Pochettino: Man City had an advantage because they have recruited earlier
Mauricio Pochettino says Manchester City had an advantage over his side in their comprehensive friendly victory because they are further ahead in their transfer plans.
Pep Guardiola’s outfit have spent more than £200million this summer while Tottenham’s only major deal is the £50m sale of Kyle Walker, who played for City against his former side in Saturday’s International Champions Cup clash in Nashville.
Walker was on the winning side as City comfortably triumphed 3-0 – a result that flattered Tottenham if anything – but Pochettino has pointed out that the Lilywhites are still to make their own signings.
READ MORE: Man City 3 Tottenham 0 – Pep rolls over Poch
READ MORE: Pochettino insists Spurs fans still love Walker despite jeering him
Asked about his opponents’ extra strength in depth, the Argentinian said: “Of course, they have more senior players than us and they invest more money than us.
“You can see that, for us, we have a lot of young players on the bench. It’s completely different today, the squads, but we are busy [with] the squad.
“Maybe today they have a bit of an advantage and are ahead of us because they signed players and keep the players they want.
“For us we are a little bit behind, working hard in trying to finish and sign some players to try to help us bring some new energy and make our team more competitive.
“I think they were better than us, they played better than us. But it’s difficult to judge the level in pre-season. We prioritise training and trying to get fit.”
Pochettino continued: “It’s not to justify it – for me they were better – but our main players started training 14 days ago. It’s very difficult to get fit if you are only focusing on playing games.
“I think we’ve pushed a lot to try to train and develop our physical condition. Yesterday for them was tough, the training session.
“We knew that maybe it would be difficult to compete against Manchester City, who have a lot of quality and very good players.
“For us it’s more about being focused on us and not the result, but helping the team to arrive in our best condition in two weeks, because the reality is we want to win in two weeks against Newcastle when we start the Premier League.
“You need to understand too that Harry Winks was injured and is getting fit, which was a big problem for us last season – Mousa Dembele the same.
“We cannot speak about [how it would have gone] if we played today in a Premier League game in Manchester or London.”
Walker was booed by the US-based Tottenham fans during the match, but Pochettino does not feel there is any genuine hatred after his switch to City.
“I totally understand. The fans showed they are disappointed with the situation,” he said. “But I think Tottenham fans love him and he spent nine years at the club.
“It’s more a spontaneous feeling that they showed. I think they don’t take it personally, only to show him they were disappointed.”
Spurs’ challenge against City in Nashville was made more difficult by the absence of Victor Wanyama, who missed the second successive pre-season outing after also sitting out Tuesday’s match against Roma.
“He played against PSG and he suffered a small problem in his cartilage in his left knee,” said Pochettino. “But sure, for next week, he will be available to train again.
“Will he be ok for the start of the Premier League? We hope yes but we need to see how he develops and how he is next week when we come back to London.”
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