Mauricio Pochettino: 'Europa League sapped our concentration'

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has bemoaned his side's midweek involvement in the Europa League as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Newcastle United in the Premier League this afternoon.

Emmanuel Adebayor opened the scoring today at White Hart Lane, but Sammy Ameobi's goal at the start of the second half and Ayoze Perez's winner just before the hour secured all three points for Alan Pardew's charges.

This afternoon's match came less than three days after the North London outfit triumphed 5-1 against Asteras Tripolis in European competition.

Pochettino told reporters after today's game: "It's a big hit for us. We deserved more, but we made one or two big mistakes and it's difficult to win the game.

"It's not easy to compete in the Europa League and Premier League. Today it was about a lack on concentration at the start of the second half and then the head is gone. It's hard to get the concentration.

"We need to improve a lot [to get into the top four]. It's not tactical or physical, it's our mentality."

The result means that Spurs are 11th in the Premier League.