Pochettino celebrates victory over great Man City

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino hailed a “great, great victory” after his side produced a magnificent show of force to beat Manchester City 2-0 on Sunday.

An early Aleksandar Kolarov own goal and a 37th-minute Dele Alli effort at White Hart Lane saw Spurs condemn Pep Guardiola to his first defeat as City manager.

In the process, Spurs climbed to within a point of leaders City and now boast the last unbeaten record in the English top flight.

“It was a great, great victory for us against this opposition. I am very happy,” Pochettino said.

“Sometimes when you have a plan, it is good, sometimes less so, but Manchester City are a great team. It is difficult to play against them.

“We need to follow this after the international match and we have more tough games after the international break.

“The belief and faith in the way that we work needs to be consistent from the start of the season and we need to concentrate that all the way to the end of the season.”

Guardiola, who had gone unbeaten in his first 11 games as City manager, had no complaints about the outcome of the match.

“They were better,” he said. “We were not in the right positions, so congratulations to them.

“(Losing) is part of the game, part of our job. I never thought that we would not lose a game. You can’t imagine that. It is normal to the process. Sometimes it happens and it can help us improve.

“I am not here for the talk around me; I am here to do my job. It is October, you cannot imagine my team is already done.

“I am new here. So far it has been an amazing performance, but we need more, we have to work more. It is what it is.”