Pochettino in low mood despite Spurs’ strong domestic start

Mauricio Pochettino says this season has seen him endure his “worst feeling” as Tottenham’s manager despite guiding them to their best ever Premier League start.

Spurs have taken 21 points from their opening nine games and could go above Manchester City if they beat Pep Guardiola’s men at Wembley on Monday night.

But it has been a difficult time for Pochettino as Tottenham’s new stadium is facing ongoing delays with the club announcing on Friday that the rest of their 2018 home games will be at the national stadium.

The boss suffered more frustration as Spurs became the first club in Premier League history not to sign anyone during the summer transfer window, something that was hardly ideal given nine of their World Cup players did not report back until five days before the new season began.

They are on the brink of a Champions League exit after picking up just one point from their opening three group games but their domestic form has been good.

Pochettino admits his mood has been “the worst”.

“The season so far, it’s strange because my feeling is the worst feeling I’ve had in the five years that I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s the worst. My feeling, but it’s the best start ever for the club in the Premier League. It’s strange, no?

“This season, my feeling is the worst.

“I don’t know, it’s so difficult to explain because many things happen, I am disappointed we are still waiting for the new stadium when the expectation was to be there at the beginning of the season.

” I don’t know, many things happened in the summer, many things that make myself not in my best mood or best humour.

“I know I always have a good relationship with the media but my feeling is not the best feeling, I had better feeling in previous seasons.”

As well as Spurs have done in the league this season, Pochettino accepts they are unlikely to be able to challenge the likes of City until they are in their new stadium.

“The circumstance that happened in the last years, I think the club is not focused completely in winning titles or winning games,” he said.

“We have a lot of focus and you know very well when you are competing with sides like we are in Champions League and Premier League, the most important thing is to fight in the same conditions as others.

“Today, we spend a lot of energy in many things. One is to win games, but the club need to be all focused in trying to win titles.

“Because today we need to fix other problems and different circumstances that happen that don’t help the team or the club to only be focused on winning titles.

“Sometimes people expect that we should be winning or we must win titles when the circumstances are not ideal.

“Everything is not perfect but we are in a circumstance and a project that is completely different to another club, at the moment.

“But maybe when we arrive to the new stadium in the future, we will be in the same project, or we are going to act the same as other teams are acting like Liverpool, City, United, Chelsea and Arsenal.”