Tottenham Hotspur finished their tour in Australia with a 1-0 defeat to Diego Simone’s Atletico Madrid. However, manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted his delight at the performance especially due to the age of the team.
The Lilywhites looked threatening throughout the game, hitting the woodwork twice in the second half, hence they were unlucky to finish with this score-line.
Spurs opted to leave the group of 11 players who travelled to France for the 2016 European Championship at home, rather than making them travel to Australia. This meant that there were only two regular first team starters on the tour, in the form of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela. Consequently, the team was largely made up of Tottenham’s under 21s.
But for Pochettino this was only a positive as he commented that “We finished the game with nine players who have come through the academy-great” as he also added that he was “very happy with this young team”.
Plenty of positives
The tour saw seven youth players make their senior debuts over the two games, (the first a 2-1 loss to Juventus) including young attacker Marcus Edwards, who has already caught the eye of many fans. The games also allowed the fans to see more of already known younger players such as Joshua Onomah and Harry Winks as well as a glimpse at new signings Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen.
Talking about the game itself the Pochettino pointed out that “their goalkeeper was man of the match which says a lot” before concluding by praising the fans that had travelled to see the team play. The argentine said that overall they have “been fantastic” while “their passion has been brilliant”.
Tottenham will face Inter Milan in their final preseason game before travelling to Everton for their Premier League opener.