The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[SpartanSpur]

I think this season has been under a cloud due to all the uncertainty with the stadium, the lack of signings and to a lesser extent Poch's future. He looked revitalised at the stadium opening. I really hope the stadium and Ole's appointment will prove to be a turning point in our season.

Poch is good with his media handling but he is a passionate guy. The negative energy will have affected him. I think he may have made some mistakes however the team deserves blame too for not delivering at Burnley and Soton, you can't blame that on his words alone.

Also, for all we know he could have rejected approaches from Utd and informed the players. The media frenzy died down long before our form went to crap. That is a very tenuous link.

 

[aliyid]

Whether you agree or disagree, some good points here worth discussing.

Nothing worth discussing other than what a terrible article based on nothing.

Main element i’d argue is the line “It is hard to imagine Ferguson, or Arsène Wenger in his prime, allowing themselves to be dragged into a media-run job audition for another club.”

Poch & Spurs haven’t contributed in any way to the media narrative around the Utd job (not for lack of effort on the media’s part)

Any suggestion that Poch now isn’t good enough to be considered for Utd is laughable as the truth is that he values loyalty and the relationship built with our players / Levy more than he values the money & exposure he’d get at Utd (much to the disbelief of anybody outside Spurs).

The media assumed he would be a mercenary that chases the money but he’s so much more than that and I love that they can’t see it.

 

[Japhet]

The press love a hatchet job. They did it Wenger and Van Gaal, then Conte and Mourinho then Sarri got the treatment. Poch has given them very little to use but they stir up as much shit as they can. The only ones who seem to be exempt are Gaurdiola and Klopp who have so much smoke blown up their arses there must surely be a fire at some point.

 

[teok]

Love it.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Interesting Poch article from today's Guardian .

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ttino-manchester-united-real-madrid-tottenham

 

[spursfan77]

Interesting Poch article from today's Guardian .

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ttino-manchester-united-real-madrid-tottenham

I started off not wanting to like the article but it makes quite a lot of sense and is probably accurate in regards to our transfer business (no idea why there’s a need to mention Vertonghen though). Glad the name of Hakim Ziyech has popped up. He’d be a good alternative to Eriksen but I think last summer was the time to get him as Ajax sound like they are about to undergo a Monaco style mugging from Europe’s top clubs.

 

[Japhet]

Interesting Poch article from today's Guardian .

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ttino-manchester-united-real-madrid-tottenham

There's a general perception that when Poch talked about being 'brave', he was talking about forking out for top players. In the light of the subsequent transfer windows, it would appear that he meant being brave by trusting what we have unless we can sign a real game changer. ITK have said that he turned down players offered to him by Levy which goes totally against the common perception. I'm one of those who thought we needed some bolstering after the summer exploits of so many of our players, and it remains to be seen whether we can get over the line with CL qualification. If it backfires I still don't see Poch going anywhere else but instead treating it as a hiccup in a long term plan.

 

[Chris Finch]

There's a general perception that when Poch talked about being 'brave', he was talking about forking out for top players. In the light of the subsequent transfer windows, it would appear that he meant being brave by trusting what we have unless we can sign a real game changer. ITK have said that he turned down players offered to him by Levy which goes totally against the common perception. I'm one of those who thought we needed some bolstering after the summer exploits of so many of our players, and it remains to be seen whether we can get over the line with CL qualification. If it backfires I still don't see Poch going anywhere else but instead treating it as a hiccup in a long term plan.

I disagree with this tbh.
To me it was obvious that Poch was putting pressure on Levy to change the way we operate and be brave by buying established stars to take us to genuine title contenders.....and it seemingly didnt work

 

[Stamford]

There's a general perception that when Poch talked about being 'brave', he was talking about forking out for top players. In the light of the subsequent transfer windows, it would appear that he meant being brave by trusting what we have unless we can sign a real game changer. ITK have said that he turned down players offered to him by Levy which goes totally against the common perception. I'm one of those who thought we needed some bolstering after the summer exploits of so many of our players, and it remains to be seen whether we can get over the line with CL qualification. If it backfires I still don't see Poch going anywhere else but instead treating it as a hiccup in a long term plan.

Poch isn't stupid. Don't believe for a moment that last summer was some kind of grand plan of genius from everyone involved.

 

[Insomnia]

He's magic, you know

 

[Japhet]

I disagree with this tbh.
To me it was obvious that Poch was putting pressure on Levy to change the way we operate and be brave by buying established stars to take us to genuine title contenders.....and it seemingly didnt work

If that's what he wants I think he'll be waiting a long time. I'm sure he and Levy are on the same page with regard to what money we have to spend otherwise he'd be looking to move on, and there's been nothing to indicate that. We'll see where it goes now that the stadium is ready to roll and the finances have a chance to stabilise.

 

[Lighty64]

I started off not wanting to like the article but it makes quite a lot of sense and is probably accurate in regards to our transfer business (no idea why there’s a need to mention Vertonghen though). Glad the name of Hakim Ziyech has popped up. He’d be a good alternative to Eriksen but I think last summer was the time to get him as Ajax sound like they are about to undergo a Monaco style mugging from Europe’s top clubs.

they mentioned Vertonghen because he too only has 1 more year left on his contract, and is getting to an age where long term contracts are harder to get, and will also be hard to replace.

the words about being brave, earlier in the article, and what we have done in the transfer market makes you wonder if he now meant, if we couldn't get in his A list, then he would be brave to go without instead of fill ins that might not work and would turn out hard to shift like a few we want rid have proved to be.

 

[tooey]

With OGS given the United job, Zidane at RM and the new stadium being done and dusted we need to back him. I'm all for the sustainability of the football club and completely understand we have shareholders to appease but in order to maintain our trajectory we need to keep Poch for the foreseeable and giving him the players he wants is the only way to give us a fighting chance of that.

 

[Kilkenny Cat]

There's a general perception that when Poch talked about being 'brave', he was talking about forking out for top players. In the light of the subsequent transfer windows, it would appear that he meant being brave by trusting what we have unless we can sign a real game changer. ITK have said that he turned down players offered to him by Levy which goes totally against the common perception. I'm one of those who thought we needed some bolstering after the summer exploits of so many of our players, and it remains to be seen whether we can get over the line with CL qualification. If it backfires I still don't see Poch going anywhere else but instead treating it as a hiccup in a long term plan.

Your last sentence strikes me as being bang on the money, especially the second part of it.

Every season under Poch brought an improvement on the season before. Even 2017/18 could be classed as an improvement on the basis that we were at Wembley - and still managed to come third.

We couldn't keep improving incrementally, not without spending money like Man City. Stasis had to set in at some stage. This season it has. (I really do think Jack Grealish might have made a big difference.)

But that doesn't mean that we can't reset and go again next year, especially in a much more auspicious atmosphere. Progress is never linear. There are always setbacks, sometimes even steps back.

Next season we go again. At the new WHL. Great!

 

[Gb160]

Shite article

#sharticle

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

I disagree with this tbh.
To me it was obvious that Poch was putting pressure on Levy to change the way we operate and be brave by buying established stars to take us to genuine title contenders.....and it seemingly didnt work

Sure Poch didn't mean give me & my mates big long contracts plus Harry , Dele & Sonny, how much has that all cost in the long run.

 

[Shadydan]

Why couldn't he mean both getting contracts sorted and buying good players to push the club forward?

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Why couldn't he mean both getting contracts sorted and buying good players to push the club forward?

Not sure they can do both with the financial situation of the club especially with the stadium to pay for. If they sell a few in close season then I expect they will make signings but not headline signings that some fans keep expecting.

 

[Shadydan]

Not sure they can do both with the financial situation of the club especially with the stadium to pay for. If they sell a few in close season then I expect they will make signings but not headline signings that some fans keep expecting.

Extending contracts and buying players wasn't a problem in previous summers so why was it all of a sudden a problem last summer?

 

[aliyid]

Extending contracts and buying players wasn't a problem in previous summers so why was it all of a sudden a problem last summer?

My thinking is that the timing is the problem, we’ve built a new stadium in order to compete with rivals on the financial side.

That additional revenue only comes after the stadium has been finished and the extra revenue (tickets, sponsorship, nfl, events, etc...) comes in.

Agents will see the stadium being built and ask for the extra bump in wages now (before the money is there). We know the extra £££ are coming but the club can’t pay it before it comes in.