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What do we think of Poch?

Basil Brush

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
1,691
3,080
Hey guys and girls,

Massive spurs fan in Australia.

In saying this, I don't get much media/opinion from the UK.

I wanted to see what real Spurs fans think of Poch.

Imo, and it is still early, he may be 1 of the greatest managers our great club has had.

There are 3 things that stick out to me.

1. The improvement in our youth like Kane and Mason as examples.

2. Our fitness i.e. late goals

3. He doesn't appear to tolerate players who don't want to be at our club or cause problems no matter their wage/status.

Interested in all opinions. I could even be wrong in my views from abroad.
 

Good Doctor M

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2010
2,839
8,766
He's modern. The most modern manager we've had at Spurs for decades. And it's genuine, not like AVB, where the spreadsheet seemed to be the greatest tool in his arsenal. Poch it seems, knows how to win games, what it takes tactically, but also emotionally. He's building a group of players into a Premier League team. I think he's the best manager we could possibly have gotten. Suits both the League and our finances down to the ground. It's all about putting 11 guys on the field to compete for one another... something we've badly lacked for an age.
 

Sp3akerboxxx

Adoption: Nabil Bentaleb
Apr 4, 2006
5,180
7,621
I like him, and he's growing on me a lot (after I admittedly began to doubt him for a very short while). It's a tough gig, and he is doing well with the tools at his disposal in my opinion.
 

yido_number1

He'll always be magic
Jun 8, 2004
8,646
16,809
I like him, and he's growing on me a lot (after I admittedly began to doubt him for a very short while). It's a tough gig, and he is doing well with the tools at his disposal in my opinion.

I'd echo this, he seems to have figured out who he can trust and seems to have a plan for those that haven't performed to give them time to develop. I really look forward to seeing how we finish this year and can build on what we've done.

Like others say next year we need to continue progressing with the consistency of performance and build on what he has achieved at times this year.
 

whatislifewithoutspurs

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2011
253
1,308
Generally good manager but occasionally a frustrating one especially during games when tactics are clearly not working yet substitutions are either late or do not make much sense
 

MyNameIsNicolaBerti

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2013
2,035
3,834
Yes...... but what do you think of him now?
I don't. That's the point. Too early to tell. Ask a Liverpool fan what they thought of Brendan Rodgers last year and the opinion would be very different from this season.

I prefer to give a manager a decent chunk of time and then judge. For most of the start of the season I didn't think he'd been that impressive as I don't think our performances were at all convincing. But I like the signs that I've been seeing over the past couple of months. If that can be sustained then hopefully we will be going in the right direction. But I have been a Spurs long enough to not get carried away after a couple of months of good form, so I prefer to reserve judgment.
 

Good Doctor M

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2010
2,839
8,766
Generally good manager but occasionally a frustrating one especially during games when tactics are clearly not working yet substitutions are either late or do not make much sense

I really have to disagree strongly with this. We've scored more late winners and picked up more wins in the tail end of games this season, that it's gotten to be that I'm almost expecting 3 points when we're still drawing a game at 80 minutes.
 

Rout-Ledge

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2005
9,611
21,718
He's certainly achieved enough to make his appointment seem like a good decision, but most would've said the same of AVB at this stage during his first season.
 

Good Doctor M

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2010
2,839
8,766
He's certainly achieved enough to make his appointment seem like a good decision, but most would've said the same of AVB at this stage during his first season.

Very true. I think the big difference is though, that for much of AVB's time with us a certain Gareth Bale was papering over a lot of cracks and even the pro-AVBers, would admit I would imagine that many players in the squad weren't pulling their weight.

I like Poch's team much more than AVBs. They've had to fight for points and goals and the effort they put in is abundantly clear. It's mouth watering to think what he could have done with Bale and Modric to shape a team around.
 

DaSpurs

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2013
11,816
13,655
Generally good manager but occasionally a frustrating one especially during games when tactics are clearly not working yet substitutions are either late or do not make much sense

He has improved in this regard. I think he struggled a bit in September and October with this since I don't think he knew the squad well at that point, which is understandable given not only was he a first year coach, but he also had quite a few players miss preseason because of extended World Cup runs and consequent time off. But he seems to have gotten much better about making the correct substitutions to affect games, and earlier. I refer to the introduction of Townsend against Sunderland a couple weeks ago, in which we were extremely static and making it far too easy for them to sit back and compact, and all it took was an aggressive run by Townsend and a ball into space which was created by getting forward before Sunderland had time to compact at the top of the box.

So this has improved drastically to my eyes.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
Too early to say. Solid enough results and league placing currently (with a cup final to look forward to), has given a fair chance to almost all the squad and selects on merit, and there seems to be a good team spirit and togetherness with players happy and enjoying their football. I'm not particularly impressed with him tactically at times (though in this aspect I often disagree with a lot of managers) and for a former international centre half I'm a bit surprised that we haven't been defensively solid and need to keep striving to improve this and give Hugo less work to do.

Decent start, should just allow him to continue this season as a learning experience.
 

DaSpurs

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2013
11,816
13,655
Overall very pleased. I love the direction we're going with the introduction of more youth, the acquisition of Mitchell from Southampton and more youth scouting personnel, the purchase of Alli; and I love first and foremost how Poch had the balls to remove established players from the first team for the sake of youth products who were more willing to get stuck in in both matches and in the demanding system Pochettino offers. The turnaround from last season in our results against the top four is no coincidence IMO. No coincidence at all that in a match in which we started with five academy products against Chelsea, we were scored on first but instead of another capitulation, we stormed back and sodomized them. Poch removed the joggers of Adebayor, Paulinho, and Capoue - and voila the magic happened.

The only area where I remain cautious though is about his selection of players and his adherence to specific roles in his system. He still appears to me to be a bit too hung up on his double pivot, and possibly too much on his use of left wing for his "left striker" role as he used at Southampton with Rodriguez. I'm concerned because I think that role worked really well at Saints with how much more space they were afforded than we are, thereby allowing Rodriguez more room to make his runs in behind, and I worry that he's still stubbornly caught up in thinking these things will work with the right players rather than adjusting to what we have and the way teams play against us. Chadli has done well given the circumstances, but there's just not the same amount of room for him to make runs and I think we need an alternate for when those spaces are entirely clamped out, as happens entirely too often against us. Still not quite enough time to judge this yet as I think the correct time would be in September, but for now I'm still a bit cautiously concerned.
 

markiespurs

SC Supporter
Jul 9, 2008
11,899
15,576
Still early days, but I like a lot of what Poch has done so far.

I especially like the fitness levels Poch is getting out of the players and the faith he has shown in young players like Kane, Mason and Bentelab.

There is still a long way to go, but at the moment I am cautiously optimistic about the direction that Poch is taking the club.
 

chinaman

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2003
17,974
12,423
I had wanted van Gaal or De Boer, and was mightily disappointed that it was to be Poch as I thought he didn't have the ability to attract star names. What a mistake. We no longer need to pursue prima donnas and we're producing our own stars. Hats of to Levy on appointing Poch and grateful to Poch for turning us around and hopefully building us a dynasty.
 

SHaRD

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2014
709
1,705
Looks our best manager since Burkinshaw

- Can genuinely improve players through coaching
- Tactically astute
- Inspires loyalty but doesn't suffer fools
- Tough but smart
- Commitment to organic growth, rather than off-the-shelf solutions
- Has integrity and keeps aloof of all the media games

My only concern is that we sometimes seem to buckle about 70 minutes (before recovering in the final 5). I don't think he makes bad subs per se - I just think he struggles without compatible options from the bench
 

pablo73

Well-Known Member
Dec 6, 2006
3,978
13,596
One of the most important things for me is that he's a guy I'm happy to have representing our club, which I couldn't say for some of our recent managers. I'm also enjoying supporting the club again after feeling an almost total disconnect last season and he's largely responsible for that; primarily by promoting youth and a team ethic, and sidelining wasters like Adebayor, Kaboul and Capoue.
 
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Lukasz

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
836
3,652
So far so good but I'll postpone my final judgement until the next season when he'll have the opportunity to manage a squad assembled solely by himself.
 
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