Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino defends Fernando Llorente

Follow us on Google Discover

Tottenham Hotspur striker Fernando Llorente has failed to score in his first 14 games.

Mauricio Pochettino has told Football.London that Tottenham Hotspur fans shouldn’t compare Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente.

Janssen was offloaded in the summer on loan to Fenerbahce, after struggling badly during his first season at Spurs.

Llorente was then brought in as his replacement from Swansea City, but the Spaniard has not fared much better in front of goal.

Llorente has failed to score in any of Tottenham’s first 14 appearances for the North London side.

However, Pochettino insists that Llorente is doing everything that is expected of him, and he just needs time to settle.

Pochettino said: “I think it’s completely different. Two difference cases. You cannot compare Janssen with Llorente. I think they’re two different profiles in everything.

“He needs to keep going. I am so happy with him, his attitude is fantastic and he is a great professional. I think he brings not only like a player to help the team on the pitch, but helps the team off of it too – a lot of positive things. He only needs time.”

Llorente’s latest appearance came for Tottenham against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, and he was gifted a great chance to score, but fluffed his lines.

Llorente was racing through on goal but failed to get a shot away after a heavy touch.

In the end, the miss didn’t matter – as Spurs went on to claim a highly impressive 2-1 victory in Germany.

Llorente could now feature in Spurs’ next match, against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, but it is likely to be as a substitute rather than a starter.