Mauricio Pochettino really looked frustrated and unhappy with today’s draw, and he said as much in his press conference after the game.
“That is why I’m so disappointed,” he said, before pointing to his head and his heart and saying that those things were what his players lacked. It wasn’t a question of tactics, bad luck, tiredness or whatever, it was a lack of desire and fight, and that clearly really hurts him.
The problem is that he’s the manager, and it’s on him to get the players’ hearts and heads sorted.
You can see the coach speaking in the clip embedded here:
This is the first time I can remember Poch sending a public shot across the bow of this young group. Up til now he’s mostly defended them in from of the media (presumably to protect their psyche). That he’s calling them out now is a good sign insofar as it suggests he thinks they can handle the public criticism. Let’s hope the kick in the pants has its intended effect.