Saturday 27 January 2018 21:47, UK
Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was relieved to come away from Newport County with a draw because his Tottenham side were "so poor".
Harry Kane grabbed a replay for Spurs against the League Two side with his 30th goal of the season in all competitions, but Newport had most of the chances on Saturday evening.
The Argentine was disappointed with his side's showing, and said the poor pitch in Wales could not be used as an excuse.
"[I am] a little bit [relieved]. OK, a lot. I think we were so poor, full credit to them because they played fantastic and yes we were really disappointed in first half and the second half," Pochettino said.
"In the last 30 minutes we started to play and create some chances and deserved the draw. I think we are happy because we have the possibility to stay in the competition and now to play the replay at Wembley.
"We cannot use [the pitch] as an excuse. We were so poor in the first half and we were aware about how Newport play and their quality and I think never in the first half did we match their level."
Pochettino reserved praise for League Two Newport County, who saw off Leeds in the third round, claiming that he could not tell much difference between the two sides despite 72 places separating them.
"I hear after five years here that this competition is magic and it is magic because you have a Premier League team and a League Two team and today, to be honest, I didn't see too much difference.
"If we want to go to the next stage, we need to win and to play and to be strong and of course play another game - that is the competition. It's a massive competition and I think we showed our ambition and the decision to play with our best players here because we want to go further and try to have the possibility to fight to win the competition.
"I think that we were aware that the key to playing today was having the capacity to challenge them. The most important thing from the start of the game was to show more desire, or the same desire as them and the same motivation as them."
