MELBOURNE, Australia -- Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with the performance of his young players despite Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Juventus, but played down expectations around 17-year-old forward Marcus Edwards.
An experimental Tottenham team conceded twice in the opening 15 minutes but rallied in the second half after the introduction of Erik Lamela, who halved the deficit at Melbourne's MCG -- which was more than two-thirds empty of its 100,000 capacity.
Paulo Dybala opened the scoring for Juve after poor defending from centre-backs Dominic Ball, 20, and Cameron Carter-Vickers, 18, before debutant Medhi Benatia double the Italians' lead after more sloppy Spurs defending.
Spurs grew in confidence as the half went on, however, and they were unlucky not to grab an equaliser after the introductions of Lamela and Edwards, along with fellow youngsters Anton Walkes and Shayon Harrison.
"It was tough from the beginning. Our idea was to control the ball, have possession and try to create chances," Pochettino told a news conference. "But when you concede early, and after 15 minutes are 2-0 down, it's always difficult.
"We had a lot of young players, they took a lot responsibility and didn't think about their mistakes and played the way we wanted to play. It was fantastic and very positive how they behaved after a tough start.
"I'm happy with all the young players. They behaved fantastically and the performance too. It's fair to pay attention to Marcus Edwards because he's a very talented player. We need to be careful with all the young players. He's only 17 years old -- we need to care for him in a very good way.
"The energy in the second half was great. The team behaved differently. We took responsibility to play and play higher. It was all of them, not only Lamela but it's true he's a great player. The context that changed and we played much better from the beginning of the half."
The manager refused to criticse Ball and Carter-Vickers, who endured a torrid opening half an hour against Dybala and Roberto Pereya.
"I'm very happy because when you make a mistake after five minutes of the game, it's difficult to forget," he added. "The way we play we give a lot of responsibility to our centre-backs and today Cameron and Ball behaved very well and I'm very happy. In front of them was Juventus."
Pochettino handed debuts to summer signings Vincent Janssen and Victor Wanyama, and he was encouraged by the duo's contribution, although the Argentine admitted that lone striker Janssen was isolated before he was replaced in the second half.
"The first half was difficult for Vincent," Pochettino said. "Juventus played counter-attack and we made some mistakes. It was difficult to bring the ball in the final third for a very active Vincent but he worked very hard for the team.
"In the second half he linked better with his teammates but he was tired and we need to care for him. He needs to adapt our philosophy and our game. Victor was very good. I think that I'm very happy with both players."
Kevin Wimmer missed the match with a black eye, while Pochettino confirmed Christian Eriksen was absent with a virus but said he hope the Dane would be able to play a half against Atletico Madrid on Friday back at the MCG.