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A serious look at Mauricio Pochettino

Judas

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His appointment would excite me the least of Fergie's successors besides Moyes. Didn't think Ole long term was the right man for the job, but I still felt a buzz with him.

I just don't get the Poch thing, when he gets the job I'm desperate for him to prove me wrong and take us to great new heights though, he'll have my full support. He's just a bit blah though.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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He would be in the same position Ole is in in 2-3 years, I loved the guy but he is not the answer the the problems at United. Ole got players this transfer window he didn't want or need.
 

arthurka

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Would love to see what he could do with Rashford and Greenwood. Think he would improve us with this squad immensely.
 

Bebestation

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Would love to see what he could do with Rashford and Greenwood. Think he would improve us with this squad immensely.
Considering his strikers have been Llorente, Jenssen, Kane, Lambert, Osvaldo etc - what do you think he will do with Rashford and Greenwood?
 

arthurka

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Considering his strikers have been Llorente, Jenssen, Kane, Lambert, Osvaldo etc - what do you think he will do with Rashford and Greenwood?
Well Kane turned out pretty well and Alli did really well.. both Greenwood and Rashford have higher ceiling then all the other numpties he had to work with there.
 

Fox_Chrys

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dude is on sky now with Brendan telling him to get back to work, hopefully not. He's a good manager.
 

Chairman Steve

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Is it worth noting that Poch has been interested in some of our most recent player acquisitions before they joined? I feel like this is too many to be coincidence.

 

Castia

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:drool: sign him up.

You see his squad when he joined Spurs? completely shite.
 

saivet

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Watching him on MNF and he does waffle a lot. Perhaps partly due to his broken English, but he's pretty boring.
 

saivet

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Anything interesting on MNF?
Not really. The things I found most interesting stuff was his pressing at Southampton and also a couple of graphics showing the first 11 he named at Spurs and how average the side looked on paper. It's already known but the spending of the other big 6 teams showed he did a good job with limited money compared to the other teams.

He was asked if his preference is for his next job in the PL, but gave a non-committal answer, understandably, but he's ready to wait for the right opportunity.

Interestingly he has continuously referred to decisions/tactics made as 'we', clearly indicating his coaching staff have a big influence on him. Potentially it's a language thing but feels like he has said 'we' more than 'I'.
 
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Is it worth noting that Poch has been interested in some of our most recent player acquisitions before they joined? I feel like this is too many to be coincidence.

looks like a load of sites trying to get people to click on them. "Reported target"... "Reportedly"....

Loads of clubs keep an eye on dozens of players. Think how many players Ole was reportedly interested in ... nearly all turn out to be wrong.
 

Adnan

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looks like a load of sites trying to get people to click on them. "Reported target"... "Reportedly"....

Loads of clubs keep an eye on dozens of players. Think how many players Ole was reportedly interested in ... nearly all turn out to be wrong.
We nearly signed Sancho too before he left City which was covered by Samuel Luckhurst. And Grealish was wanted by a plethora of midtable clubs at the time.
 

Adnan

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He would be in the same position Ole is in in 2-3 years, I loved the guy but he is not the answer the the problems at United. Ole got players this transfer window he didn't want or need.
Which players did he get that he didn't want?
 

Adnan

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Don’t want him to be honest. Better than Ole but we absolutely need to get the next appointment correct.
For us to get the next appointment right we would have to cast the net far and wide and take a leaf out of David Dein's book when he made a decision to look outside the box and appoint Arsene wenger in the mid 90s who not many knew much about. But he was appointed because he had a defined way of playing a attacking brand of football and knew how to exploit the transfer market which gave Arsenal a huge advantage which led to titles.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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I'm sure Poch would be an upgrade over Ole.

But I'm not sure he could lead us to a title.

I want the next manager to be capable of leading a title challenge. It's been way too long.
 

croadyman

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Question to Liverpool or City fans

Would you have taken Poch if you weren't managed by Klopp or Pep respectively?
 

MadDogg

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That would mean 2 players playing in a twin DM role wouldn't it?

We haven't replaced Carrick and Matic' legs have had it. Arsenal only had Partey doing the job and he did it magnificently. One great player is all that is needed. Zakaria is perfect instead of wasting millions on Sancho
Two players playing in a deeper role is fine as long as they are also good enough ball-players. Fred is basically the bare minimum in that and his partner should be better. Instead Fred ends up having to be the main guy because he's next to McTominay who is significantly worse.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Davies who played under Poch is saying that he was limited whereby they were coached to play with high intensity without much tactical insight.

I watched his Spurs team against Ajax and Ten Hag imposed his game on Spurs and should've won. Poch resorted to hoofing the ball to Llorente who won the aerial battle against De Ligt which got Spurs the winner in the last minute. I only saw one team playing good football and that was Ajax. Ten Hag pressed high cut off the passing lanes which suffocated Spurs. I'd personally take Brendan Rodgers over him.
I think Pochettino is an interesting one. I don't think he's tactically as interesting as many managers. He's not really a proper attacking manager. Rather, he is balance, pragmatic at times and adventurous at others. But his teams tend to be a strong and very hardworking collective and he is superb at developing players. On the other hand, I think he could be better at the management aspect than some of the more tactical exciting coaches. But again, not sure, as Spurs never truly went beyond and won anything although his hands were tied to an extent.

All in all, I'd be satisfied with him as our manager, but somewhat weary. I think we need a tactical revolution at United - a teacher manager who can turn us into one of an exciting modern attacking team. But he's definitely far better than what we have (not saying much).
 

africanspur

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Davies who played under Poch is saying that he was limited whereby they were coached to play with high intensity without much tactical insight.

I watched his Spurs team against Ajax and Ten Hag imposed his game on Spurs and should've won. Poch resorted to hoofing the ball to Llorente who won the aerial battle against De Ligt which got Spurs the winner in the last minute. I only saw one team playing good football and that was Ajax. Ten Hag pressed high cut off the passing lanes which suffocated Spurs. I'd personally take Brendan Rodgers over him.
Davies has spoken out of line there and, in an attempt to big up his current manager has I believe disrespected a manager who allowed him to play at a level that he may otherwise not have reached.

People also can't say that we had one way of playing only under Poch and then mention 'hoofing the ball to Llorente'. I'm not going to pretend we outplayed Ajax, we didn't. Ajax dominated the first half from a style point of view were by far the better team and then, when Llorente (and I believe Sissoko? came on), they couldn't deal with the physical side of the game at all and we were the better team. We had more possession, shots, shots on targets, corners and were fouled more in the game in Amsterdam. How did Ajax deserve to win?

Also, the team that reached the CL final was a different team stylistically to the early Poch teams, with far less high intensity pressing and running than in his early days.

Some very strange rewriting of his time at Spurs on this forum. He did an excellent job at Spurs, at a difficult but monumental time for the club in its overall progress.

I think for me, as much as I love him, his negatives were an aversion to making early subs, for a strange reason too, and....I admit I'm on the more pessimistic scale of Spurs fans but I never went into huge games, especially finals, really believing we'd win. For all his other faults, that won't be the case with Mourinho. Who incidentally did a total number on us in that FA cup SF, when we were on paper and in the league, a better team.

Whether that can change at Man Utd is another question....Sarri certainly started winning trophies as soon as he moved to clubs with more resources.
 

roonster09

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Davies has spoken out of line there and, in an attempt to big up his current manager has I believe disrespected a manager who allowed him to play at a level that he may otherwise not have reached.

People also can't say that we had one way of playing only under Poch and then mention 'hoofing the ball to Llorente'. I'm not going to pretend we outplayed Ajax, we didn't. Ajax dominated the first half from a style point of view were by far the better team and then, when Llorente (and I believe Sissoko? came on), they couldn't deal with the physical side of the game at all and we were the better team. We had more possession, shots, shots on targets, corners and were fouled more in the game in Amsterdam. How did Ajax deserve to win?

Also, the team that reached the CL final was a different team stylistically to the early Poch teams, with far less high intensity pressing and running than in his early days.

Some very strange rewriting of his time at Spurs on this forum. He did an excellent job at Spurs, at a difficult but monumental time for the club in its overall progress.

I think for me, as much as I love him, his negatives were an aversion to making early subs, for a strange reason too, and....I admit I'm on the more pessimistic scale of Spurs fans but I never went into huge games, especially finals, really believing we'd win. For all his other faults, that won't be the case with Mourinho. Who incidentally did a total number on us in that FA cup SF, when we were on paper and in the league, a better team.

Whether that can change at Man Utd is another question....Sarri certainly started winning trophies as soon as he moved to clubs with more resources.
Yeah, Spurs did well to come back, they created plenty of chances. Also when the plan A wasn't working, he brought on physical player to beat the press, which should be praised IMO.


 

africanspur

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Yeah, Spurs did well to come back, they created plenty of chances. Also when the plan A wasn't working, he brought on physical player to beat the press, which should be praised IMO.


Yep. Even as a Spurs fan, it was difficult to not feel a bit sorry for Ajax and their fans....after I was done celebrating of course :D. Though the arrogance of some of their fans was a little much to take I must admit at times.

But football isn't just about pretty passing and patterns unfortunately, you also need to deal with players like Llorente and Sissoko and the physicality of the game. They couldn't, at all. Poch changed the style for the second half, realised we couldn't outplay or out-press Ajax and it paid dividends. It was one of the best things about Fergie's later teams for me. They could outplay you but could also generally outmuscle and outfight you if need be.
 

Adnan

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Yep. Even as a Spurs fan, it was difficult to not feel a bit sorry for Ajax and their fans....after I was done celebrating of course :D. Though the arrogance of some of their fans was a little much to take I must admit at times.

But football isn't just about pretty passing and patterns unfortunately, you also need to deal with players like Llorente and Sissoko and the physicality of the game. They couldn't, at all. Poch changed the style for the second half, realised we couldn't outplay or out-press Ajax and it paid dividends. It was one of the best things about Fergie's later teams for me. They could outplay you but could also generally outmuscle and outfight you if need be.
It's true football isn't just about being efficient in the transition like Ajax showed. But we're talking about a Ajax team that is a development school for young players so are always gonna suffer from having players who aren't physically the most capable. And then the final against Liverpool you had no physical advantage and Liverpool comfortably won by imposing their game on Spurs. But my over riding point was that when it comes to coaching transitions I believe there's superior coaches to Pochettino that a huge club like Man Utd should approach if they in-fact cast a net far and wide in looking for a new coach.

And as far as what Davies said, I do believe that Mourinho is tactically superior to Poch as far as winning games of football go and he's got big trophies on his CV/resume starting from his Porto days.
 

Adnan

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I think Pochettino is an interesting one. I don't think he's tactically as interesting as many managers. He's not really a proper attacking manager. Rather, he is balance, pragmatic at times and adventurous at others. But his teams tend to be a strong and very hardworking collective and he is superb at developing players. On the other hand, I think he could be better at the management aspect than some of the more tactical exciting coaches. But again, not sure, as Spurs never truly went beyond and won anything although his hands were tied to an extent.

All in all, I'd be satisfied with him as our manager, but somewhat weary. I think we need a tactical revolution at United - a teacher manager who can turn us into one of an exciting modern attacking team. But he's definitely far better than what we have (not saying much).
I agree mate he's certainly a interesting one but his football isn't the most exciting that's for sure and I believe there's better coaches out there who are more adept at playing a more adventurous game which would suit us better IMO.

I honestly think Poch is vastly over rated on this forum. He's not come close to winning anything of note unlike say someone like Brendan Rodgers who came within a whisker of winning the league title with Liverpool and would have done so if it wasn't for Slippy G.
 

Inigo Montoya

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I agree mate he's certainly a interesting one but his football isn't the most exciting that's for sure and I believe there's better coaches out there who are more adept at playing a more adventurous game which would suit us better IMO.

I honestly think Poch is vastly over rated on this forum. He's not come close to winning anything of note unlike say someone like Brendan Rodgers who came within a whisker of winning the league title with Liverpool and would have done so if it wasn't for Slippy G.
I think we should go for that guy at West Ham. After all his team turned over Leicester 3-0 with some ease :wenger:

If we are massively overrating managers/coaches on here it's because we are in the depths of desperation right now, and are looking a t whoever looks a better coach than Ole....not saying much
 

dove

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I agree mate he's certainly a interesting one but his football isn't the most exciting that's for sure and I believe there's better coaches out there who are more adept at playing a more adventurous game which would suit us better IMO.

I honestly think Poch is vastly over rated on this forum. He's not come close to winning anything of note unlike say someone like Brendan Rodgers who came within a whisker of winning the league title with Liverpool and would have done so if it wasn't for Slippy G.
CL? PL in 16/17? He definitely has come to winning something of note but always came a bit short. I am not sure he would win trophies with us but the work he did with Spurs was amazing considering they spent feck all in the transfer market.
 

Adnan

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I think we should go for that guy at West Ham. After all his team turned over Leicester 3-0 with some ease :wenger:

If we are massively overrating managers/coaches on here it's because we are in the depths of desperation right now, and are looking a t whoever looks a better coach than Ole....not saying much
I agree mate but I hope the board surprise us, if in fact we do decide to part ways with Solskjaer and take a wholesome view rather than a narrow minded one and go for the best available candidate via a thorough process.

After so many failures I'm hoping the board think out of the box rather than going for the unemployed option because he managed in England.
 

Adnan

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CL? PL in 16/17? He definitely has come to winning something of note but always came a bit short. I am not sure he would win trophies with us but the work he did with Spurs was amazing considering they spent feck all in the transfer market.
I always thought Chelsea had won the title in 16/17 at the half stage. After that it was who was gonna be the bridesmaid.

And from what I've read, Spurs have done a great job behind the scenes in developing their academy and vastly improving their structure even before Poch arrived which doesn't get talked about. He inherited a lot of very good players there and also inherited Paul Mitchell at Southampton who brought over Dele Alli from MK Dons where he once worked.
 

africanspur

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It's true football isn't just about being efficient in the transition like Ajax showed. But we're talking about a Ajax team that is a development school for young players so are always gonna suffer from having players who aren't physically the most capable. And then the final against Liverpool you had no physical advantage and Liverpool comfortably won by imposing their game on Spurs. But my over riding point was that when it comes to coaching transitions I believe there's superior coaches to Pochettino that a huge club like Man Utd should approach if they in-fact cast a net far and wide in looking for a new coach.

And as far as what Davies said, I do believe that Mourinho is tactically superior to Poch as far as winning games of football go and he's got big trophies on his CV/resume starting from his Porto days.

We're talking about an Ajax team that had already dispensed Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout stages and who didn't lose to Bayern home or away in the group stage. An Ajax team who's players have since left to populate many of the top teams across Europe in various different leagues. You also have changed your stance slightly. I was mostly responding to you saying we were lucky to win the game. In every single possible metric (other than beauty of football played and I assume total number of passes made), we were better in that game and deserved to win.

I think that is a very simplistic reading of the CL final. It was played out between two tired teams, in heat, with an incredibly early award of a penalty, which made the game incredibly dull. Both teams were clearly nervous and nothing was comfortable about that game. Neither team imposed anything on the other, it was a shite game. It is also worth noting that our approach and general play was different in the Dortmund, City, Ajax and Liverpool games.

I think that is a totally reasonable desire, though I think preferring Rodgers slightly goes against that.

For what Davies said, I don't think many people would deny that Mourinho is overall a much better coach than Poch or that his CV isn't significantly more illustrious or that he isn't better in situations where more is at stake. Though I have my doubts about whether Mourinho could have done what Poch did at Spurs over his entire spell.

My issue is that Davies can blow smoke up his current boss' ass without disparaging his former, especially when that former gave him the opportunity to play at such a high level in the first place. And while he's reliable, he's kind of won that LB spot almost by default as Rose continues to self-destruct and be a general ass.