BOURNEMOUTH -- Mauricio Pochettino accepted that Tottenham needed to beat one of West Brom and Bournemouth to be considered genuine title contenders.
Spurs drew 1-1 at the Hawthorns last weekend, and for the second Premier League match running, they missed the chance to go top of the table, albeit temporarily, after a 0-0 draw in the early kick-off at the Vitality Stadium.
It was Spurs' third consecutive draw following the brilliant 2-0 win over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, which led to talk that Spurs could challenge for the title again this season, but Pochettino played down those suggestions.
"It's true we need to improve," he told a news conference. "If we want to be a real contender [for the title], after two away games at West Bromwich and Bournemouth, we need to win at least one. At the same time, we need to see the value in the point.
"The effort was fantastic. We had some injuries and maybe we need the whole squad fit to avoid situations like today, in the first 15 minutes. But to be contenders, you should or must win one game."
Spurs arrived at the stadium just an hour-and-a-half before the match and Pochettino said the late arrival, plus Tuesday's 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, left his side lacking "freshness" in the early exchanges.
"We missed the freshness to play, be more sharp in our passing and build from the back," he said. "In every action, when we broke their pressure, we had clear chances and space to go forward but in those situations we made the wrong decision because we missed the freshness you need to clear in the final third.
"In the second half, we dominated the game but it's difficult in the final third to create chances. The effort was very good, there are a lot of positive things. We missed the opportunity to go top but we need to take positives.
"I'm not disappointed. The game was very competitive, very tough. Bournemouth pushed us a lot during the game. We didn't feel fresh from the beginning, our start was sloppy and you can feel the team wasn't fresh. After 15 minutes, we began to get the game under control and we were much better than Bournemouth but you must score to win the game.
"In the end, I'm very pleased. after playing in the Champions League and at West Bromwich, two very tough games, and to play the third game with this effort, I'm pleased. The players made a big big effort to win the game."
Tottenham substitute Moussa Sissoko could be facing a retrospective ban after appearing to elbow Harry Arter in the second half but Pochettino insisted he had not had a clear view of the incident.
"I didn't see it live, I need to see the action on replay," he said. "Live, it didn't look bad but from my position, it was difficult to see the reality. Maybe you can see on TV a different situation or action.
"I agree that we didn't show the freshness you need to anticipate the action. We arrived a little late and maybe we made some bad tackles and deserved yellow cards but it wasn't bad intentions. We were a little tired."