The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[Hakkz]

Yep. I've been saying it for all this season, but when the next one comes around there are no excuses anymore - the absolute starting point is having ten outfield players each week who can work their bollocks off, press high and hard, and play with intensity. People focus on technical quality upgrades, but our best performances under Poch have almost always come on the back of putting in a mega shift at such intensity that the opposition just get blown away by it. The tempo and verve to our football follow on from that.

Poch likes to talk about being brave, well to me now that means making no one untouchable and if players aren't doing it then they're out. That's not just the easy targets, if the likes of a Son, Alli or even Kane cant or wont put in a shift and do the dirty work they used to do, which is important as the defensive effort starts at the front and impacts massively on what then happens in defence (which we've seen this season) then he's got to act. We've got to get back to much better standards, be more compact and playing as a tight unit where all pull their weight.

It's the thing that has annoyed me the most all season. Watching us play and not knowing what to expect. Before we used to have that style and even if we didn't win, we imposed ourselves on the other team. Now every game has been the feeling of us 'making do and getting by'.

Even if Poch wants to change his style because of our players he still has to decide on ONE particular style to work from. Not a mishmash where he's trying to accomodate his favourites.

 

[Seafordian Spurs]

Hey don't knock crystals! Crystals got us through against Ajax *LOL ??

Ahh, THOSE kinda ?

 

[Shadydan]

Regardless of injuries and etc.

11 points from 12 games is terrible and again the worst end to any manager in the PL under ENIC, we have enough quality to perform better than a championship squad yet we our form was similar to one

Why would you dismiss other circumstances though when those issues clearly affected our form, and why would you only take a sample of the season and use that to asses him in that particular period as a manager?

 

[spursfan77]

Kane was like that for much of the World Cup so it wasn't just yesterday. It will be interesting Thursday if Southgate starts him as he got nothing out of Van Dijk last night and add De Ligt next to him and I think he will struggle again due to his lack of pace.

Southgate will start him. He’ll try and run him into the ground yet again

 

[THX2208]

Ahh, THOSE kinda ?

*PMSL it took a minute of the penny to drop but I got there in the end. Stay away from crystals kids, I used to have a 165 IQ. I think I'd be lucky getting 50 now and remember you get 30 for spelling your name correctly on the test page.
??

 

[easley91]

Just watched his post match press conference from last night. Even more confident he stays.

 

[beats1]

Why would you dismiss other circumstances though when those issues clearly affected our form, and why would you only take a sample of the season and use that to asses him in that particular period as a manager?

Affecting our form makes it sound like we took abit of a hit.

Up until that point we were flying. What had happened was clear. We realised we couldn't compete for the title and the players took their foot off the pedal because we thought we had top 4 sewn up. Then when we tried to turn back on in the league, we couldn't get it going and were fortunate to get over the line considering we had relegation levels of form.

12 games isn't just a sample its quarter of the season. The final quarter we didn't turn at all.

I fear we will carry that level of hangover on to next season despite having a good season due to the CL

 

[PLTuck]

Think he just needs a good holiday like most of our squad does also. Go home to Argentina, share some mate with friends and family, and just chill for a few weeks.

 

[LeParisien]

we need to take a hit on players we can't rely on to play 2/3's of a season, and we need to strengthen enough so that every player that plays those 2/3's can be used as rotation not to keep covering injury after injury

Great point. If we want to be able to challenge on 3/4 fronts then we can’t be carrying people who can’t be relied on to contribute to many games over a season. I’d say 50% is acceptable. That means Janssen, Lamela, Wanyama and Nkoudou have to go and RB situation needs to be figured out too with all three disposable but tough choices needing to be made.

(We’ve been involved in 59 games this season so 1/2 of that is 30. That means you want players capable of contributing 30 x 90 minutes = 2700. According to whoscored, only Lloris and Toby managed that this season. KWP, Aurier, Wanyama, Lamela and Janssen managed 2460 minutes between them. None managed even 10 complete games. That’s deadwood.)

5/6 (no big loss in terms of minutes) out and 2/3 top class in would be a good way for Poch to build a team with a stronger identity. Just two of those players could get the same number of minutes as the 6 out. Hard to forge an identity around deadwood and players we love but who can’t play.

 

[thelak]

Affecting our form makes it sound like we took abit of a hit.

Up until that point we were flying. What had happened was clear. We realised we couldn't compete for the title and the players took their foot off the pedal because we thought we had top 4 sewn up. Then when we tried to turn back on in the league, we couldn't get it going and were fortunate to get over the line considering we had relegation levels of form.

12 games isn't just a sample its quarter of the season. The final quarter we didn't turn at all.

I fear we will carry that level of hangover on to next season despite having a good season due to the CL

One thing you could never criticise this squad for is a lack of effort so it’s not clear at all that anyone took their foot of the pedal

People were genuinely concerned about making top 4 at the start of the season - I think there was some reversion to the mean as fatigue and injuries caught up

 

[hellava_tough]

I very much doubt Poch is going anywhere.

We've finally moved into the new stadium (best in the world) and he's got a chunk of change to spend in the summer.

He now gets a chance to have a crack at the PL title with no distractions; no World Cup, no Wembley, no injury crisis (hopefully).

And we're once again back in the CL, which he'll be eager to challenge for.

Overall, I'm exceedingly confident that he'll still be the boss this time next year.

 

[Shadydan]

Affecting our form makes it sound like we took abit of a hit.

Up until that point we were flying. What had happened was clear. We realised we couldn't compete for the title and the players took their foot off the pedal because we thought we had top 4 sewn up. Then when we tried to turn back on in the league, we couldn't get it going and were fortunate to get over the line considering we had relegation levels of form.

12 games isn't just a sample its quarter of the season. The final quarter we didn't turn at all.

I fear we will carry that level of hangover on to next season despite having a good season due to the CL

Safe to say that this is complete nonsense.

 

[hellava_tough]

Affecting our form makes it sound like we took abit of a hit.

Up until that point we were flying. What had happened was clear. We realised we couldn't compete for the title and the players took their foot off the pedal because we thought we had top 4 sewn up. Then when we tried to turn back on in the league, we couldn't get it going and were fortunate to get over the line considering we had relegation levels of form.

12 games isn't just a sample its quarter of the season. The final quarter we didn't turn at all.

I fear we will carry that level of hangover on to next season despite having a good season due to the CL

If we sign a few and sell a few, then we'll be up for it next season

Squad needs a refresh though

 

[spursfan77]

If we sign a few and sell a few, then we'll be up for it next season

Squad needs a refresh though

I'm really excited for next season. I think it will be a good one in the new stadium if we can go unbeaten there. We will have had rested players, a full preseason, hopefully a decent transfer window and VAR will be around.

 

[homer hotspur]

I don't like these quotes from Guillem Balague
Balague says Pochettino still has to win Daniel Levy over.

He notes: "Pochettino wants to start the second project of his era at Tottenham, just as Ferguson did with his teams. It's so strange that, at the moment, Levy finds it so difficult to follow the path his coach proposes."

 

[topper]

I don't like these quotes from Guillem Balague
Balague says Pochettino still has to win Daniel Levy over.

He notes: "Pochettino wants to start the second project of his era at Tottenham, just as Ferguson did with his teams. It's so strange that, at the moment, Levy finds it so difficult to follow the path his coach proposes."

Ball bag does appear to be Poch’s mouthpiece doesn’t he?

 

[spursfan77]

Ball bag does appear to be Poch’s mouthpiece doesn’t he?

As opposed to Poch being his own mouthpiece where in the talksport interview last week he said he’s going nowhere? Like he has about 5 times this year.

 

[Gb160]

As opposed to Poch being his own mouthpiece where in the talksport interview last week he said he’s going nowhere? Like he has about 5 times this year.

Yes but that's not negative....we like to ignore that sort of stuff round these parts, and concentrate on the important stuff like the negatives.

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Yes but that's not negative....we like to ignore that sort of stuff round these parts, and concentrate on the important stuff like the negatives.

We're so busy reading between the lines that we forget to read the fucking lines!

 

[Gilzeanking]

seen this season) then he's got to act. We've got to get back to much better standards, be more compact and playing as a tight unit where all pull their weight.

True , but one quote from Guardiola 'You have to move on after 3 years because the players stop listening'

Clearly there are plenty of examples where the quote doesn't apply , but seeing how our incredible intensity of a while back has seemingly permanently disappeared , are we confident that Poch's wonderfully successful arm around shoulder ,player's best mate
approach doesn't have a sell by date ?