Mauricio's five-point preview - Brighton

Mauricio Pochettino spoke to us on Friday morning to look ahead to Saturday’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League (kick-off 12.30pm). Here’s his latest five-point preview...

1 – Feeling positive

It was put to Mauricio that it’s been a difficult week in light of the result against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Mauricio: “Not a difficult week – a difficult game. It was not a good result for us. Everything was fantastic after beating Southampton and playing one hour with 10 men – that was a fantastic feeling after that game but after Bayern Munich, of course, tough. It’s difficult to accept a result like this. My responsibility, of course, is always to assess the games and it was a strange game. I think we played so well but we lost the game 7-2 and that is so hard but, watching the first half, we deserved much more, we were winning the game but, in the second half, in some very small periods of time we conceded goals and it was difficult afterwards – that is the feeling after a bad result but at the end it’s only three points, there are still a lot of games to play in the Champions League but now we need to move onto the Premier League. It’s going to be tough against Brighton but we need to be ready and we are going to be ready.”

2 – Players getting back onto the field

How important will it be for the players who felt the pain on Tuesday night to get back onto the pitch at Brighton?

Mauricio: “We are not going to change the plan. We have some plans and of course we are going to complete a period of seven games in 21 days. I was happy with the performance of the team, after Bayern Munich it was a little bit unlucky in some periods and the result was a shame but we need to talk in a very positive way. The decisions were planned before and we are not going to take decisions because we lost that game in the way that we lost. We only need to think of what’s best for the players, for the team and to be sure that we are going to perform in our best way.”

3 – Brighton

What did Mauricio think of Brighton under new manager Graham Potter?

Mauricio: “It’s difficult to assess, it’s only the beginning of the season but they started the season really well, winning two games and then they struggled a little bit but it’s like all the teams – the Premier League is so competitive, it’s so tough. There are some teams like Liverpool or Manchester City, they are continuing in the same run from last season, winning games, and different teams are showing great quality like Leicester or West Ham. Then there are the teams that are building new projects but okay, we are there, we are competing, there are still a lot of games to play in the Premier League, it’s only the beginning and it’s difficult to judge the teams.”

4 – Seagulls’ style

Could we come up against a different style from Brighton now that Potter is in charge?

Mauricio: “Every manager has their way to play and, of course, all the coaches are different. Now with (Graham) Potter, he is a very good manager, he showed his quality in different clubs and it’s going to be an exciting game. They are going to be really motivated and, for us, it’s an important game to bounce back and start to win games.”

5 – Right-back

With Serge Aurier suspended this weekend, how did Mauricio assess his options at right-back?

Mauricio: “We have different options. In one hour I think Moussa Sissoko showed great quality playing against Southampton, he did very well and maybe him or different players… between today and tomorrow we are going to take the decision.”