Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[Bullet]

no one really seemed to know what it was about

You didn't, others did!

 

[Bullet]

The most difficult thing, more than anything else, was to change the philosophy. It’s a big club, with huge potential but there needed to be a radical change (when we came). We are in the process of making that change and with the good fortune of positive results – I think the fans are happy. I think more than the good results it’s the changes we’ve made internally, that people don’t see, which are the most positive. Such as the restructuring of the club and the base we’re creating so that the club can compete with the biggest teams in the country in the future.

LOVE this quote, brilliant to see.

 

[billyiddo]

Yeah that transript from the radio interview that Lutonspurs posted, which i believe that quote is from, was a great read - encouraging sounds coming from Pochettino, really does sound like Levy may have found his man

 

[thfcsteff]

LOVE this quote, brilliant to see.

In fairness, I've been hammering on about this for a while...the changes he has made BEHIND the scenes...glad he's finally speaking up, because they have been large! It's why I've been very very happy and optimistic for the last few months, ever since he 'won' his way in Nov. I hope now people understand that he came in and gave everyone a chance not just to succeed but to fail! In front of the squad! I'm talking about Kaboul, Capoue, Ade, Azza...he is allowing everyone to be part of his ways and allows people to show their arses to their peers! And he is tough. I think tougher than Mourinho. And ALL behind closed doors. Few leaks. Nothing from his mouth. Fantastic. As I've said, whether we finish top 4 or not, this is a squad being fashioned for years by a manager who actually wants to do his job and not just be seen as a messiah. These are beautiful times, and for me, the most promising I remember in too many years...

 

[milo]

Yeah that transript from the radio interview that Lutonspurs posted, which i believe that quote is from, was a great read - encouraging sounds coming from Pochettino, really does sound like Levy may have found his man

It is interesting what he says about there not being money and his brief being to make AVB's signings work.

 

[Jordinho]

It is interesting what he says about there not being money and his brief being to make AVB's signings work.

By promoting youth he will allow us to sell off some mercenaries, at least freeing up some wages even if they don't bring in too much.

 

[milo]

By promoting youth he will allow us to sell off some mercenaries, at least freeing up some wages even if they don't bring in too much.

Absolutely. What interested me in that part was that it blows out of the water some of the more outrageous claims made by some posters at the close of the window about Levy selling Poch short or there being disagreements between them about transfers.

 

[thfcsteff]

It is interesting what he says about there not being money and his brief being to make AVB's signings work.

I think that was 'part' of the brief. He was always aware he couldn't buy success, and neither would he have wanted to because that isn't his style, but he expected a bit more here and there. He wanted Schneiderlin make no mistake. And again, any disagreements, well, you won't hear about them from him. He doesn't work that way. Having said that, as I understand it, the main thing he wanted backing on he has received. And that is the long-term support to promote youth from within and give it time to work. All that November hullabaloo was so so important...credit to Levy for not wobbling. I 'think' he gets it. Poch is tough.

 

[thfcsteff]

Absolutely. What interested me in that part was that it blows out of the water some of the more outrageous claims made by some posters at the close of the window about Levy selling Poch short or there being disagreements between them about transfers.

This window? No. Correct. A LOT of work has gone into the summer, in terms of moving players on as much as bringing one or two in...but again, he does not work like others we have had, so he keeps those cards close to his chest. I will, for example, bet that he made it clear that if he could not have (say) a Schneiderlin, then he wanted autonomy on scouting and player recruitment/wanted his fella from Soton. I loved AVB for his early discretion, but he went south pretty quickly (again in part due to what I perceive as 'issues' he has)...but we are simply not used to managers who don't circulate their BS in public. Even our beloved Martin wasn't shy about it, he just did it with a smile...

 

[billyiddo]

Absolutely. What interested me in that part was that it blows out of the water some of the more outrageous claims made by some posters at the close of the window about Levy selling Poch short or there being disagreements between them about transfers.

I think it should be taken in context - which iirc was in relation to City Arsenal Chelsea and United. Also we know this is the case as over the last few years it's been a case of breaking even.

Good to hear it from the managers lips though - would suggest he's aware of our situation and any idea that Levy is bringing him in under false pretenses can be squashed...

 

[milo]

I think it should be taken in context - which iirc was in relation to City Arsenal Chelsea and United. Also we know this is the case as over the last few years it's been a case of breaking even

This is the section of the interview that I was referring to

Now you’re in your first season at Tottenham, after making the move from Southampton, and you’re very much in the fight for the Champions League places as you sit on 40 points. Arsenal are on 42, as are your former side Southampton who have maintained their form. You are in the next round of the Europa League against Fiorentina, finalists in the Capital One Cup and were narrowly beaten by Leicester in the FA Cup. From outside perspective I don’t know whether the Tottenham fans are happy or not, but you’re having a great season so far.


Pochettino: “Yeah, at the moment, yes. Above everything because of the situation. For years Spurs invested a lot of money, more than 140m€ in transfers and later sacked Villas Boas. In that moment the club needed a specific person (to take over) and we arrived. There isn’t any money to spend. We need to get the most of the players that were signed previously. The most difficult thing, more than anything else, was to change the philosophy. It’s a big club, with huge potential but there needed to be a radical change (when we came). We are in the process of making that change and with the good fortune of positive results – I think the fans are happy. I think more than the good results it’s the changes we’ve made internally, that people don’t see, which are the most positive. Such as the restructuring of the club and the base we’re creating so that the club can compete with the biggest teams in the country in the future.”

 

[SpurMeUp]

The biggest positive for me is that all players seem to be aware that they can be better. They have targets to improve their game and you see their performances improve on the pitch. That is the sign of a good coach.

The greatest concern is whether the high intensity game combined with lots of fixtures, has an effect towards the end of the season. Will rotation work? Can we start winning games earlier? At the moment we're on a high, the improvement in some players is outstanding. So whatever happens over the final third of a season, Poch has proved his worth. How he manages tiring players will make or break whether the season ends with success.

 

[milo]

The biggest positive for me is that all players seem to be aware that they can be better. They have targets to improve their game and you see their performances improve on the pitch. That is the sign of a good coach.

The greatest concern is whether the high intensity game combined with lots of fixtures, has an effect towards the end of the season. Will rotation work? Can we start winning games earlier? At the moment we're on a high, the improvement in some players is outstanding. So whatever happens over the final third of a season, Poch has proved his worth. How he manages tiring players will make or break whether the season ends with success.

I think that if there is a drop off in form it will be because of the need to rotate and because there is such a gulf in performance between Poch's favoured 15 or 16 and the rest. We have already exceeded most people's expectations for this season

 

[SpurMeUp]

I think that if there is a drop off in form it will be because of the need to rotate and because there is such a gulf in performance between Poch's favoured 15 or 16 and the rest. We have already exceeded most people's expectations for this season

Poch and the team need to keep going, rally at the business end. With lots of young eager players around there is enthusiasm and Spurs must be a refreshing place to go to work at the moment - compare to stale negative arrse. So there is the passion and momentum to deliver at the final hurdle, but will there be injuries and enough energy left? There are a number of players who are of a standard - fringe internationals - who are not playing and could come into the team if/ when we need extra verve.

 

[milo]

Poch and the team need to keep going, rally at the business end. With lots of young eager players around there is enthusiasm and Spurs must be a refreshing place to go to work at the moment - compare to stale negative arrse. So there is the passion and momentum to deliver at the final hurdle, but will there be injuries and enough energy left? There are a number of players who are of a standard - fridge internationals - who are not playing and could come into the team if/ when we need extra verve.

I think that I am right in saying that we will have played 65 games this season if we get to the Europa final. That is a huge number of games, especially when the fringe players are not really suited to Poch's game and performances drop when more than one or two are in the team. Of course we need to push on and see how far we can take this but we should not be down hearted if we run out of steam, this has already been a very encouraging season and given us plenty to build on.

 

[Roland Beurre]

There are a number of players who are of a standard - fridge internationals - who are not playing and could come into the team if/ when we need extra verve.

Typo of the day!

Fridge internationals - capped players who have been left in the cold.

 

[LutonSpurs]

I think the article says a lot about how clearly his role has been defined by Levy. Poch seems to know what our plans are and what is needed now and in the future. He seems very confident in his own ability.

It makes a change from the past where our coach/manager and the board have not always seemed to be playing the same game.

Also i think his approach to the media is different. He really wants all his talking to be done by his teams performances.

 

[milo]

I think the article says a lot about how clearly his role has been defined by Levy. Poch seems to know what our plans are and what is needed now and in the future. He seems very confident in his own ability.

It makes a change from the past where our coach/manager and the board have not always seemed to be playing the same game.

Also i think his approach to the media is different. He really wants all his talking to be done by his teams performances.

I agree. It is all very refreshing

 

[Little Luka]

Perhaps posted before, but it is a good read on how Pochettino is influenced by one of my favourite manager of all time, Loco Bielsa.

http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/sport/6376/mauricio-pochettino-new-spurs-manager/

Mauricio Pochettino: Who Is He And How Does He Work?
28 May 2014 By Matt Allen


A closer look at the news Spurs manager and Premier League mystery man

Southampton are currently seen as a club very much on the rise.

But rewind to when Pochettino was hired back in January 2013, and that was most definitely not the case. Then, the club was regarded as suffering from a prime example of Premier League delusion: the mid-season P45 handed to Adkins after only two defeats in his last 12 games considered crazy at best.

The appointment of a 40-year-old relative unknown with a modest managerial career to his name (his contract with Espanyol was terminated by mututal consent after four years), crazier still — and to hell with the accompanying talk of promise and potential.

In the 18 months since, Southampton's performances helped to gradually silence these criticisms. Pochettino's brand of easy-on-the-eye attacking football allied to a high tempo pressing game in defence, saw the club achieve their highest ever points tally in the Premier League, scoring their highest number of goals and matching their best finish of 8th. Three Southampton players are also firmly established in England's World Cup squad for Brazil.

With the news that Tottenham have appointed the Argentine on a five-year contract, it seems that similar questions are being raised on his suitability for a bigger stage.

Another question for Spurs fans, is who is Pochettino? How does he work? And where did the manager’s attacking philosophy and tactically nuanced defensive approach originate?

The answers, initially at least, can be traced to his own playing career. As a former centre back with Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, Spain’s Espanyol and his national team, Pochettino presented an often impenetrable wall.

But it was his early schooling that proved key when, as an emerging talent at Newell’s between 1990 and 1992, he worked under the stewardship of Marcelo Bielsa, the manger who would later take charge of Argentina and Chile.

It’s this union that has proven so significant for Southampton. Bielsa had a fearsome reputation. His nickname was Loco Bielsa because of the tough work ethic he instilled in his players. More importantly, he was fascinated with Dutch football , notably Louis van Gaal’s European Cup-winning Ajax side.

Bielsa’s teams were often primed for intensity, speed and periods of high pressing when chasing down possession, all of which have been echoed in Southampton’s current system. It was under Bielsa that the young Pochettino’s education began.

“He was a key player, committed to marking,” says Argentine football journalist Martin Mazur, recalling Pochettino’s playing days. “But his work went beyond the football pitch. Bielsa would instruct him — and the other younger players — to perform tactical tasks away from training.

He often asked Pochettino to find out how Newell’s next opponents would play. He’d then expect a dossier of information. It’s no surprise that 15 of the 18 players in that squad went on to become managers.”

Pochettino would later take Bielsa’s football philosophies into his own managerial career, as well as a dash of Loco’s infamous eccentricities. When he was moved from the position of senior Espanyol player to the manager’s role in January 2009, the team was third from bottom. Not long after, and with only 10 weeks of the season remaining, they were rooted to the foot of the table, a despairing eight points from safety.

Only divine intervention could save them, and so Pochettino hiked 12km to the Benedictine abbey on Montserrat where he prayed to the Virgin Mary for salvation. Eight wins out of the next 10 games ensured Espanyol’s safety in 10th place. A method was in play behind the madness, however.

On the training ground, Pochettino worked his players as hard as Bielsa had with the youngsters at Newell’s. Espanyol striker, Pablo Osvaldo, who would follow him to St Mary’s in 2013, infamously remarked: “At times you want to kill him, simply because he makes you suffer like a dog. But in the end you get the right results.”

The hard work paid dividends. A season later, and with his football principles fully enforced upon the team, Espanyol finished 11th, albeit after a less tumultuous campaign. A year later, they went three places higher. Rumours were even floated that Real Madrid were considering Pochettino for the job should Jose Mourinho leave the Bernabéu (which he did in the summer of 2013, by which time Southampton had already got their man).

Meanwhile, Barcelona’s manager, Pep Guardiola, was making flattering noises about Espanyol’s bold tactical approach. “There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you,” he said. “Espanyol look for you. I feel very close to their style of football.”

It was these plaudits that presumably attracted the attentions of Southampton chairman Nicola Cortese in January 2013. When Pochettino finally parted ways with Espanyol following a disappointing start to the 2012/13 campaign (they were bottom of La Liga at the end of November), the owner made his move, discarding the popular Adkins in favour of securing the services of the attack-minded and hard-working Argentine. It was a bold play,
and not everyone was enamoured at first.

“I could understand Saints fans being upset at the time,” says Le Tissier. “And I’ll never change my opinion of it. Even if we were to win the Premier League, I think it was incredibly harsh on Nigel Adkins, given what he had done for the club. But to be fair to the fans, from the first minute of his first game against Everton, they were 100 per cent behind the new man.”

The on-field changes were immediate. During the opening 45 minutes of Pochettino’s first match, David Moyes’ side was unable to escape its own half for long periods, such was the ferocity of Southampton’s pressing game.

The tactical shift came at a price, though. On the training ground, players were asked to increase their fitness work in order to facilitate Pochettino’s tactical style: “It does feel like you need two hearts to play that way,” says Southampton midfielder Jack Cork of the workload.

As history has shown, such demands of players can go one of two ways. Some managers have become hell-bent on physical supremacy only to encounter fierce resistance, even revolt, in the playing ranks. Pochettino, though, has tempered his double training sessions and high intensity workouts with an easy charm that appeals to his squad.

And once he had overcome the language barrier (he still refuses to conduct live, post-match interviews, such is his insecurity, though he will talk to the written press), he engaged the team with a caring persona.

“He’s world-class, not just as a manager, but as a person,” says Adam Lallana. “The way he man-manages his players. He makes you feel good about yourself. He’s had a lot of time for us and I think it shows in how well we have performed for him. He has that way about him, he’s a cool guy.”

This an edited version of a piece that originally appeared in Esquire Weekly in November 2013.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Typo of the day!

Fridge internationals - capped players who have been left in the cold.

Kept on ice. Paulinho, Fazio, Capoue, Chadli, Dembele nicely chilled should be fresher and able to do a job. Even if they aren't creating or scoring goals they will have more in the tank if we need work hearses.