LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has said he "understands" Sean Dyche's anger after Moussa Sissoko escaped a red card in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 win over Burnley on Sunday.
Sissoko was shown only a yellow card for a high, late tackle on Stephen Ward, a minute before he assisted Danny Rose's winner.
Burnley manager Dyche said it was "impossible" that the France international did not see red, but Pochettino told his postmatch news conference: "I can understand him [Dyche]. Maybe he believes he deserved the red card.
"From my point of view, from the bench, I think it wasn't a red card, it was a yellow card. But difficult, difficult. Because [there's] no time to see [a replay] on the TV. I cannot say one thing or another -- I don't know. That's the truth.."
Spurs dominated the match, having nearly 30 shots, but Burnley led through an Ashley Barnes strike after 21 minutes before Dele Alli equalised five minutes later.
Pochettino said his side had deserved to win and reserved special praise for full-backs Rose and Kyle Walker, saying: "I'm very happy with them. At the end, Danny Rose scored a great goal tonight.
"We created a lot of chances. In the first 15 minutes was a moment to kill the game because we created a lot of chances.
"But in the end you concede a goal that was a little bit unlucky, and they believe they can get something positive here. But we analyse the game, we fully deserved the three points."
The win moved Spurs to within a point of fourth-placed Arsenal and three behind Manchester City, who went second with a 2-1 win over the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium.
"I think our position is good," Pochettino added. "Now we are winning games, keeping the gap now a little bit closer to second position.
"It is not tomorrow, not in a few weeks, that the Premier League finishes. We are in a position that we can attack the second half of the season and try to push a little bit more ourselves."
Spurs face trips to Southampton and Watford before they host leaders Chelsea on Jan. 4 and Pochettino believes the Blues can still be caught.
"It's true that we have 10-point gap to Chelsea. But in football anything can happen," he added.