Tottenham earned a 1-1 draw against London rivals West Ham on Thursday night.
BBC Sport pundit Steve Claridge has been quoted by Radio 5 Live’s official Twitter account as saying that Mauricio Pochettino was wrong to bring on Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente with only eight minutes to play.
Tottenham suffered another set-back in their pursuit of a top-four finish in the Premier League as they failed to beat David Moyes’ West Ham side at the London Stadium, with the score resulting in a 1-1 draw.
In a match that had seen Tottenham dominate possession but fail to create and clear-cut chances, Pedro Obiang’s stunning strike gave the Hammers the lead with 20 minutes still to play.
However, Son Heung-Min’s excellent long-range effort restored parity with five minutes to play. Claridge reckons Spurs would have been better off if Pochettino had brought on target man Llorente sooner than the 82nd minute.
“Pochettino didn’t do enough tonight to turn the game around. Llorente should have been on earlier,” Claridge said on Thursday night after the referee’s final whistle.
Argentine boss Pochettino has come in for some criticism on Twitter regarding his substitutes, which saw him fail to make a change until the 74th minute as Erik Lamela and Victor Wanyama came on.
Two minutes after Llorente’s introduction, Son scored. Spurs remain in fifth place in the Premier League table but will be disappointed not to reduce the gap between themselves and fourth-placed Liverpool to a point, with three separating the sides.
The north Londoners now play host to Adebayo Akinfenwa’s AFC WImbledon on Saturday, before returning to Premier League action next weekend against Everton.
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