offside, we have to see it again, but it doesn't matter. In the second half we tried to attack more but we didn't take our chances and that's why we are here."
|
