Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino asks rivals to 'show respect' to Spurs

Posted Saturday, July 29, 2017 by ESPN

Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino asks rivals to 'show respect' to Spurs
Mauricio Pochettino said recent comments by Antonio Conte made him laugh.

Mauricio Pochettino has told rival managers to "show respect" to Tottenham after claiming that Antonio Conte's £100 million valuation of Harry Kane "made me laugh."

Chelsea manager Conte also spoke dismissively of Tottenham earlier this week, suggesting it would not be a "tragedy" if Spurs fail to win silverware next season because their "expectations" are different to those of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City.

But speaking in Nashville ahead of Tottenham's International Champions Cup clash against City on Saturday, Pochettino delivered a strong riposte to Conte when asked about his comments regarding Kane being worth £100m.

"It made me laugh because I don't know why other people are so focused on my players and our club," Pochettino said. "I respect every single opinion. I am so respectful of other players, other clubs, other managers, the owners of different clubs.

"My job is to be focused on my players and my team. I show respect. I'm not a manager who likes to speak about other clubs or managers or what happens in the corner.

"It makes me happy that other managers say I have the best striker in the league, but I respect every single philosophy and, for me, the most important thing is to show more respect.

"I like to show respect to people that behave another way, only I expect the same from people that compete with us.

"Sometimes people are too excited to reply. I think it's important to keep calm, respect every opinion. You don't need to start to talk about another club because it's most important to be focused on your club."

Spurs have yet to make a significant signing this summer, despite their major rivals all spending huge sums to recruit new players.

But Pochettino insists that the pressure is as intense on Tottenham as on those clubs that have spent millions.

"I'm trying to provide the best tools to compete and try to win because that's our mentality," he said. "It's true for different clubs when they spend a lot of money that the expectation and pressure is massive.

"But it's the same for us because it's our own pressure and our own ambition. It doesn't mean because so far we haven't invested money or signed players that our ambitions is to the same as clubs that have signed a lot of players and spent a lot of money."