A serious look at Mauricio Pochettino

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The other guy who was arguing would be the first to create "appointing Poch is a mistake" when he takes time to build his side.

People just look at end result rather than how much time it took to build a side. They think he can replicate his work from the word go at ManUtd, when we are lacking in almost all departments.
Exactly. See below.
 

R'hllor

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The amount of opinions flipping in this thread and threads about him is crazy.
 

led_scholes

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As much as I want him here, i dont think he ll be a success. The players will cry from the training he wants. He ll need to do a clear out and he will probably need 2-3 years to get us in the top level - are we ready for another transition??. I can see players like Mctominay, Chong, Lindelof even Darmian being successful with him, but i dont think he will come in a toxic club as ours.
 

Amadaeus

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The prem has been low on quality for a long time before the pep and Klopp era hence none of the teams were all that relevant in Europe. Now it is ridiculously difficult to win it but back then we put out a not so vintage side and strolled in in 2013. All the mediocre years of the prem culminated in a surprise Leicester win.

My point is overcoming a really great side makes a league harder to win than how many teams that are competing for the title. Klopp is unlikely to win the title this season despite an outrageous points total. Winning La liga in the past decade if you're not Barca has been a hell of a challenge to an extent that the galacticos have barely done it.

Poch came 3rd in a 2 horse race in the Leicester season. He then managed to not overcome Contes Chelsea. Pep then comes in and does what he does and the chance to win the league is minute. Beating Heynckes Bayern to the title is a bigger achievement than winning any of the prem season's pre Pep and since our late 00's side.
Not really, if there are tougher teams in the league, winning the title will be difficult. Just because there is one really good team and the rest of the other teams are average, it doesn’t mean winning the league is tougher because of that one good team. There are more chances to slip up when up against decent side than playing the likes of Augsburg every other week.

Beating Bayern to the title that season is barely an accomplishment as big as leceister for the reason that Dortmund failure in Europe meant that they had an easier run in fixtures and Bayern couldn’t have been as dominant as they typically are. Dortmund were eliminated in the group stage and they had only one focus which made things easier. Bayern on the other hand were to focused on the champions league to perform with the urgency that Dortmund showed.
 

Champ

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It was tactical though. They went route one and capitalized on the size difference between Blind and Llorente.
In the first leg yes, not in that second leg, zero tactical tweaks, just effort and the slight bit of fortune you need to win games. Couple in Tadic having a shot rather than taking it into the corner in the last couple of seconds of the game :lol:
 

amolbhatia50k

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I agree with most of it but we did see the improvements in the initial run. In his interview with Neville he said they started focusing on results when they were in race for top 4. Actually that's a good interview where he says how the things are.

At least for me, the conclusions from first 4 months is

- We changed the style and worked hard as a team in the initial run. (Made more sprints than opponents)

- Fitness caught up (Solskjaer - Of course the fitness levels are not good enough for me. Maybe we have been caught up with that respect and pre-season is going to be a big mark for me and for all of us.)

- We were in race for top 4, so focus shifted to results, coincided with lot of injuries because of high work rate. (Again this is the team that was in 20th position in work rate and IIRC 19th this season). Also this was the time when games came thick and fast.

- re progress, this is why I believe in Ole. He has all the right ideas, that working on fitness, playing with intensity, recruiting players who wants to be here rather than who wants just 10-20% pay hike.

If he can execute his ideas is left to see. For the first time since SAF I believe we have manager who has right ideas.

I believe people think we are just making excuse for Ole talking about fitness but they refuse to read the articles on Conte, Poch's preseason preparation or players who talks about how improved fitness helped them to play better. Look at the intensity with which Liverpool and Spurs play, no wonder teams struggle to cope with them.
All of that is logical and fair. The transfer market activity and preseason should give a better of Ole's managerial quality and the direction in which were headed.
 

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I admire you. Tide is already turning, they want a shiny new toy, are impatient and not only that there are running jokes about Ole, I guess next up is calling him names.
that's a weird statement to make considering most of this forum have wanted Poch for ages now. Even when Solskjaer was hired a lot of people (me included) said we should only do it because we can't get Poch. I mean in a poll back after Mourinho was sacked he was the overwhelming first pick.
 

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that's a weird statement to make considering most of this forum have wanted Poch for ages now. Even when Solskjaer was hired a lot of people (me included) said we should only do it because we can't get Poch. I mean in a poll back after Mourinho was sacked he was the overwhelming first pick.
How is it weird? Ole is at the helm 4 months yet people already want him out.
 

Massive Spanner

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How is it weird? Ole is at the helm 4 months yet people already want him out.
I'm not talking about Ole, I'm talking about Poch. "Shiny new toy" implies that people only want him now because of what he just did, that he's some new option that came from nowhere, when that's not true because a lot of the Caf have wanted Poch for years now and he was the #1 choice to be manager before we hired Ole.

And if people wanted him before we got Ole then why wouldn't they still want him now? Are they supposed to change their mind because Ole's been here for four months and done a pretty poor/average job (depending on how you look at it)?
 

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Considering they were pretty much dead in the water after 3 group games, thats an amazing feat by Spurs and Poch.

@balaks @SquishyMcSquish @africanspur @InLevyITrust and anyone else that's not @GlastonSpur and supports Spurs congrats and enjoy. Just kidding you too Glaston
Amazing performance and comeback.
Thanks mate! We were literally 12 minutes away from elimination in the 4th week. Incredible (yes, I'm going to say it) bottle ;) from this team to get to this stage. Literally nobody thought we would be able to do this.

I love this man. Whether this run ends with a trophy or not. Oh my god.
 

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I'm not talking about Ole, I'm talking about Poch. "Shiny new toy" implies that people only want him now because of what he just did, that he's some new option that came from nowhere, when that's not true because a lot of the Caf have wanted Poch for years now and he was the #1 choice to be manager before we hired Ole.

And if people wanted him before we got Ole then why wouldn't they still want him now? Are they supposed to change their mind because Ole's been here for four months and done a pretty poor/average job (depending on how you look at it)?
No, just bash and joke about Ole as much as you all want.
 

reelworld

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Does he look or sound like a manager who is about to jump ship or longing to get out of Tottenham?
The arrogance of some United fans here is outstanding.
Poch is in the best possible place for him. He's building something great there, unless Levy's being an idiot, he's there to stay.
Question to you though, you think Levy will see this and think Poch could compete with little budget and not properly backed him? I mean, you've got to reinforce properly next season. There's little chance you can repeat this season achievement without proper transfers
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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The arrogance of some United fans here is outstanding.
Poch is in the best possible place for him. He's building something great there, unless Levy's being an idiot, he's there to stay.
Question to you though, you think Levy will see this and think Poch could compete with little budget and not properly backed him? I mean, you've got to reinforce properly next season. There's little chance you can repeat this season achievement without proper transfers
As my name suggests, I love what Levy has done for us in his time, but yeah he needs to back Poch this summer and back him considerably. We need a good ballplaying CM and need possibly 2 new fullbacks. We have missed Dembele massively since he left.
 

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Were in trouble though aren't we? All our rivals snapping up top managers while we flounder from one to the next. Ole's early run was fantastic but he needs to be at this high a level for him to be the right manager. That's the problem. Nobody knows what his level is.

But very well done Pochettino. His work at Spurs deserves a big trophy. Sadly he'll be up against a better team in the final that has spend enormously.
Not all our rivals. Big doubts over Sarri and Emery still. At the end of the day, there aren’t any sure things like Klopp and Guardiola out there right now. Pocchetino the next best thing but he’s staying put. So I’m happy enough to take a different approach to what’s tried and failed for us three times already.
 

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He will be there for a while Id imagine, his whole 'Spurs project', heard a rumour Levy even got his input on stadium designs and what Poch wanted from the new stadium. He has total authority over the football aspect about who stays and who goes which I imagine is a big draw for any manager. Once Pochettino makes a decision you are out, that is it, you are out. None of this player power diva rubbish, and 'investment player' nonsense.

He was absolutely ruthless cleaning out Spurs when he arrived, including the captain at the time and Spurs star player Adebayor, all out the door.

Id like to add as an edit the board are absolutely mental if they do not go out and seriously back Pochettino now. With every fecking penny they can scrape together.
 
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reelworld

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As my name suggests, I love what Levy has done for us in his time, but yeah he needs to back Poch this summer and back him considerably. We need a good ballplaying CM and need possibly 2 new fullbacks. We have missed Dembele massively since he left.
Yeah, gonna be an interesting summer for you this year.
It should be a no brainer that no matter how the final goes, Levy's gotta bring out that check book for Poch.
Also, I'm gonna be a Spurs fan at 1 June, please don't screw this up!
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Yeah, gonna be an interesting summer for you this year.
It should be a no brainer that no matter how the final goes, Levy's gotta bring out that check book for Poch.
Also, I'm gonna be a Spurs fan at 1 June, please don't screw this up!
I can’t promise that :lol:.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Not all our rivals. Big doubts over Sarri and Emery still. At the end of the day, there aren’t any sure things like Klopp and Guardiola out there right now. Pocchetino the next best thing but he’s staying put. So I’m happy enough to take a different approach to what’s tried and failed for us three times already.
Yeah, I was referring to City, Liverpool and Spurs to be honest who all have fantastic managers any team would love to have. Emery has better than expected this season but the jury is out on him. Haven't found Sarri particularly impressive but Chelsea are an enigma of a club in this regard. They're swift enough with managerial changes to land on one that works every three years.

I'm happy to give Ole time and see what he's made of. But I have to admit there's a slight feeling insecurity when you know so little about your managers capabilities. One thing, is that I hope we see his imprint of the team tactically speaking early next season. Even with Emery, you can see what his arsenal team are. With us, after the early form, I really don't know what our identity is and whether it's a good one.
 

redman5

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As my name suggests, I love what Levy has done for us in his time, but yeah he needs to back Poch this summer and back him considerably. We need a good ballplaying CM and need possibly 2 new fullbacks. We have missed Dembele massively since he left.
Totally agree with you. We made something like £70 million from our CL exploits last year, that pretty much paid for our new keeper. There's no reason at all why Levy shouldn't give Poch substantial funds this summer. He's more than proved himself as a manager during his time at Spurs. He now needs/deserves to be backed big-time in the transfer market.
 

Vialli_92

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He will be there for a while Id imagine, his whole 'Spurs project', heard a rumour Levy even got his input on stadium designs and what Poch wanted from the new stadium. He has total authority over the football aspect about who stays and who goes which I imagine is a big draw for any manager. Once Pochettino makes a decision you are out, that is it, you are out. None of this player power diva rubbish, and 'investment player' nonsense.

He was absolutely ruthless cleaning out Spurs when he arrived, including the captain at the time and Spurs star player Adebayor, all out the door.

Id like to add as an edit the board are absolutely mental if they do not go out and seriously back Pochettino now. With every fecking penny they can scrape together.
He's a manager you can plan long term with and know he will make a success of it, very few managers can do that these days and they are hard to come and he has done all that on a shoe string budget as well

Tottenham really have to keep him at all costs and back the hell out of him
 

africanspur

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He will be there for a while Id imagine, his whole 'Spurs project', heard a rumour Levy even got his input on stadium designs and what Poch wanted from the new stadium. He has total authority over the football aspect about who stays and who goes which I imagine is a big draw for any manager. Once Pochettino makes a decision you are out, that is it, you are out. None of this player power diva rubbish, and 'investment player' nonsense.

He was absolutely ruthless cleaning out Spurs when he arrived, including the captain at the time and Spurs star player Adebayor, all out the door.

Id like to add as an edit the board are absolutely mental if they do not go out and seriously back Pochettino now. With every fecking penny they can scrape together.
Yep. This summer I think we're going to see a bit of a rebuild. Potentially Eriksen and Alderweireld leaving (though maybe this will help convince them otherwise!) and hopefully some of the utter deadwood moved on.

We need some good investment this summer and arguably there has never been a better moment to do it for this club.
 

Eleven-Eighteen

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I agree with most of it but we did see the improvements in the initial run. In his interview with Neville he said they started focusing on results when they were in race for top 4. Actually that's a good interview where he says how the things are.

At least for me, the conclusions from first 4 months is

- We changed the style and worked hard as a team in the initial run. (Made more sprints than opponents)

- Fitness caught up (Solskjaer - Of course the fitness levels are not good enough for me. Maybe we have been caught up with that respect and pre-season is going to be a big mark for me and for all of us.)

- We were in race for top 4, so focus shifted to results, coincided with lot of injuries because of high work rate. (Again this is the team that was in 20th position in work rate and IIRC 19th this season). Also this was the time when games came thick and fast.

- re progress, this is why I believe in Ole. He has all the right ideas, that working on fitness, playing with intensity, recruiting players who wants to be here rather than who wants just 10-20% pay hike.

If he can execute his ideas is left to see. For the first time since SAF I believe we have manager who has right ideas.

I believe people think we are just making excuse for Ole talking about fitness but they refuse to read the articles on Conte, Poch's preseason preparation or players who talks about how improved fitness helped them to play better. Look at the intensity with which Liverpool and Spurs play, no wonder teams struggle to cope with them.
Meanwhile, we have Luke Shaw trying to steal more pasta from the United kitchen
 

devilish

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Also the same league where Brooks scored 3 goals last season. Football isn't linear.
You mean that world beater who scored 7 goals in 29 games this season? 6 of those goals came against sides like Brighton (3), Fulham, Watford and Bournemouth. Serious business.
 

A-boateng

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I don’t see what the problem is with fans voicing their frustrations.

A lot of people including myself wanted Poch even though Ole did well in his first 10 games or so. We then hired Ole full time and results have not been good since meanwhile Spurs have made the top 4 and reached the CL final.
You also have to take into account they are missing their best player and Spurs didn’t sign a single player in the transfer window.
So it makes sense for fans to wonder if the right decision was made or be slightly ‘salty’.

Looking at all these teams with limited budgets progress and United just getting worse each season despite having a decent squad and money makes you wonder where has the club gone wrong and I think a big problem has been the managers that have been hired since Fergie left.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Why do some, not all mind, think it would just be that easy to hire Poch? I’m not trying to be a clever dick BTW, but did you see the guys emotion at the end of the game last night?
 

Lennon7

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Why do some, not all mind, think it would just be that easy to hire Poch? I’m not trying to be a clever dick BTW, but did you see the guys emotion at the end of the game last night?
He's through to the Champions League final mate, it could be with Burton Albion for all he cares.

Plus, he's crying thinking of the new gaff he's gonna buy his family with the cold hard cash
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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He's through to the Champions League final mate, it could be with Burton Albion for all he cares.

Plus, he's crying thinking of the new gaff he's gonna buy his family with the cold hard cash
Of course how silly of me :lol:. I suppose this new gaff will be in Manchester, you know cause he is dying to move up north.
 

africanspur

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Why do some, not all mind, think it would just be that easy to hire Poch? I’m not trying to be a clever dick BTW, but did you see the guys emotion at the end of the game last night?
Cos cash, cash, cash, history, history, history. Or something like that.

And (this is amateur psychology at play here) I think most Man Utd fans on here are of the age where their main memories growing up of Tottenham are of a rubbish midtable club who are an easy 6 points and easy to pillage.

Maybe it will go back to how it was before but I think some people are taking a while to readjust. :D
 

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It’s sort of the overriding theme and reality of the moment. It would be much weirder if everyone here was in denial.
Who is in denial ? We all know things aren't great at United but there's countless threads on this. What is happening now on here is people are spending their misery.
 

CM10

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You mean that world beater who scored 7 goals in 29 games this season? 6 of those goals came against sides like Brighton (3), Fulham, Watford and Bournemouth. Serious business.
Ah right, because you have to become a world beater to progress as a footballer. 20 of Salah's 22 goals came against teams outside the top 6 too, I suppose they don't count either.
 

B20

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What will be absolutely boring to read on here if he loses is how he 'bottled it'.

It's never the case that someone has to lose or that the better team won. He'll be judged a bottler for not winning a match where the other team are favourites.