Tottenham beat Fulham 3-1 at Wembley in Premier League on Saturday
Saturday 18 August 2018 20:14, UK
Mauricio Pochettino said Lucas Moura deserves a lot of praise after his goal contributed towards Spurs beating Fulham 3-1 at Wembley to maintain their winning start to the season.
The Brazilian started his second consecutive Premier League game and was a prominent figure throughout, almost scoring early on with a header before eventually finding the net just before half-time.
While Lucas' goal proved to be significant, Pochettino stated that his off-the-ball work was just as important. Despite playing in an advanced role, Lucas won four tackles - a total higher than any other Spurs player.
Pochettino said: "Lucas was from day one with us when we started pre-season which is an advantage compared to the players that arrived late and today I think he was very good, he deserves a lot of praise.
"He scored but more importantly he worked very hard for the team without the ball and that is always important."
Aleksandar Mitrovic drew Fulham level shortly after half-time but two quickfire goals from Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane handed Spurs a comfortable win in the end.
The result means that Spurs have won both of their league games this season and while Pochettino was happy with most aspects of their performance, he suggested that they need to tighten up defensively in the future.
"It was a tough game but I think we deserved the victory. We dominated completely and created a lot of chances but we dropped our performance a little bit and became sloppy and they were better in the first 15-20 minutes [of the second half].
"Of course, it's only the beginning of the season but it is so important to win games but we can improve, we conceded too many chances today and against Newcastle.
"There were different players today and a different system, we are still building our fitness and focus out of possession and we need to be more clinical.
"We are so happy with the players that came back from the World Cup. The mentality and the energy was fantastic.
"I'm happy with the victory, six points from two games but now we have to keep going and working."
Pochettino also spoke about the possibility of players leaving the club before the end of the European transfer window which is open until the end of August.
"I am so open if players want to leave, but if they are going to be here I want all commitment, if not we can find a solution," he said.
"I am so tired to talk about if some players aren't happy or some players want to leave. Of course every player if they don't play will be disappointed."
Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele and Danny Rose have all been linked with exits while Vincent Janssen and Georges-Kevin N'Koudou are also tipped to depart.
Alderweireld played the whole game against Fulham while Dembele came on as a substitute and Pochettino had some strong words for those who are not in his plans.
"Players that don't play need to wait until I am sacked or go elsewhere to find another solution."
