Mauricio Pochettino admitted Tottenham are facing circumstances which make it "difficult to improve" ahead of two daunting Champions League group stage clashes with Inter Milan and Barcelona.
An 89th-minute winner over PSV Eindhoven at Wembley kept Tottenham’s European hopes alive after Luuk de Jong had headed the visitors in front after just 61 seconds.
A second-half equaliser from Harry Kane, before his header was turned in off PSV substituteTrent Sainsbury for the win, mean Spurs are still just about above water though must beat Inter at the national stadium before travelling to Barcelona.
Having faced stadium delays, World Cup fatigue and a number of injuries to contend with, Tottenham have been far below par, performance-wise, this season and Tuesday was no exception.
Pochettino, though, claimed he is always disappointed regardless of the performance, but that it may well be a tough task to improve before the visit of Inter.
“I don’t know if you believe me or not but what I am going to say is that always I am disappointed with the performance of the team,” he said.
“Always I want more, and more and more. When you nearly play perfect you find something to say no and that we need to improve, improve.
“I think we need to improve but in the team [there are] many circumstances that sometimes make it difficult to improve, but I am optimistic and we believe of course that we are going to compete, first of all against Inter Milan, in the best way.”
Pochettino has often been criticised for lacking an alternative when things are not going his way, but second-half changes, including his decision to bring Lucas Moura off on the hour which was roundly booed, proved crucial in turning the tide.
The Argentine, though, was almost pleased to finally hear some disapproval from the stands.
“I understand,” he added. “I like it because after nearly five years I think it's the first time that they've been critical of me and didn't agree with me, but in the end 2-1?
“Look it's always difficult to take decisions, of course the fans are disappointed. They want to play with nine or ten strikers when you are losing the game. But we tried to find solutions.
“Sometimes people say ‘Oh, Pochettino doesn’t have a Plan B or Plan C’, but the most important thing was to have a plan, and then, like today it was good to have a different way to approach and to score goals.”
