Hugo Lloris endured a nightmare first half during Tottenham Hotspur’s win against Southampton, but he bounced back with great strength after the break.
Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that Hugo Lloris is ‘one of the best’ goalkeepers in the world despite his error during Tottenham’s 2-1 win against Southampton.
The France international was dispossessed by Danny Ings three yards from his goal, which led to the Saints levelling the scores, at the time.
Lloris did bounce back in the second half by producing a number of fine saves and ensuring that he didn’t allow Southampton to come back into the match when Harry Kane had netted what turned out to be the winning goal just before the break.
After the game, Pochettino was asked about the positive reaction his goalkeeper showed after he made his error.
“I am not surprised,” Pochettino told Football London. “We are talking about if not the best, the top three or five goalkeepers in the world. I don’t want anyone to blame him in this action. I want the blame because I demand to do what he is doing. He is so strong mentally and of course, showed that he wasn’t affected by that mentally.
On whether he demands Lloris does Cruyff turns three yards out: “No, but sometimes that happens, it’s football. When the player does something on the pitch that can maybe cause a situation like this for me, like Aurier’s sending off or you miss a goal or you miss a pass, I put this on the same level.
“The goalkeeper is in a different position, the responsibility is different but he showed great mentality that is why he is one of the best.”
On his day, Lloris, who earns £100k-a-week at Spurs [Spotrac], can be a match-winner for both club and country, but he has had a knack of making errors which have proven to be costly – therefore, his manager coming out and saying he is ‘one of the best’ is a surprise.
Last season, he did come under pressure on a number of occasions for his mistakes, but aside from Saturday, he had started the season off in a pretty good fashion – errors in the Champions League, and against Leicester in the Premier League, to name a few do stand out from the previous campaign.
Considering the mess that has been in front of him of this season, key players not being selected, constant changes being made, he has actually remained cool between the sticks prior to yesterday.
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