Tottenham Hotspur beat Aston Villa 2-0 at White Hart Lane this afternoon.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has admitted to The Independent that striker Vincent Janssen is struggling after his disappointing performance against Aston Villa.
Spurs had won five Premier League games in a row having beaten Chelsea 2-0 on Wednesday, but were in FA Cup action this afternoon as they took on Aston Villa.
Manager Pochettino made a number of changes to his side as the likes of Kieran Trippier, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kevin Wimmer, Ben Davies, Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko, Heung-min Son and Vincent Janssen were all handed starts.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
However, after 70 minutes, Tottenham were being held to a 0-0 draw by the Championship outfit, before Ben Davies headed home Georges-Kevin Nkoudou’s cross to make it 1-0, and Son added a second by turning Sissoko’s pass into the net.
Spurs will have been glad to make it through such a difficult game, but the performance of striker Vincent Janssen will be cause for concern for manager Pochettino.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen heads wide
The Dutchman, 22, has hit just three goals since signing from AZ Alkmaar over the summer, and is just working his way back to full fitness having recently missed a month of action through injury.
Against Villa, Janssen struggled once again, and couldn’t find the net before he was substituted in favour of Dele Alli after an hour, with many now criticising Janssen again after firing another blank.
After the final whistle, manager Pochettino spoke to The Independent about Janssen’s display, suggesting that Janssen really is struggling right now, but claims that it’s difficult to adapt to a new league as a young player, and pointed to the lack of space against the Villa defence as part of the problem this afternoon.
“It’s true that he’s struggling but it’s difficult,” said Pochettino. “If you look again the game against Chelsea both strikers struggled in the first half. When you don’t have space it’s difficult.”
“He’s young, from a different league, he needs to adapt, work hard and not be frustrated. We push our players a lot and we will push him to the level we need for the team,” he added.
What did you think of Janssen’s performance against Aston Villa?
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