Mauricio Pochettino has commented on Vincent Janssen’s performance against Gillingham.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has told Sky Sports that he was pleased with striker Vincent Janssen’s performance against Gillingham.
Spurs advanced into the last 16 of the EFL Cup with a thumping 5-0 win over League One side Gillingham, even after Pochettino made 11 changes to the side which started against Sunderland on Sunday.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen
Christian Eriksen scored either side of half time to put Spurs 2-0 up, before Vincent Janssen scored his first goal for the club from the penalty spot.
Joshua Onomah and Erik Lamela added late goals to hand Tottenham a 5-0 win, and set up a clash with Liverpool in the next round of the competition.
Many Tottenham players impressed for Spurs, but much of the attention was on Dutch hitman Janssen, who is now called upon to lead the Spurs attack given that Harry Kane is out with an ankle injury.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen
Janssen is set to start against Middlesbrough this weekend, and needed his first goal to head into the game with confidence – though he will hope to score from open play against Boro.
After the final whistle at White Hart Lane, manager Pochettino told Sky Sports that it was important for Janssen to score, but also ‘feel the love from the supporters’, and felt he was unlucky not to score more against Gillingham having been presented with a number of chances to score.
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino added that he was happy for Janssen to take penalties in Kane’s absence, having watched him score from the spot for the Netherlands against England earlier this year.
“Now that Harry Kane’s injured, he is our main striker and it’s important for his confidence for the next few games,” Pochettino said. “Always I allow them to take the ball and whoever feels more confidence to shoot, but I remember in the national team against England he took the ball and took the penalty.”
“I think that it was important for him, to feel the love from the supporters. For a striker, always the difficult thing is to create chances but he has a lot of chances to score today. He was unlucky. The important thing is that he got into the box and he created a lot of chances. For the future, it’s important that he feels confidence and for the team, it will help a lot for us,” he added.
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