Mauricio’s verdict on Olympiacos

Mauricio Pochettino said we had to be ‘optimistic and positive’ despite an overriding feeling of the one that got away in our Champions League opener against Olympiacos.

The atmosphere from the fans and intensity from the home side were everything we expected in Athens but having quietened the noise somewhat, we allowed a 2-0 lead to slip through our fingers.

Harry Kane fired us in front from the penalty spot after being tripped himself on 26 minutes and when Lucas Moura hit a cracker from 20 yards four minutes later for 2-0 we looked well set.

But Olympiacos pulled a goal back through Daniel Podence just before the break and levelled from the spot 10 minutes into the second half through Mathieu Valbuena after Jan Vertonghen tripped the French midfielder. Kane and Dele went close at 2-2 but that’s how it stayed.

“My thoughts are that we’re optimistic, one point at the end,” said Mauricio. “We didn’t start well but we scored the penalty and the second goal from Lucas, but it wasn’t a great end to the first half.

“In the second half we improved but conceded another soft goal. We need to focus on being more aggressive like we were against Palace. In the moment we dropped, our quality dropped too and we conceded too many chances.

“It’s disappointing because we are not talking about quality, we are talking about intensity, will and aggression.

“We need to be optimistic and positive. It’s only the beginning, a point here and now we need to be ready for Saturday when we play Leicester and that’s going to be another tough game.”