The Spurs boss wants his side to "move the ball quicker" in light of their dismal 1-0 loss at home to West Brom and insists that his squad rotation policy was not to blameLeague Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.
Wednesday's third-round tie represents Spurs' third match in seven days, after a trip to Partizan in the Europa League last week and a home Premier League encounter with West Brom on Sunday.
A 0-0 draw in Belgrade was followed up by a surprise 1-0 reverse to Alan Irvine's side and Pochettino says that his players have to start adapting to rigours of playing in Europe.
"We need to be more prepared and more ready because the Premier League is strong and the Europa League is strong," he told reporters.
"We need to change the mentality and make sure we are ready every time. You go to the stadium and you have to be able to compete and be strong because every game is different.
"We need to move the ball quicker, faster. West Brom played long balls and tried to win the second ball. We had a problem because we were always late to the second ball - we took a lot of time to get into the opposition's box. We need to be more aggressive in the last third of the pitch."
Pochettino made 10 changes for the Europa League fixture and, with a north London derby at Arsenal to come on Saturday, the Argentine is likely to rotate his squad again at White Hart Lane on Wednesday.
"Our best starting team depends on each and every game - there is no doubt about that," he added.
"It's not an excuse. A bad performance on Sunday is not because of the changes. We have a very strong squad and we need to use our players.
"We have a lot of games ahead and after each match we analyse every player. At the moment the players are not in a position to play three games in one week."
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