Mauricio Pochettino makes baffling comments about Ndombele’s display

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Tottenham Hotspur lost 2-1 at Liverpool this afternoon.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has offered a baffling response to Football.London when asked about Tanguy Ndombele’s performance today.

Pochettino took his Spurs side up to Anfield this afternoon to take on Premier League leaders Liverpool, in what appeared to be a difficult challenge for his team.

Spurs have been patchy this season whilst Liverpool sit top of the league, but Harry Kane actually headed Tottenham into the lead inside the first minute.

Spurs were under the cosh for much of the game though, and did eventually concede as Jordan Henderson fired Liverpool level in the second half.

Tottenham couldn’t hang on for a point, as Serge Aurier gave away a foolish penalty for a challenge on Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah scored from 12 yards.

Pochettino’s men tried to get back into the game but couldn’t get the equaliser, meaning they head back to North London empty-handed after their third defeat to Liverpool this year.

Tottenham did appear to have a little more quality in the middle of the park when record signing Tanguy Ndombele came on, offering drive and probing passes around the box as Spurs went for a leveller.

Yet when Pochettino was asked about Ndombele making a big difference, he offered a bafflingly spiky response, saying ‘doing what?’, seemingly not agreeing that the Frenchman made a big impact.

Pochettino continued, adding that the game was different when Ndombele had an impact late on as Spurs needed to chase a goal, and defended his decision to leave him on the bench after he played against Crvena zvezda in midweek whilst believing that his good passing is just ‘normal’ rather than anything impressive.

“Big difference? Doing what?” said Pochettino.

“Yes but in this time the game was different no? I think be careful how we assess. I was talking to some of your colleagues before the game. With 29 players in the squad it’s so important to rotate and keep them all motivated to play. He played on Tuesday in the Champions League and I think Harry Winks was fresh to play. That’s normal and what we need from players from the bench to make an impact. But of course he’s doing good passes. He’s fresh. That’s normal. If it’s the opposite we have a problem,” he added.