Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino bemoaned his side’s inability to see out a game as they threw away a 2-0 lead with 12 minutes to play.

Spurs were in cruise control for 75 minutes scoring two in the first half from Eric Dier and Nacer Chadli but were pegged back late on from a Marko Arnautovic penalty and then a deft header from Mame Biram Diouf.

Irritated by the sloppy way in which his side finished the game, Pochettino said his side were in control until the penalty where Toby Alderweireld tugged down Joselu.

He said: “I am disappointed, until the penalty, we created the better chances and the game was good for us.

“After the goal, we conceded some chances for them to score. My feeling is bad but this is football.”

Spurs came up against a resilient Stoke goalkeeper in Jack Butland who made several key saves throughout the match and his thwarting of Harry Kane with an hour played Pochettino labelled a potential turning point.

He said: “I think it maybe was the key, we need to be more consistent defensively, 2-0 at home we need to manage better.”

Kane came off after 65 minutes following an uncharacteristic quiet afternoon and the Spurs boss admitted his main man was tired and hopes to add another striker to the squad.

He said: “He was tired, you know he came later in the pre-season, he needs time to arrive, as a result of the U21, the consequences you can see now.

“I think we need to add some more players, I think today was more about the defensive than the striker.

“Every game is different, my feeling was he was tired, after 2-0, 65minutes, it was enough for him.”

Pochettino admitted that his side also conceded too many crosses in the latter stages of the game which saw Diouf equalise for the visitors.

Spurs will rue a missed opportunity to get a first win on the board against the sort of team they dropped points to in the last campaign.

The lilywhites now travel to Leicester before their next home game against Everton.