A serious look at Mauricio Pochettino

[SquishyMcSquish]

Spurs not competing for the title is on Levy not reinforcing the squad with adequate depth.

Yes. But us dropping out of the top four after holding a massive lead would also partly be on Pochettino.

We held all the cards and now we're down with everyone else wrestling for top four, and a manager has to be held accountable for such a poor period. Losses against Southampton and Burnley and 1 point from two big games against local and competitive rivals is not good enough, not by any stretch.

Tiredness, lack of depth etc are all factors, and that is down to the board .. but we've also made some poor decisions in this time and I do think that Pochettino has played it wrong with the media, getting in to scraps with referees doesn't exactly help to calm down the players either. It's not been his finest hour, put it that way.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Yes. But us dropping out of the top four after holding a massive lead would also partly be on Pochettino.

We held all the cards and now we're down with everyone else wrestling for top four, and a manager has to be held accountable for such a poor period. Losses against Southampton and Burnley and 1 point from two big games against local and competitive rivals is not good enough, not by any stretch.

Tiredness, lack of depth etc are all factors, and that is down to the board .. but we've also made some poor decisions in this time and I do think that Pochettino has played it wrong with the media, getting in to scraps with referees doesn't exactly help to calm down the players either. It's not been his finest hour, put it that way.

Over the course of his time with the Spurs, he's done more with the resources at his disposal than almost any manager, may be bar Benitez who is performing a miracle keeping Newcastle in the league. I think its kind of inevitable that you lose your way when you operate on a threadbare squad. The injuries come with the wear and tear and the league is far too good to be winning games at 70%.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Yes. But us dropping out of the top four after holding a massive lead would also partly be on Pochettino.

We held all the cards and now we're down with everyone else wrestling for top four, and a manager has to be held accountable for such a poor period. Losses against Southampton and Burnley and 1 point from two big games against local and competitive rivals is not good enough, not by any stretch.

Tiredness, lack of depth etc are all factors, and that is down to the board .. but we've also made some poor decisions in this time and I do think that Pochettino has played it wrong with the media, getting in to scraps with referees doesn't exactly help to calm down the players either. It's not been his finest hour, put it that way.

Agree with all that to be fair

Edit: the tiredness is also down to Poch as well as board

 

[Red Dreams]

He is a good manager.
He is also at a club where the owner is unwilling to invest or pay top wages.

 

[JSArsenal]

All the talk is about Real Marid and Man United. But is there any chance Poch could take over Bayern in the summer? Or Juventus if Allegri leaves to become Chelsea boss?

PSG maybe? I wonder if he's just sick and tired of Spurs at this point and just wants out.

 

[Grylte]

He is a good manager.
He is also at a club where the owner is unwilling to invest or pay top wages.

Do we even know how he would do at a club that would let him buy top players?
He seems good at getting much out of decent teams/players, but we can't really predict how he would do here or at Real.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Over the course of his time with the Spurs, he's done more with the resources at his disposal than almost any manager, may be bar Benitez who is performing a miracle keeping Newcastle in the league. I think its kind of inevitable that you lose your way when you operate on a threadbare squad. The injuries come with the wear and tear and the league is far too good to be winning games at 70%.

Well yeah, but we're not talking about his entire time at Spurs. Obviously overall he's done a fantastic job here, there's no doubt about it.

We actually got through the period with a threadbare squad relatively unscathed, apart from in the domestic cups. We've had most of our best players available for a little while now and have still been woeful, and today we had basically our best starting XI out and lost. That team was good enough to beat Southampton.

I love Pochettino, but I do think he's got a lot wrong recently and I don't think he's really enjoying his time in charge recently. A lot of his comments in the press come off as very egotistical and bitter, and eerily reminiscent of some of what Mourinho was saying before he was sacked. He's also been very stubborn with some of his tactical decisions, and again scrapping with referees when the club has had a bad result was possibly the worst thing he could do, it's left him with a touchline ban and was hardly going to settle the players for a tough period ahead.

He's not been backed as he should have been, and he's obviously still a great coach as far as I'm concerned, but I am also disappointed in him at the moment. I get that he might be unhappy with the board and I would totally sympathise with that, but we still have goals to fight for and he should be focused on that rather than getting jabs in through the press. It's weird how he was totally silent on this matter at the start of the season, but has now started (at the completely wrong time) to talk about our true level.

He's also admitted that mentally we were completely off in the second half and that we played as if we were arrogant and complacent, which again doesn't suggest a quality issue but a mentality one, which he is responsible for as the coach. He talks a lot about how we're not mature enough, but a lot of these players are not young anymore and have played under him for a long period of time, so why are they not mature enough? They're full internationals with lots of experience, maturity shouldn't be an issue for us any longer. They're poor excuses.

That said, obviously there are things totally out of his control. We need new fullbacks and that's been blatant for a while, we need new midfielders and that was obvious to all but the biggest Levy fans in the summer. But we are still far better than we've been performing recently, and when a team is under performing the coach has to be questioned, that's just the reality of the situation. Of course he gets far more leeway due to his past success, but he doesn't get a pass for the team to perform horribly.

 

[Dante]

He intils a great footballing philosophy. But he falls short of instilling a trophy winning philosophy. Of the two, the latter is more important.

Ole has both, if you count his time in Norway motivating a group who had never won anything into believing they were champions. That kind of pschological mastery is very important.

What makes Ole a better manager is the fact that he can match Poch on football quality, buts beat him on winning mentality.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

He intills a great footballing philosophy. But he falls short of instilling a trophy winning philosophy. Of the two, the latter is more important.

Ole has both, if you count his time in Norway motivating a group who had never won anything into believing they were champions. That kind of pschological mastery is very important.

What makes Ole a better manager is the fact that he can match Poch on football quality, buts beat him on winning mentality.

Ole has been managing at the top level for all of five minutes. Let's not rush to any conclusions about who is the better manager.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Well yeah, but we're not talking about his entire time at Spurs. Obviously overall he's done a fantastic job here, there's no doubt about it.

We actually got through the period with a threadbare squad relatively unscathed, apart from in the domestic cups. We've had most of our best players available for a little while now and have still been woeful, and today we had basically our best starting XI out and lost. That team was good enough to beat Southampton.

I love Pochettino, but I do think he's got a lot wrong recently and I don't think he's really enjoying his time in charge recently. A lot of his comments in the press come off as very egotistical and bitter, and eerily reminiscent of some of what Mourinho was saying before he was sacked. He's also been very stubborn with some of his tactical decisions, and again scrapping with referees when the club has had a bad result was possibly the worst thing he could do, it's left him with a touchline ban and was hardly going to settle the players for a tough period ahead.

He's not been backed as he should have been, and he's obviously still a great coach as far as I'm concerned, but I am also disappointed in him at the moment. I get that he might be unhappy with the board and I would totally sympathise with that, but we still have goals to fight for and he should be focused on that rather than getting jabs in through the press. It's weird how he was totally silent on this matter at the start of the season, but has now started (at the completely wrong time) to talk about our true level.

He's also admitted that mentally we were completely off in the second half and that we played as if we were arrogant and complacent, which again doesn't suggest a quality issue but a mentality one, which he is responsible for as the coach. He talks a lot about how we're not mature enough, but a lot of these players are not young anymore and have played under him for a long period of time, so why are they not mature enough? They're full internationals with lots of experience, maturity shouldn't be an issue for us any longer. They're poor excuses.

That said, obviously there are things totally out of his control. We need new fullbacks and that's been blatant for a while, we need new midfielders and that was obvious to all but the biggest Levy fans in the summer. But we are still far better than we've been performing recently, and when a team is under performing the coach has to be questioned, that's just the reality of the situation. Of course he gets far more leeway due to his past success, but he doesn't get a pass for the team to perform horribly.

Agree with all that again. You’re no fun to debate with unless someone mentions Ajax
Joking of course

 

[K2K]

A lot of his comments recently have been very disappointing, I still love what he has done for the club but I do wish he'd shut up. I think his frustrations with the club not spending are now starting to leak out in to the press, but he needs to realise that this shit cannot happen at crunch time, it doesn't help the situation at all.

Moaning about being banned after clearly acting inappropriately, talking about how we're at our 'real level' now and those stupid comments about trophies and egos have all been weird and have done nothing but help balm his own ego. There were also those weird ones about washing machines and a couple other ones, like when he had a dig at Liverpool because we were still in 4 competitions and we immediately got knocked out of 2 of them.

It's not something he's done in the past (at least not at this rate) and it's not endearing at all.

Absolutely hate when managers do this.

Hated it with LVG. Despised Jose for it. The blame appropriation to save their own skin

 

[Dante]

Ole has been managing at the top level for all of five minutes. Let's not rush to any conclusions about who is the better manager.

He can manage a squad to play top quality football.

He can manage a squad to play winning football in psychologically difficult situations.

Some people can do the first (Poch, included). Some can do the latter (eg. Mourinho). Very few can do both.

 

[Zlatan 7]

He intils a great footballing philosophy. But he falls short of instilling a trophy winning philosophy. Of the two, the latter is more important.

Ole has both, if you count his time in Norway motivating a group who had never won anything into believing they were champions. That kind of pschological mastery is very important.

What makes Ole a better manager is the fact that he can match Poch on football quality, buts beat him on winning mentality.

Yep, good point.

 

[GeorgieBoy]

If I'm a Spurs fan I'm livid with the board. Done fantastically well the past 5 years; to not push on with investment in the squad (not the stadium) is criminal.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

No? Unless we score 6-0.

So...third spot tomorrow?

 

[Revan]

Agree with all that again. You’re no fun to debate with unless someone mentions Ajax
Joking of course

Yeah, I don't like Squishy and balaks. They are very level headed and there isn't much fun wumming them. Now the other Spurs fans, Glaston and Amadeus in the other hand...

 

[Alemar]

He can still get CL football next season via a back door. Same back door as OGS also has - that is, to win the Champions League.

With such defending as in the second half, though, I am not sure Spurs may win it.

 

[el3mel]

He intils a great footballing philosophy. But he falls short of instilling a trophy winning philosophy. Of the two, the latter is more important.

Ole has both, if you count his time in Norway motivating a group who had never won anything into believing they were champions. That kind of pschological mastery is very important.

What makes Ole a better manager is the fact that he can match Poch on football quality, buts beat him on winning mentality.

I hardly see anything great about his footballing philosophy. They're not actually that entertaining to watch.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

He can manage a squad to play top quality football.

He can manage a squad to play winning football in psychologically difficult situations.

Some people can do the first (Poch, included). Some can do the latter (eg. Mourinho). Very few can do both.

He's done exceptionally well over a very short period of time. If Ole could keep up the current standards for a number of seasons then he would obviously be one of the best managers in the world, but we can't really say that just yet, he only took over in January.

He should obviously be appointed United manager, and then we can go from there. All the signs are great so far and he seems a perfect fit but you're making a lot of statements based on very little time managing at the top level.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

He can still get CL football next season via a back door. Same back door as OGS also has - that is, to win the Champions League.

With such defending as in the second half, though, I am not sure Spurs may win it.

Our best chance by a mile is still through the top 4 spots.

Playing as we are currently we have zero chance of winning the CL, and even at our best it would be very unlikely.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Agree with all that again. You’re no fun to debate with unless someone mentions Ajax
Joking of course

 

[Devil81]

If he ends up finishing sixth with elimination from the Champions league do they sack him?

 

[kouroux]

Time for him to leave. He extracted all the juice he could from them.

 

[Gasolin]

If he ends up finishing sixth with elimination from the Champions league do they sack him?

Why would they? They don't invest in the squad, I think they are going to keep him. It's just that both parties now know winning is not important, and they go from there. It's actually a nice clarification.

 

[Alemar]

If he ends up finishing sixth with elimination from the Champions league do they sack him?

Why? They will have a new stadium (although without cheese and trophy rooms)

 

[BobbyManc]

All the talk is about Real Marid and Man United. But is there any chance Poch could take over Bayern in the summer? Or Juventus if Allegri leaves to become Chelsea boss?

PSG maybe? I wonder if he's just sick and tired of Spurs at this point and just wants out.

Pretty much the impression I have. Not 'sick and tired' and I'm sure he's happy to remain there but it looks painfully as if Pochettino is aware that he's taken Spurs as far as he can and that they do not really have the resources to challenge at the top. For all his romantic musings about wanting to remain at the club and see through his contract I'd be pretty confident that if a bigger side agreed a deal with Spurs that he'd gladly accept it. He won't force his way out but yeah, he'll go if he gets the opportunity.

 

[The United]

I am not anti Poch or anything.

But, when the Spur was flying, it was because of Poch, then their form went shit, it became the board's?

Also, Poch has carried Spur as much as he could? What if that's his limit? How do you know?

Poch has shown some good qualities for awhile. Winning when tough or winning to get next step is not one of them so far and you do need that to become an elite manager.

 

[Trizy]

A glorious bottle job to be honest. Should they miss out on top 4 can they keep Kane? We'll take him

 

[hellohello]

@SquishyMcSquish @hellohello @balaks
Is there a chance he gets the sack if you guys finish outside the top four? Or Spurs would be very willing to let him speak to other clubs? Considering where you guys were a month ago, there might be fans calling for his head.

No chance, he has more than enough goodwill in the bank, plus we have done well in Europe. It would be very disappointing though.

 

[Cloud7]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Astonishing quote.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love Poch, but comments like this are bang out of order. This kind of crap is never a positive. In the same way it was awful when Jose did it here, Poch shouldn’t be doing this at Spurs. Even if he believes it on the inside, don’t come out with things like this.

 

[Amadaeus]

@Amadaeus where you at my man? Are curled up in a ball crying somewhere?

, it is unbelievable that a lot of poster on here think I care so much about the success of Pochettino. As I stated before, I like good manager and Pochettino has easily been one of the best in the last few years with the resources he has. As I said before, he is a product of his own success. I had Spurs finishing outside the top four this season and I am not surprised by their recent result. I am more surprised by how they are in third place. Pochettino is showing how great s manager he is by being in the top four without spending nearly as much as his rivals in the last five years.

 

[Zlatan 7]

, it is unbelievable that a lot of poster on here think I care so much about the success of Pochettino. As I stated before, I like good manager and Pochettino has easily been one of the best in the last few years with the resources he has. As I said before, he is a product of his own success. I had Spurs finishing outside the top four this season and I am not surprised by their recent result. I am more surprised by how they are in third place. Pochettino is showing how great s manager he is by being in the top four without spending nearly as much as his rivals in the last five years.

Spending money has nothing to do with the current first 11s of the top 6, they all come together different ways at different times.
Do you think spurs first 11 is fifth or sixth best in the league? If so fair enough

 

[Amadaeus]

Spending money has nothing to do with the current first 11s of the top 6, they all come together different ways at different times.
Do you think spurs first 11 is fifth or sixth best in the league? If so fair enough

Yes and I stated that mutiple times already. Their midfield of Sissoko and Winks won’t get into any of the top six first eleven not to mention bench. Their attack is good, but a bit overratted. Son and Ali are not as great as they are made to be. Eriksen and Kane are true top talent that are meant to be in an elite team. Their defense in particular their center back is good aswell, but their fullbacks are not that great. Overall, their first eleven is only better than Arsenal and maybe leveled with Chelsea. But when it comes to depth a vital aspect to compete, they fall far below the other top six side.

 

[Mihai]

Ole has been managing at the top level for all of five minutes. Let's not rush to any conclusions about who is the better manager.

It's been more than 5 minutes.

 

[Paxi]

, it is unbelievable that a lot of poster on here think I care so much about the success of Pochettino. As I stated before, I like good manager and Pochettino has easily been one of the best in the last few years with the resources he has. As I said before, he is a product of his own success. I had Spurs finishing outside the top four this season and I am not surprised by their recent result. I am more surprised by how they are in third place. Pochettino is showing how great s manager he is by being in the top four without spending nearly as much as his rivals in the last five years.

Mate its all in jest. I just like ribbing you cause I've nothing better to do.

 

[AJ10]

One thing I did like about poch was, he never complained about not getting any money to spend and just go on with it. Now the pressure is on and he's sounding more and more like Jose. This is at spurs btw, Imagine the pressure at a club who actually want to win something.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

It's been more than 5 minutes.

He's been United manager for a matter of months, unless we're also including his time at Cardiff which was an absolute disaster.

Months is not enough to judge the ability of any manager on, not accurately.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

One thing I did like about poch was, he never complained about not getting any money to spend and just go on with it. Now the pressure is on and he's sounding more and more like Jose. This is at spurs btw, Imagine the pressure at a club who actually want to win something.

I'm fecked off what he's been saying recently, but in fairness to Poch he genuinely has something to complain about regarding transfer spending, whereas Jose spent a small fortune while in charge.

The thing is it's not the time or the place to raise those concerns.

 

[Mihai]

He's been United manager for a matter of months, unless we're also including his time at Cardiff which was an absolute disaster.

Months is not enough to judge the ability of any manager on, not accurately.

Ole has managed for 1530 minutes plus added time. White text

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Ole has managed for 1530 minutes plus added time. White text

And not had a full completed season. Which again, means you can't put him up there with the best because it's nowhere near a big enough timeframe.

If Liverpool had brought in a legend who did brilliantly for 6 months and Liverpool fans were suddenly saying he was one of the best in the world on the back of that, United fans would rightly be laughing at them.

Ole has been incredible, but let us at least wait till he has had a full season as manager until we say he's better than someone like Poch who has been managing at the top level for years.