• Premier League

Pochettino worried by Spurs as top four hopes fade

Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was worried by Tottenham's performance during their 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.

Spurs manager Pochettino believes his players produced probably their poorest performance under his reign and said their hopes of a top-four finish had taken a major blow.

Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney condemned Tottenham to just a third defeat in their last 15 league games, with all the goals coming in the first half.

Asked if it was the worst display of the season, Pochettino said: "Maybe yes. We made a lot of mistakes. That was the key.

"Our performance was very poor. We started the game very slow physically and mentally and I don't understand why. From the beginning, it was difficult. The first half was poor and it is difficult to come back from 3-0.

"I am worried about our performance. You can lose here at Manchester United, but our performance was poor. We need to try and analyse and fix that.

"I don't remember when was the last time we had a similar performance. We are all disappointed, not only me, all the team."

Spurs are now six points behind fourth-placed United and Pochettino accepted that it would be "very difficult" to catch them.

The Argentine said his first-half substitution of winger Andros Townsend was tactical, but revealed that midfielder Ryan Mason was replaced because he was hurt.

"It was a knock on the leg," he said. "No big problem."

Striker Roberto Soldado missed out altogether, but is unlikely to be a long-term absentee: "Roberto Soldado has a knock on the knee in the last training session [on Saturday]," Pochettino added.

Mauricio Pochettino admitted Tottenham's showing at Old Trafford was probably the worst under his reign © Getty Images

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