Luke Amos made his debut for Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday against Newcastle United at St James’ Park when he came on in the 88th minute to replace Eric Dier.
Dier was struggling with a cramp and Pochettino wasted no time in bringing the 21-year-old development squad midfielder Amos with the game well poised.
Spurs won 2-1 against the Magpies in the end, and it ended well for the young midfielder. Pochettino was seen passionately speaking to the youngster on the touchline.
The youngster impressed the Spurs boss during the US tour, and Pochettino, who is always eager to give young players a run out, drafted him into the match day squad in Spurs’ opening Premier League game.
When asked the Tottenham boss what he was saying exactly to the young midfielder, he replied:
“He was so relaxed and calm and I said ‘Come on, you need to show energy’,” revealed Pochettino. “He was so calm and relaxed and I said to him you just play how you know how to play, easy and enjoy. Football is about enjoyment.”
The Argentine further added: “It was important for us to provide good balance to the team, try to assess the squad, the possibility that we had to play. Of course the players are going to have a process to improve in their fitness,” he said.
“But we are in the competition and in the competition if players like the young ones like Luke Amos deserve to be on the bench and maybe play, they are going to play.”
Good start for Spurs
It was hardly a free flowing performance that we generally associate with Spurs, but they did enough to get three points on the board.
Jan Vertonghen opened the scoring for the visitors inside ten minutes, before Joselu tucked in with a glancing header three minutes later to make it 1-1.
Spurs again took the lead in the first half when Dele Alli scored a free header from six yards out.
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