Savvy looks at the press conferences ahead oftoday’s game…
Mauricio Pochettino has been focussing on the positives ahead of his teams` visit to Carrow Road, suggesting they have not been getting the results` their performances deserved.
“When you analyse the games that we`ve had and just look at the results, then it`s easy to draw a conclusion,” said the Argentine. “But I think you can review many more conclusions by looking at the way that we`ve played and we can draw many positives from the matches we`ve had so far. We have a certain work ethic and a way of working which is what we`ve continued to do, but of course we need to improve day after day, and how you get better is by just working even more.
“In the final analysis, the team is producing many good chances and we have been better than our rivals. That is why we`re sad about the results, but it is the only way we can think and move forward. We just need to look ahead and keep on moving forward and we need to put in everything that we can into the next game and we need to be fully focused on having enough energy to be better than our rival.”
“We`re disappointed that we didn`t get any points from the games against Newcastle and QPR,” he told the club`s official website. “Even though we were better than them and played better than them, we still left with nothing from both games. This week overall we`ve fought very hard and also thought about what we need to address from the two games. We have to carry on the way we`ve been playing because we`ve been playing very well.
Pochettino, who played as a central defender for Argentina against England in the 2002 World Cup, went on to suggest that his struggling Saints side have become far too easy to beat.
“Looking back on QPR, the two chances they were able to get they scored two goals, that`s just not on and it`s something that we need to address and we`ve all accepted that those kind of mistakes cannot happen at all. My line of thinking is to keep going with our own philosophy of playing football and being a lot more effective in terms of scoring goals for ourselves, and nullifying other teams and their goal scoring opportunities.”
Sounds a good plan, Mauricio.
City`s only absentees are Tettey, Ruddy and former Saint Andrew Surman who has been ruled out for the season after a knee operation.
Although briefer in his comments, City boss Chris Hughton was much more bullish, referring to his sides` strong home record as something to draw inspiration from.
“We are on the back of a good result at home against a top team. We have lost only three (league) games at home this season,” he said. “I have a very dedicated group of players who generally cannot be faulted for a lack of effort going into every game.
“As a manager if you can look at your players and are confident they have given everything in a game you know you will get more good than bad results.”