‘I apologize on behalf of our players’: Pochettino regretful following feisty Man Utd friendly

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino issued an apology to Manchester United after a bad-tempered pre-season friendly in Shanghai on Thursday, but United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he had no issues with the intensity of the game.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side won the encounter 2-1 with goals from Anthony Martial and Angel Gomes cancelling out Spurs’ lone effort from Lucas Moura. But it seemed that the two clubs’ Premier League rivalry boiled over into their pre-season friendly fixture, with several players from both sides clashing on numerous occasions on the pitch.

Tottenham duo Japhet Tanganga and Dele Alli were issued with cautions, while Andreas Pereira was shown a yellow card for Manchester United – a display of authority from the referee in the type of fixture in which disciplinary action is often a rarity.

Manchester United’s defender Eric Bailly appeared to come off worst from the match, suffering what appears to be a twisted knee just 11 minutes after his introduction after half time, while new signing Daniel James was also targeted on numerous occasions by Spurs’ French midfielder Moussa Sissoko.

Following the match, Spurs’ Argentinian boss Pochettino issued an apology on behalf of his team to Manchester United and offered an explanation as to why the fixture devolved into such a hot-tempered affair.

“Yes it’s true I was a little bit annoyed about some situations,” Pochettino said.

“It was a friendly game and in some situations of course when you are tired, when it’s so hot you are not right with the tempo to arrive at the actions, sometimes you arrive late, and something can happen.

“I apologize on behalf of our players to Manchester United. It’s football. It wasn’t their intention.

“In this period of preparation, sometimes you need to be aggressive and you need to play with passion, but sometimes the focus is to build your fitness and develop the way you want to play. Of course, I was worried. Bailly got injured and I am sorry for that, but he was alone.”

However, United boss Solskjaer didn’t quite see it that way, and apparently doesn’t agree that an apology was necessary, saying after the fixture that it was ideal preparation for the physical nature of the upcoming Premier League season.

“I thought it was a very good preparation for getting ready for the league,” he said.

“No tippy-toey football. You went in to tackle when you’re supposed to tackle, so I have no qualms about some of the tackles. Yeah, you’re worried but there’s no injuries… We also gave, we didn’t just receive.”