Pochettino hails 'deserved' Spurs win at Wembley

Cape Town - Mauricio Pochettino, who has ambitions of one day coaching England, explained how his half-time tweaks secured a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.

Christian Eriksen scored the only goal of the game, shortly after the break as Harry Kane and Dele Alli tried in vain to add to the score before former Spurs striker Jermain Defoe came within inches of securing a late draw.

After the match, Pochettino said after a difficult first half, he made some small changes. He told the club's official website: "We deserved to win in the end and the performance was enough to take the three points.

“It’s always tough though. In the first half we dominated but we made a mistake in our positional game and set-up when we had the ball.

“In the second half, we fixed that situation, moved the ball quicker and found better space.

“Hugo (Lloris) is great, one of the best goalkeepers in the world and Christian’s touch was very soft on the goal, a fantastic goal.

“It’s fantastic to win for the players and for the fans. We have a lot of important games ahead now and the feeling is good today.”

Pochettino appears in renowned football writer, Guillem Balague's new book 'A Brave New World', that is serialised in the Daily Mail, where he explained he could see himself coaching England.

He said: "If I were to be an international manager one day, I'd relish the opportunity to coach the England national team.

"I've heard that I've been considered for the job before, but I don't know if there was any truth in it. I'd be reunited with loads of familiar faces: Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Adam Lallana."

Pochettino has seen a number of England players come through his hands, both while at Southampton and now at Spurs.

He added: "Of the last 21 England debutants, 17 have played under me - there's also the likes of Rickie Lambert, Jay Rodriguez, Calum Chambers, Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw and Ryan Mason.

"In the last four-and-a-half seasons, 11 regulars in the England squad made their international debuts under my stewardship."