Football
Ben Pearce, Tottenham correspondent 5y

Mauricio Pochettino: If Spurs can't beat PSV, it's 'difficult' to advance

Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham's failure to beat PSV Eindhoven suggests they don't deserve to stay in the Champions League, and has bemoaned his side's failure to kill the game off.

Spurs were leading 2-1 in a must-win match at the Philips Stadion and had chances to score again, but goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was sent off for a rash tackle in the 79th minute and Luuk de Jong grabbed a late equaliser for the hosts.

Lloris's decision to rush out of his box and slide into Hirving Lozano, earning a straight red card, was a turning point but Pochettino said: "I'm not going to blame any player. If someone wants to blame a person, it's myself to blame because I am responsible for the team."

Asked whether he felt the dismissal was fair, Pochettino replied: "In my opinion I think no, but we cannot blame the referee."

The draw leaves the north Londoners with just one point in Group B at the halfway stage, and Pochettino said: "If you didn't win following what happened then you don't deserve to be in the Champions League. 

"Today was a game completely dominated by us but we needed to be more aggressive and score more than twice. We had the chances when the game was open, but you can always concede.

"Now is not the time to find someone to blame like the referee or the decision [to send off Lloris]. If you deserve [to win] and cannot win this type of game, it's so difficult to go ahead.

"Maybe we can qualify but in the end it will be difficult when the opponents [Inter Milan and Barcelona] will be tougher than the one we played today."

Pochettino continued: "One thing is the perception that we are on the same level of Barcelona, or other teams with the habit of winning the Champions League. Another is when you play PSV and you have a lot of possibilities to win the game but you don't win. Maybe you start to see the reality in a different way.

"Of course we are so competitive and maybe today we deserved more. But football is not about deserving, it's about being aggressive and scoring more goals than your opponent.

"We didn't force it. It was like at 2-1 it was only about waiting to try to finish the game. That is why our feeling is so bad, because it was under control the game, we were playing so well. The PSV fans were so, so disappointed with the performance of their own team, but it was like it was contagious.

"It looked like we played without goals because it was about keeping possession and trying to play and not about being aggressive in the final third.

"In football you cannot allow the opponent some time to be alive. You need to kill the game and kill the opponent when you have the possibility. If not, always in football you pay."

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