The Mauricio Pochettino thread

[pablo73]

I think a lot of people are reluctantly accepting that Poch's 'project' has run its course but I really don't see why anyone feels the need to piss all over his past achievements (and yes I know he hasn't won anything)

 

[Gassin's finest]

Big Sam time!

 

[Westmorlandspur]

I think Levy will put up with a not very successful season after the job Poch has done. However if it all goes to pot and we are down towards the bottom he will go. Plus Poch will be very expensive to sack unless there is a clause in the contract. The other three will go with him.
I really hope it does not happen but the old saying is change the team or change the manager. Always easier to do the latter.
As long as we win our two home games and don’t lose away at red star I think we will still qualify.

 

[paulcumpstone]

Yep. I still don’t want Poch to go ( partly because I still think he deserves a chance to turn it around and partly because I trust the club to get a top tier manager in).

However, if the only way we can improve is to bin half of our squad then I don’t hold out much hope. There is simply not the level of talent waiting in the wings from what I have seen. I really don’t see anything in Skipp. I’m sure he’d bust a gut, but he’d have got roasted out there last night.

One thing for certain skipp wont me more ready in 2 seasons time after watching football from the stands and nothing else.

 

[dagraham]

One thing for certain skipp wont me more ready in 2 seasons time after watching football from the stands and nothing else.

Which is why he should have been loaned out.

 

[dudu]

In terms of points finishes, take out the one anomaly where we achieved 86 points and Poch's end-of-season points totals aren't much better than AVB's or Harry's.

Our league finishes, while certainly a progression, are in line with the trajectory we were on anyway and have now declined for three successive years.

Poch's win percentage is fractionally lower than AVB's, and only a few percentage points higher than Redknapp or Sherwood.

And Poch has been blessed with a far, far superior squad to Harry, AVB or Sherwood.

Pochettino is not the saviour you all think he is. He's a charlatan who's run out of excuse cards to play.

Not true.

 

[Graysonti]

wasn't there rumblings poch pissed off the majority of the squad putting kane straight back in the squad after lucas's heroics in the semi? or did i imagine it?

Exactly - it’s prob bullshit fake news like everything else. People believe anything.

 

[nailsy]

Can someone answer this.

Even when Chelsea, City, United or Liverpool had bad form and a manager under pressure, did they ever get hammered in this manner.

I can only think Arsenal at United 8-2

Arsenal were beaten heavily by Bayern almost every season they played them.

I think Mou is just an easy choice because we think it's the right answer to the question. But he lost his magic a long time ago. If he cant make it work at United no chance it will work here.

Mourinho won trophies at United. He's won trophies everywhere. He'll give you a short term chance of winning something, before it all goes horribly wrong. I'd prefer other options than Jose, but I can see why others would want him.

In terms of points finishes, take out the one anomaly where we achieved 86 points and Poch's end-of-season points totals aren't much better than AVB's or Harry's.

Our league finishes, while certainly a progression, are in line with the trajectory we were on anyway and have now declined for three successive years.

Poch's win percentage is fractionally lower than AVB's, and only a few percentage points higher than Redknapp or Sherwood.

And Poch has been blessed with a far, far superior squad to Harry, AVB or Sherwood.

Pochettino is not the saviour you all think he is. He's a charlatan who's run out of excuse cards to play.

I'm not sure about that. Harry had Bale, Adebayor, Van Der Vaart, Gallas, Modric, Defoe, Dawson, King, Walker, Sandro, etc. It was a very good squad at the time.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

It appears that there are people who seem to think that it can only be one thing or the other, that Poch is a ‘charlatan’ who got lucky or that we are operating at a level that we have no right to be at and without Poch we are destined for mid-table mediocrity.

Actually, he has done a fantastic job for us, and he brought us to heights that we hadn’t seen for many decades before him. But we are on a negative trajectory. We are making numerous mistakes in a single game that back in 2017 we wouldn’t have seen over the course of a number of weeks. The squad is a mess, largely due to players running down contracts. There is a negative atmosphere. Poch hasn’t created that on his own, but he has exacerbated it. We need big changes, and if he can drive those then brilliant. But to me at this stage, it looks like he can’t or doesn’t have the will to drive the changes. If he stays, then he will have to completely reset his mentality, which I think is unlikely.

 

[poc]

2-7 first time in our history, I have to admit I am struggling a bit to get over this result. We have been around a long time and I couldn't give a shit how good Bayern are, we have played a lot of good teams when we were much worse and never have we been fucked at home like last night. The more I think on it I just think he has to go.
The way he has been talking during his press conferences, the players not wanting to stay at the club and sign contract extensions even the fact he seems to have got the investment he wanted this year, along with the amazing facilities the club now has it is just not good enough. If we can get someone of allegri's calibre we should do it imo I struggle to see poch getting out of this ?

 

[Matthew]

I think Mou is just an easy choice because we think it's the right answer to the question. But he lost his magic a long time ago. If he cant make it work at United no chance it will work here.

don't think thats true, there are a lot of divas at utd, and he had sanchez, pogba et al playing silly bastards.

 

[dudu]

The foul stench of the acceptance of mediocrity is strong in here today

We are in bad form but Poch and this team are not mediocre.

Spurs haven't been mediocre for years.

 

[Gilzeanking]

- Eat some humble pie and admit that he is wrong about the formation
- Realise that he can't play all his favourites if it means that we don't function well as a team, if he wants Son and Kane in the same team then he needs to play Son out wide with another winger. If he wants Son central then he either needs to drop Kane or drop him into a number 10 role which means losing one of his favourites in Winks and Sissoko. If he wants Ndombele in the team in an attacking role then he has to drop Sissoko or Winks so we have a defensive screen. Again the main point is that he can't play all his favourites at one time, he needs to make better decisions.
- Realise he needs to drop his favourites when they aren't playing well
- Make better decisions with substitutions, don't sacrifice structure so that you can keep your favourites on
- Integrate Sessegnon and Lo Celso
- If by doing those things he gets to January then buy a DM, RB and possibly a LB depending on Sessegnon
- Remove the players who don't want to be here in January.

And as a bonus if he wants to sweeten us a little bit use that bloody Argentine connection to get Dybala over the line

All positive suggestions ... But Poch teams are all about energy . As Toby once said ..' Without our effort we are ordinary' .
Where our energy has gone we don't know (well we saw 30 mins of it yesterday , but then seemed knackered by that effort)

A Poch team without energy has no future . The key issue is Poch's ability to motivate .

These positive @wrd suggestions are almost rearranging the seats on the Titanic without intense team effort .

 

[dimiSpur]

Comparing points totals across season is such a redundant argument, as are win/loss percentages can't believe people still use it, your argument reeks of desperation

Whereas using his worse statistics, having removed his good ones, is a perfect way of examining his tenure....

 

[mrlilywhite]

Frankly speaking I read this article The Tactical Principles of Pochettino’s Title Challenging Tottenham Hotspur several times in the past and I can't come across how we lost such a philosophy and a playing style.

Because in a constant press, which Poch's press is or was it demands a level of fitness that can't be trained. You can not train a players level of fitness past a certain threshold - it's called natural fitness. The intensity demanded by such a high press needs high levels of concentration as well and that is something else that one player has over the other to a lesser or more extent.

It's worth noting that the press sort of stopped or regressed once injuries took their toll on the squad and you have to start using players that otherwise would not have the required attributes to play such a demanding style of football. Another thing worth noting about such a high counter-press is the defensive line - Toby and Jan have not been blessed with huge amounts of pace, they have pace, but not enough in such high and dangerous areas of the pitch. Playing with a clever offside trap mitigates pace to some extent, but you need a clever back four to make it work and Toby and Jan are very good at this tbf.

Poch has pretty much abandoned his style in all honesty and credit where it's due here - he sees why he can't play it, but unless you have something to fall back to, then you get found out and pretty quickly as well. What we are doing now is still playing very narrow but without a counter-press or really any press that is effective. Trying to work the ball and keep possession is all well and good, but teams find that we are a lot easier to set up against and nullify. Full backs crossing from deep becomes like a training ground exercise for opposition defenders. Our front three invariably are playing way too close together and of course the more Poch tinkers with the formation and round holes and square pegs, the further away from his system he becomes. He has essentially become lost, due to his inability to fully understand how to make the most of his system that benefits the players he has. The spotlight is firmly on him and right now his whole career could be defined on what he does next (assuming he is given the chance).

 

[freeeki]

We are in bad form but Poch and this team are not mediocre.

Spurs haven't been mediocre for years.

Our form in 2019 puts us on course for 40 league points.

I'd say that goes deeper than bad form, and certainly opens the door to the idea that Poch could indeed be mediocre.

 

[wrd]

All positive suggestions ... But Poch teams are all about energy . As Toby once said ..' Without our effort we are ordinary' .
Where our energy has gone we don't know (well we saw 30 mins of it yesterday , but then seemed knackered by that effort)

A Poch team without energy has no future . The key issue is Poch's ability to motivate .

These positive @wrd suggestions are almost rearranging the seats on the Titanic without intense team effort .

Well look, we're only working with half the equation to work on the formula but Trix has alluded to the other half of it, which is that the players have pretty much told him their frustration with the formation and how we are setting up. So what I'm suggesting is that he eats some humble pie and that making the adjustments will get the squad back on side, by stop being stubborn, holding hands up and admitting you've been making errors, well for me personally I'd respect a leader who did that and I'd hope that gives them the motivation to kick on as a unit.

 

[dimiSpur]

I enjoy your history rewrites, they're are most amusing. Constantly banging the drum about him inheriting this mystical great squad that should be challenging anyway.
Lol very funny, very well written material stuff

Here's what he actually had

Hugo / brad

Kaboul
Vertonghen
Dawson
Fryers

Kyle naughton
Walker
Rose
Ekotto
Chriches


Holtby
Capoue
Mason
Bentelab
Paulinho
Dembele
Tom Carrol

Lennon
Eriksen
Lamela
Soldado
Adebayor
Kane
Chadli

A bunch of average players, alot of shit players, and unproven kids

The only reason you're able to bitch about Tottenham Hotspur getting thrashed in the champions League by the champions of Germany is because of the coach Improving existing players, buying good players and creating a team that could compete with the best in the world regularly for the first time in the club's history, and finishing in the top 3 regularly

Great post, you beautiful man.

 

[midoshairband]

it’s ok to accept that he did a great job to get us from where we were to where we are now, yet still see that he is now the problem.

you can’t re-write or belittle what he has done for us, he’s just not, in my opinion, going to be able to turn this round.

 

[Matthew]

Exactly - it’s prob bullshit fake news like everything else. People believe anything.

i thought we had itk on here, seem to think it was breezer or maybe herc?