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Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

There were a lot of unhappy Liverpool fans at the end of Rodgers' first season when they finished about 8th. The owners stuck with him and it worked. I can imagine in that situation Levy would have just sacked him.

Were there? I thought most Plop fans were happy with him, as they actually played good football last season and showed glimpses.
 
Very disappointed with the appointment of Pochettino. Even my nephews age 7 and 10 are upset that we didn't appoint a big-name manager. Why can't Levy be a bit more ambitious ? What is the logic in sacking AVB and replacing him new and inexperienced managers like Sherwood and Pochettino ? Pochettino has only managed small clubs like Espanyol for 3 years and Southampton for 1 year. Don't know what makes him suitable to manage a big club like Spurs. Can he even handle the pressure and expectations of managing a big club ?

Managing Spurs had not been kind for young and non-English managers before : Ardiles, Gross, Ramos and AVB all left within 1 and a half year period. With Levy fond of sacking managers, not sure what Pochettino can achieve in a short time. I think appointing yet another young manager like Pochettino only seem to show the fact that no big-name manager wants to work under Levy who sacks managers for fun !

I guess it will be hard to accept Pochettino as the manager until we go on a winning run next season. Anyway, good luck to Pochettiono. Hope he succeeds where others have failed by winning trophies for us consistently.
 
Very disappointed with the appointment of Pochettino. Even my nephews age 7 and 10 are upset that we didn't appoint a big-name manager. Why can't Levy be a bit more ambitious ? What is the logic in sacking AVB and replacing him new and inexperienced managers like Sherwood and Pochettino ? Pochettino has only managed small clubs like Espanyol for 3 years and Southampton for 1 year. Don't know what makes him suitable to manage a big club like Spurs. Can he even handle the pressure and expectations of managing a big club ?

Managing Spurs had not been kind for young and non-English managers before : Ardiles, Gross, Ramos and AVB all left within 1 and a half year period. With Levy fond of sacking managers, not sure what Pochettino can achieve in a short time. I think appointing yet another young manager like Pochettino only seem to show the fact that no big-name manager wants to work under Levy who sacks managers for fun !

I guess it will be hard to accept Pochettino as the manager until we go on a winning run next season. Anyway, good luck to Pochettiono. Hope he succeeds where others have failed by winning trophies for us consistently.

The logic is that we were going to get LVG but he got a bigger job and wasn't interested. How are we supposed to have moved for a bigger name maybe we should be making ourselves look like mugs and approach Ancelotti, Mourinhio etc. See how long it takes for them to laugh at us.

Saying "small clubs" like Southampton is a bit unfair and hypocritical seeing as we haven't been a proper big club in about quater a century.

And you say we had Ramos, well he was a manager who'd won a couple of Spanish cups, couple of Europa Leagues, couple of super cups and was challenging for a spanish league title till this last day of the season with Sevilla. I'd say that's pretty big name. In fact he even went to Real Madrid, the biggest team in the world, after leaving us!

I'm not overly happy with Poch because I'd rather we get Ranieri in but I'm still willing to give Poch a chance. We can't go for Guardiola or anyone "big name" like that because most of them don't consider us a big enough club for them to manage. The best we can do is apoint people like Poch and hope it helps.
 
There were a lot of unhappy Liverpool fans at the end of Rodgers' first season when they finished about 8th. The owners stuck with him and it worked. I can imagine in that situation Levy would have just sacked him.

Lacking so much context.

Rodgers finished 7th in his first season, up one place from their 8th in the season before that. They showed clear signs of improvement in style of play, to the point that many Liverpool fans seemed content with Suarez leaving last summer because the team was playing so well without him.

AVB finished 5th in his first season, down one place from our 4th the season before that. We showed some good signs of improving defensively, but we struggled in attack and were highly dependent on Bale.

Both were kept over the summer. Relative to their starting points Rodgers did no better than AVB.

Very disappointed with the appointment of Pochettino. Even my nephews age 7 and 10 are upset that we didn't appoint a big-name manager. Why can't Levy be a bit more ambitious ? What is the logic in sacking AVB and replacing him new and inexperienced managers like Sherwood and Pochettino ? Pochettino has only managed small clubs like Espanyol for 3 years and Southampton for 1 year. Don't know what makes him suitable to manage a big club like Spurs. Can he even handle the pressure and expectations of managing a big club ?

Managing Spurs had not been kind for young and non-English managers before : Ardiles, Gross, Ramos and AVB all left within 1 and a half year period. With Levy fond of sacking managers, not sure what Pochettino can achieve in a short time. I think appointing yet another young manager like Pochettino only seem to show the fact that no big-name manager wants to work under Levy who sacks managers for fun !

I guess it will be hard to accept Pochettino as the manager until we go on a winning run next season. Anyway, good luck to Pochettiono. Hope he succeeds where others have failed by winning trophies for us consistently.

Difference between the other young and non-English managers and Poch is that Poch has experience in the Premier League.

Who are these big-name managers you wanted instead?
 
I'd like to ask those who have followed Pochettino at Soton (and even at Espanoyl), what is generally his Plan A, Plan B (and Plan C if relevant)?

I hear a lot about the pressing game; just wondered if there were other methods he employed. I worry a bit that the pressing game is not balanced to save us from burn-out at the latter stages of a season; kinda like what I saw with Bielsa's lovely Bilboa team two season's ago.

Also will Pochettio ever play with two strikers, perhaps in front of a midfield diamond a la Rodgers at Liverpool?

They lined up 4-3-1-2 away at Everton last season and won 2-0. My recollection is that this was because of injuries or suspensions rather than a tactical switch but it shows flexibility.
 
Now take in to account the value of the squads. I will support him as he is our manager and as i stated before he does seem to have something about him. But the above is a little misleading. if Rafa was available I can't see why we passed him up.

Anyone who knows anything about sporting statistics knows that player value, or transfer fee spend, has almost zero statistical relevance to how a team performs, or even should perform. The one stat that is constant and can be directly linked to league position is wages spent. Its the only stat that is consistent with where football clubs finish. It takes a herculean effort by a club and/or manager to get a club to finish where its wage bill shouldn't be. History shows that without fail, the league almost always finishes according to wages spent.

So the stat isn't misleading. The £s per point is directly comparale to Martinez's and Rodgers and you also have to take into account that Premier League spending on wages increases every year.

Southampton had the 18th highest wage bill in the Premier League. To finish 8th defies all logic and statistical analysis.
 
I don't really understand this obsession with 'plan bs'.

What do you want to know? Whether at 1-0 down on a windy winter Wednesday at West Ham when nothing is working, he'll be prepared to push Dawson upfront and try to out-Allardyce Allardyce?

The whole point of a system is that it's supposed to be all-pervasive. Yes you adapt it, but principles are principles.

Totally agree with this. Can't stand the obsession with 'Plan Bs'.

If you want pragmatism, if you want it all to simply be about winning the next game by any means necessary, go and watch whatever club Sherwood ends up at. Because that's what it has been for the last 6 months. Unstructured, uncoordinated.

Some teams may well figure out how to play against the Poch system, but it doesn't matter too much. Michael Laudrup gave an interview once where he broke down the perfect tactical way to beat Barca, based on the weaknesses their system exposes, but he said knowing it is one thing and actually being able to achieve it in a march situation is another. Do people not think clubs will have known how Southampton play towards the end of this season? It will have been pretty clear.

If we are well drilled enough in our system, not too many teams will be able to conquer it. I'm sure it's possible to alter the formation but the principle's should remain the same. A Brendan Rodgers quote I actually like is 'Plan B is to do Plan A better'. The whole point is that the system provides advantages, so you work at it. If the team was going to adjust what they were doing game to game or even within game we are back to the Sherwood days and may as well have kept him.
 
I don't really understand this obsession with 'plan bs'.

What do you want to know? Whether at 1-0 down on a windy winter Wednesday at West Ham when nothing is working, he'll be prepared to push Dawson upfront and try to out-Allardyce Allardyce?

The whole point of a system is that it's supposed to be all-pervasive. Yes you adapt it, but principles are principles.

I disagree 100%.... If we're away to West Ham, 1-0 down and creating absolutely nothing with 10 minutes to go then I would absolutely want my manager to have a plan b. if that is to throw Dawson up front, go long and try to crowd players around him to get on any possible knock down, then so be it (although of course there are other ways you know!)
 
Totally agree with this. Can't stand the obsession with 'Plan Bs'.

If you want pragmatism, if you want it all to simply be about winning the next game by any means necessary, go and watch whatever club Sherwood ends up at. Because that's what it has been for the last 6 months. Unstructured, uncoordinated.

Some teams may well figure out how to play against the Poch system, but it doesn't matter too much. Michael Laudrup gave an interview once where he broke down the perfect tactical way to beat Barca, based on the weaknesses their system exposes, but he said knowing it is one thing and actually being able to achieve it in a march situation is another. Do people not think clubs will have known how Southampton play towards the end of this season? It will have been pretty clear.

If we are well drilled enough in our system, not too many teams will be able to conquer it. I'm sure it's possible to alter the formation but the principle's should remain the same. A Brendan Rodgers quote I actually like is 'Plan B is to do Plan A better'. The whole point is that the system provides advantages, so you work at it. If the team was going to adjust what they were doing game to game or even within game we are back to the Sherwood days and may as well have kept him.

Precisely. There shouldn't be a plan B, because if there has to be, like Brendan Rodgers says, it just means you haven't implemented plan A well enough and need to get better at it. The best coaches have the courage to stick with their philosophies and tactics in the face of some tough results. Rodgers got some really tough results early on as Liverpool weren't used to his tactics and principles. Anyone remember them getting mugged 3-0 at WBA?

There were a lot of individual screw ups at the back as the Liverpool defenders were getting used to passing out from the back under pressure, which is what Rodgers wanted. Fast-forward a couple of years and Liverpool look imperious with Skrtel and Agger waltzing out of the back and knocking passes into Gerrard and Coutinho.

Obviously, they can still be beaten and Chelsea's 2-0 win at Anfield as well as their 1-0 defeat of City at the Eitihad show that no matter how good your team, or how good your system, no team or system is unbeatable. We WILL suffer defeats and dissapointing results under Pochettino, especially early on. That doesn't mean he has to have a plan B, it just means he needs more time to get plan A working properly.
 
My original preference was FDB, but as time went on and I thought more and more about Poch, I think we've made the right decision.

- Premiership Experience (biggest factor IMO)
- History of attractive football with a team full of attacking players similar to our own
- Young manager hungry to make a name for himself
- Evidence that he can bring players through the ranks rather than buy. Another very important factor as I don't see us shelling out much money over the next 5 years, or at least until the stadium is built
- Same nationality as our prize possession who's been struggling with injury and will be under pressure this season to deliver

I'm struggling to see any real major negatives. I could with all our previous managers.

I just hope he brings Luke Shaw with him.
 
Oh and BTW, one of AVB's BIGGEST mistakes and BIGGEST flaws was losing the courage of his convictions when results weren't going well.

He talked about his 4-3-3 and how it worked and how ideal it was. He was clearly bruised from his time at Chelsea and didn't even attempt to implement it at Spurs from the start. But he did move to a 4-2-3-1 with Sigurdsson in the hole. It was a brave move to drop Van der Vaart and play Defoe as a lone striker. We lost the first game to Saudi Sportswashing Machine, but I remember there being positive signs. But two dissapointing home draws followed and quite a few dissapointing results, so he seemed to pack a lot of his ideas in and start chopping and changing. Results picked up as he went back to Redknapp's system, that the players were clearly more comfortable with but more chopping and changing happened until he fell upon the 'Bale beast in the hole' formula that he stuck with. He stuck with it because results were coming due to Bale's form, but really, anyone that watched it could see it wasn't actually a very effective system. He should have just stuck with his principles and seen it through. He didn't and he paid the price IMO.
 
I'd be more concerned about the upper tier clubs who have astute scouts, coaches and managers.
After a while watching us play they will try to combat our strengths and focus on weaknesses based on their analysis of the main system we use as well as the personnel.

I would imagine that one of the ways would be to play the long ball against us, that ensures that the opposition are very unlikely to turn over possession in their own half and create the situations that Pochettino wants to create. With this in mind it is likely that the West Hams of this world are the teams likely to have the most joy against us (GHod not again!!!!) as opposed to teams who want to build from the back (not sure how west Ham fared against Southampton last season?)
 
Lacking so much context.

Rodgers finished 7th in his first season, up one place from their 8th in the season before that. They showed clear signs of improvement in style of play, to the point that many Liverpool fans seemed content with Suarez leaving last summer because the team was playing so well without him.

AVB finished 5th in his first season, down one place from our 4th the season before that. We showed some good signs of improving defensively, but we struggled in attack and were highly dependent on Bale.

Both were kept over the summer. Relative to their starting points Rodgers did no better than AVB.



Difference between the other young and non-English managers and Poch is that Poch has experience in the Premier League.

Who are these big-name managers you wanted instead?

Would have been satisfied with De Boer as he has won league titles with Ajax. Other than that, surely we could have waited a little longer to look for other successfull managers. I think many managers will be available after the World Cup. Don't know why we needed to appoint Pochettino just 2 weeks after the season finished. He has not even won any trophies since becoming a manager ! It looks like yet another panic appointment by Levy.
 
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I would imagine that one of the ways would be to play the long ball against us, that ensures that the opposition are very unlikely to turn over possession in their own half and create the situations that Pochettino wants to create. With this in mind it is likely that the West Hams of this world are the teams likely to have the most joy against us (GHod not again!!!!) as opposed to teams who want to build from the back (not sure how west Ham fared against Southampton last season?)

Ha, oh dear, you could be right about 'long ball' being the best way to beat Poch's pressing system:

Southampton 0 - 0 West Ham
West Ham 3 - 1 Southampton

Good news is that there are very few teams left in the PL with the ability/personnel or inclination to play the old fashioned long-ball game effectively. West Ham are the only one really who have the personnel and philosophy of the old 'knock it up to the bully of a centre-forward' English tactics. Stoke have the personnel, but don't think Hughes has the inclination.
 
Ha, oh dear, you could be right about 'long ball' being the best way to beat Poch's pressing system:

Southampton 0 - 0 West Ham
West Ham 3 - 1 Southampton

Good news is that there are very few teams left in the PL with the ability/personnel or inclination to play the old fashioned long-ball game effectively. West Ham are the only one really who have the personnel and philosophy of the old 'knock it up to the bully of a centre-forward' English tactics. Stoke have the personnel, but don't think Hughes has the inclination.

I wouldn't be too worried about long ball teams exactly, I think again it comes down to how well they execute it.

Take the Chelsea home game this season. First half our pressing and high line was fantastic as they knocked aimless punt after aimless punt in the direction of Torres and didn't put a single decent move together. The second half was a different story but it wasn't simply because we played a high line or pressed, because we did that in the first half too.
 
Totally agree with this. Can't stand the obsession with 'Plan Bs'.

If you want pragmatism, if you want it all to simply be about winning the next game by any means necessary, go and watch whatever club Sherwood ends up at. Because that's what it has been for the last 6 months. Unstructured, uncoordinated.

Some teams may well figure out how to play against the Poch system, but it doesn't matter too much. Michael Laudrup gave an interview once where he broke down the perfect tactical way to beat Barca, based on the weaknesses their system exposes, but he said knowing it is one thing and actually being able to achieve it in a march situation is another.

The difference here is that Barcelona have a team packed full of World class players to carry off that system. Now play that same system using players one or two notches down from Barca's and suddenly you'll probably find that Laudrup's tactics will start getting results.

We've already seen how a single shape/tactic manager has fared (failed) under AVB. I for one hope that our new man isn't the charlatan that AVB was.
 
I wouldn't be too worried about long ball teams exactly, I think again it comes down to how well they execute it.

Take the Chelsea home game this season. First half our pressing and high line was fantastic as they knocked aimless punt after aimless punt in the direction of Torres and didn't put a single decent move together. The second half was a different story but it wasn't simply because we played a high line or pressed, because we did that in the first half too.

I don't think Chelsea were knocking aimless punts up to Torres. I think it was a tactic instructed by Mourinho to look to get it in behind us to expose our ludicrously high defensive line allied with our centre halves having no pace. The problem (for them) was that Chelsea's pass execution was woeful, but on numerous occasions they had a decent opportunity to get Torres through one on one with Lloris.
 
Well, shyte players tend to become good managers. Pochettino used to be a shyte player, so hope he will become a good manager with us. I am sure all the Argentina fans remember Pochettino as the player who conceded that stupid penalty to Michael Owen when England beat Argentina 1-0 in the 2002 World Cup. Hope he does better as the manager.
 
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