Capital One Cup Final Loss Proves Pochettino Is Still Learning Tottenham Ropes

For 45 minutes, Tottenham Hotspur held their own against Premier League leaders Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final.

From the moment John Terry poked the ball past Hugo Lloris, though, a potential tale of early promise made good became one of Jose Mourinho's men fully utilising their class and experience.

The north London club far from shamed themselves in their 2-0 loss. Nevertheless, it is a disappointing blow for this young, aspirant team, one which proves head coach Mauricio Pochettino is still learning how to turn great one-off performances into genuine, top-team-bothering consistency.

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Of course, a manager never really stops learning. Chelsea's 5-3 defeat by Spurs on New Year's Day (one of Spurs' aforementioned great displays) taught Mourinho his team needed to pay their opponents' attack more respect this time around.

Subsequently, his defenders tightened up on Harry Kane and Spurs' supporting attacking midfielders a lot quicker and more diligently than last time. After scoring a brace against them in the previous meeting, the in-form Kane indefatigably searched for a way through, only to find the Terry-led back four would not budge (when he did find room late on, the skipper was there to block).

The placement of Kurt Zouma in defensive midfield did not aid Chelsea's creativity in the first half. It did add to the defence's protection, however, and gave less space to Christian Eriksen and others to influence proceedings entering the final third. Spurs' chances suffered accordingly.

Had Nacer Chadli not given away the silly free-kick from which Terry opened the scoring, Spurs would have gone in at half-time hopeful of pushing on after the interval. Indeed, their comeback victory in January showed they were capable of doing so.

Instead, Diego Costa's winner justified the slow-burn brought on by Mourinho's adjustments. It was not their prettiest football, but it was in keeping with the win-first, aesthetics-second approach on which the Portuguese has built his highly successful career, one that has now worked in two spells at Chelsea.

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So what do Pochettino and his team take away from what started as a grand day out but turned into a drab Wembley experience?

Well, experience, for one thing.

It will not, as they will have hoped, be in the form of a potentially team-enhancing triumph. But it will have demonstrated firsthand to players such as Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Dier, Erik Lamela, Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend the focus and resilience required to win at this level. 

While Pochettino was understandably disappointed with the result, he had every right to be pleased with his players' character, if not the decision-making and quality which informed it (notably in the decisive periods either side of half-time, when their attention levels wavered).

More immediately, it should encourage the Argentine to search for wrinkles which might enhance his team's forward capabilities beyond the obvious, match-winning focal points of the elegant battering ram Kane and the sumptuous imagination of Eriksen (almost evidenced at Wembley by a ninth-minute free-kick that hit the crossbar). Effective as they can be, recent results have shown they can only lead the team so far on a two-game-per-week schedule.

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This writer has often suggested deploying the Danish playmaker from a deeper position. On Sunday it might have given him a better viewpoint for directing his team-mates against the wall of blue so difficult to break down up close. Then again, Eriksen may just have been more harried by Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and the like—their work was just as tireless.

Whatever Pochettino seeks to work on in turning Tottenham into genuine players among England's elite—a process likely to involve adding a few carefully selected additions this summer—he must remain steadfast in the general principles of resourcefulness and sustained hard work which have been behind his team's general improvement during the season.

"It will make us better and stronger for the future," reiterated Hugo Lloris post-match via Spurs' official Twitter page, a sentiment agreed by Kane, the poster boy for a progressive Tottenham:

Football realities (the question of France captain Lloris' future, for instance) might impinge even further than they have already in a frustrating week which also included Thursday's Europa League exit. But to the extent they can control their lot in life, the north Londoners can still be optimistic about where they are going.

Like Mourinho has for the past two months, Pochettino and his squad can thrive if they learn from these harshly taught lessons. Their next chance comes at home to Swansea City on Wednesday night.

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