Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he showed his players videos at half-time to remind them of the game plan before Tottenham swept past Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
Second half goals from Son Heung-min, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente helped Spurs to a crucial 3-0 victory in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 tie.
Dortmund were the most threatening side before the break and the Bundesliga leaders did well to prevent Tottenham from finding their flow.
But the hosts came to life in the 47th minute when Son opened the scoring and dominated from that point onwards – it seems Pochettino’s half-time methods helped massively.
“The first half was very difficult, first of all because we never felt the confidence to play,” Pochettino said (via ESPN). “We took some rash decisions. It’s like we weren’t comfortable. We didn’t feel what we planned to play.
“But after we fixed some problems, showing them some clips at half-time and talking a little about different positions – offensive and defensive – and trying to help the team to perform better.
“Also we were a bit lucky because it was a massive confidence boost when Sonny scored – it made the team play much better. We deserved the victory in the end.”
Dortmund’s wide players – Chelsea-bound Christian Pulisic and the highly-rated youngster Jadon Sancho – repeatedly found room in behind Spurs’ wing-backs in the first half.
But Pochettino obviously gave Vertonghen and Serge Aurier key advice during the break as to where they should have been on the pitch when in and out of possession.
As a result, Pulisic and Sancho were far quieter in the second half. Tottenham must ensure that’s the case again in the reverse fixture.
