Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that his side found life "tough" against Juventus but was delighted by the showing of his young players.

An experimental Spurs team made a shaky start in Melbourne on Tuesday morning when conceding two goals inside the opening 15 minutes.

The Lilywhites did improve as the match went on and pulled back a consolation goal through Erik Lamela in the 2-1 pre-season defeat at a two-thirds empty Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Despite the setback in Tottenham's pre-season programme - their first official run-out of the summer after a couple of behind-closed-doors matches - Pochettino was quick to pick out the positives.

"It was tough from the beginning," ESPN quotes him as saying. "Our idea was to control the ball, have possession and try to create chances. 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.

"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."

Spurs are back in action on Friday when facing Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid at the same Melbourne venue.