Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[metalgear]

another decent piece on Poch and his revolution ...this time by the mighty Paul Scholes !

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...as-confidence-without-arrogance-10042750.html

His team might have lost to Liverpool on Tuesday but the more I see of Mauricio Pochettino, the more I think he is the best young coach around.
What I like about Pochettino is the way that he looks in control. He is in control of his players, in control of the way that they play. He is confident without being arrogant and his team is playing with a great energy.​

 

[diego_maradona]

Finally a break!

Should be good for Pochettino to really spend some time on the training ground with his full squad. This could be the perfect little break to recoup before we end this season in style.

 

[braineclipse]

Finally a break!

Should be good for Pochettino to really spend some time on the training ground with his full squad. This could be the perfect little break to recoup before we end this season in style.

Yeah. Could be really good for us. Not that I wanted us to get knocked out of the FA-cup, but this is the first time in what seems like forever that we've had a week off and I think it could help us both against Fiorentina and Chelsea in the cups and in the league.

 

[FatBloke]

Wow. Emirates Marketing Project really could be in trouble! That said, they can just buy their way out of it, so the other way of looking at it is that they can afford to always have a team at their physical and mental peak. Which is depressing.

 

[Spur of the moment]

another decent piece on Poch and his revolution ...this time by the mighty Paul Scholes !

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...as-confidence-without-arrogance-10042750.html

His team might have lost to Liverpool on Tuesday but the more I see of Mauricio Pochettino, the more I think he is the best young coach around.
What I like about Pochettino is the way that he looks in control. He is in control of his players, in control of the way that they play. He is confident without being arrogant and his team is playing with a great energy.​

He also says:

From the outside, Spurs have always seemed a turbulent club. They are either on Cloud Nine or near the bottom of the league.

Interesting. Would'n't argue with the first bit about being a turbulent club but who'd guess from those comments that over the past ten years we've rarely been out of the top six our lowest finish has been 11th? That was the season we won the League Cup, when Ramos decided he'd achieved what he'd been hired for and wanted out.

Okay so, the following season we had the 2pts from 8 games saga but then Harry came along and we immediately started winning again, so much so we ended up finishing eighth, just one point away from qualifying for the euros.

True we had a few rocky seasons in the late 'nineties early 'noughties but even then we never finished below 15th.

So I'd have thought that after ten mainly good seasons we'd finally moved on.

Give a dog a bad name, eh?

 

[Raziel]

Wow. Emirates Marketing Project really could be in trouble! That said, they can just buy their way out of it, so the other way of looking at it is that they can afford to always have a team at their physical and mental peak. Which is depressing.

Actually on that table, its Everton that has to worry, overspent recently, results not matching and a lot of older players.

Really like how young our team is, keep Hugo/Vert/Bentaleb/Eriksen/Kane as spine for a couple of years, add the odd quality player, lots of promise

 

[spurs' magna carter]

___________________lloris (28)___________________

Walker (24)_Dier (21)_Vertonghen (27)_Danny Rose (24)

_________Mason (23)_________Bentaleb (20)________

___Lamela (22)_____Eriksen (23)______Chadli (25)___

___________________Kane (21)__________________

A very young and balanced side, they have a long way to go but I genuinely believe that over time if they can peak as well as I think they can, then we will see a side as good if not better than that of 11/12.

Early days and a game at a time is how I see it, last thing they need is over hype and pressure, but there is no doubting their potential.

 

[metalgear]

Actually on that table, its Everton that has to worry, overspent recently, results not matching and a lot of older players.

Really like how young our team is, keep Hugo/Vert/Bentaleb/Eriksen/Kane as spine for a couple of years, add the odd quality player, lots of promise

... and we also have a rich pipeline of younger players playing the same system looking ready to advance to the first team - both from the academy and transfers (e.g. delle ali)

we are starting to look like a proper football club again. the stadium - though delayed - is the cherry n the icing of the cake for me. hoping for poch to take us into the new era and beyond!

 

[Nigeyman]

We are most certainly making progress and that is what we all wanted... to feel something for our club....to feel like we have a plan and ambition for the future.

Still lots and lots of work to be done....stadium....shaping a squad that poch is happy with.

I think we have many reasons to be excited as we have some seriously talented young players...Still Poch's first proper summer will be very interesting...I keep wondering what our squad will look like when the summer window closes....Still a long way to go for this season....but I am feeling optimistic... Its clear to me that we are improving under Poch.

 

[jimmyb]

I thought he had a bad night tonight.

Given that the second leg will be three days before the Capital One Cup final, it might have made more sense to start with his strongest team and try to put the tie out of sight. As it is, we will now have to play our strongest team in Florence.

That said, we started the game very well and but for a bit of bad luck and a slight lack of precision in the final third, we could have been three or four up at the break.

We never got going in the second half, though. Got back into bad, old habits - playing far too slowly; taking too many touches. It should have been perfectly apparent from the first half that Fiorentina couldn't live with the tempo of our game.

And it's then that Poch failed, IMO, with poor use of substitutes. He should have noticed what was happening and put Mason on for Paulinho much earlier in the game. Would have restored a bit of bite and tempo to our midfield. Bringing Kane on was the right call but leaving Soldado on was the wrong call. Kane's hot streak has come when playing up front. His only few quiet games of late have been when he has played behind Bobby. And that's what happened again today.

Lastly, it seemed crazy to me to take off Townsend, who was giving their right flank all sorts of problems. After he left the pitch, we didn't threaten from the right at all any more. The player who should have gone off instead was Eriksen. He had a dog of a second half. Barely found a white shirt once. Lost possession persistently. It was just one of those nights for him and he would have benefited from the rest.

Not Poch's finest hour.

 

[braineclipse]

I thought he had a bad night tonight.

Given that the second leg will be three days before the Capital One Cup final, it might have made more sense to start with his strongest team and try to put the tie out of sight. As it is, we will now have to play our strongest team in Florence.

That said, we started the game very well and but for a bit of bad luck and a slight lack of precision in the final third, we could have been three or four up at the break.

We never got going in the second half, though. Got back into bad, old habits - playing far too slowly; taking too many touches. It should have been perfectly apparent from the first half that Fiorentina couldn't live with the tempo of our game.

And it's then that Poch failed, IMO, with poor use of substitutes. He should have noticed what was happening and put Mason on for Paulinho much earlier in the game. Would have restored a bit of bite and tempo to our midfield. Bringing Kane on was the right call but leaving Soldado on was the wrong call. Kane's hot streak has come when playing up front. His only few quiet games of late have been when he has played behind Bobby. And that's what happened again today.

Lastly, it seemed crazy to me to take off Townsend, who was giving their right flank all sorts of problems. After he left the pitch, we didn't threaten from the right at all any more. The player who should have gone off instead was Eriksen. He had a dog of a second half. Barely found a white shirt once. Lost possession persistently. It was just one of those nights for him and he would have benefited from the rest.

Not Poch's finest hour.

Had he done something differently and the result had been the same I think the complaints would have been just as many.

"Why did he take off Soldado when he finally got his goal and looked good. Perfect time to partner Kane with Soldado"

"Why did he leave on Townsend when he was obviously ineffective after Fiorentina changed their shape. Was the perfect time to bring on Lamela against tiring legs"

In short you can always make up some story post-hoc after what the manager did didn't work out. Another assist from Lamela, another goal from Kane and people would be calling Poch a genius. Swings and roundabouts.

I think he left Mason late because he prioritized Kane and Lamela. Pretty standard to leave one sub until later. Had he left either one of those until later people would again be complaining about that. Also worth remembering that Mason reportedly was struggling with an injury not that long ago. We have no idea about fitness levels and form from the outside. Mason certainly didn't do anything after he came on to indicate that he would have changed the game had he come on earlier.

 

[metalgear]

i thought we played very good football today for long spells. unfortunate for the their goal, and even more unfortunate for us getting more.
we played many intricate triangles and just lacked that killer instinct in front of goal. we need somewhat to take shots outside the box - mason was missed, and eriksen was missing. our crosses are very threatening but our boys don't play enough together to have a connection. imagine bale in this team!

 

[billyiddo]

Playing your strongest team in the home leg, winning handsomely and then resting players in the away leg is a great idea in principal - but what happens if you don't get the result you want in the all important first leg? Do you stay committed to resting players and play the more difficult tie with a weakened team (effectively throwing the game?) - not sure that'd be a viable option personally.

could playing the 'weak' team at home mean you have a better idea of their capabilities for the away leg? Do well at home and go away confident the rotated team can get the job done.

I thought MP set us up well yesterday, he took the riskier option but i think the game we saw validates his thinking - we were far the better team on the night and should have been out of sight by half time. For large parts of the first half it looked like we were watching our strongest team. Result obviously didn't go our way so there will always be the question of 'what if?' But im quite confident going in to the second leg

 

[thfcsteff]

I think we'll be fine, though I will say it again, if we had to make a choice of guaranteed winning in Fiorentina or art Wembley, bye bye in Florence and helloooooooo silverware at Wembley!!!!!

 

[Jurgen the German]

Playing your strongest team in the home leg, winning handsomely and then resting players in the away leg is a great idea in principal - but what happens if you don't get the result you want in the all important first leg? Do you stay committed to resting players and play the more difficult tie with a weakened team (effectively throwing the game?) - not sure that'd be a viable option personally.

could playing the 'weak' team at home mean you have a better idea of their capabilities for the away leg? Do well at home and go away confident the rotated team can get the job done.

I thought MP set us up well yesterday, he took the riskier option but i think the game we saw validates his thinking - we were far the better team on the night and should have been out of sight by half time. For large parts of the first half it looked like we were watching our strongest team. Result obviously didn't go our way so there will always be the question of 'what if?' But im quite confident going in to the second leg

I agree with Steff. Sunday against Chelsea has to be the priority. I would rest players for the 2nd leg.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I thought he had a bad night tonight.

Given that the second leg will be three days before the Capital One Cup final, it might have made more sense to start with his strongest team and try to put the tie out of sight. As it is, we will now have to play our strongest team in Florence.

That said, we started the game very well and but for a bit of bad luck and a slight lack of precision in the final third, we could have been three or four up at the break.

We never got going in the second half, though. Got back into bad, old habits - playing far too slowly; taking too many touches. It should have been perfectly apparent from the first half that Fiorentina couldn't live with the tempo of our game.

And it's then that Poch failed, IMO, with poor use of substitutes. He should have noticed what was happening and put Mason on for Paulinho much earlier in the game. Would have restored a bit of bite and tempo to our midfield. Bringing Kane on was the right call but leaving Soldado on was the wrong call. Kane's hot streak has come when playing up front. His only few quiet games of late have been when he has played behind Bobby. And that's what happened again today.

Lastly, it seemed crazy to me to take off Townsend, who was giving their right flank all sorts of problems. After he left the pitch, we didn't threaten from the right at all any more. The player who should have gone off instead was Eriksen. He had a dog of a second half. Barely found a white shirt once. Lost possession persistently. It was just one of those nights for him and he would have benefited from the rest.

Not Poch's finest hour.

We don't have to play our best team in Florence. I believe Poch's team last night was quite telling. It's only the last 32 and Poch more than likely is realistic and believes the league cup and the league are the priority at this stage. It would make no sense to play a strong team in Florence now. Perhaps if we get to the quarter final he may change his mindset, but given our history of going out in the last 16/8, I don't think he will play the strongest team available.

 

[billyiddo]

I agree with Steff. Sunday against Chelsea has to be the priority. I would rest players for the 2nd leg.

Sunday (cup final) is the priority, of course.

 

[AdamB]

I thought Poch's tactics were spot on last night. He played around half our first choice team and rested the other half. The half which rested last night I now expect to start Sun, Thurs, Sun with the half who played last night rested next Thurs

Our first 18 players or thereabouts are good enough to rotate without hugely weakening the team

 

[braineclipse]

We don't have to play our best team in Florence. I believe Poch's team last night was quite telling. It's only the last 32 and Poch more than likely is realistic and believes the league cup and the league are the priority at this stage. It would make no sense to play a strong team in Florence now. Perhaps if we get to the quarter final he may change his mindset, but given our history of going out in the last 16/8, I don't think he will play the strongest team available.

I don't think it makes sense to play our strongest team in Florance, but I also don't think it makes sense to rest all or almost all of the players that will start against Chelsea. I think Poch will have to find some kind of balance.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see some significant rotation over the two games against Fiorentina and West Ham where no players that will start against Chelsea play all 3 and few if any play both against West Ham and the return leg against Fiorentina (except perhaps Lloris and a defender or two).

 

[sc25]

Perhaps if we get to the quarter final he may change his mindset, but given our history of going out in the last 16/8, I don't think he will play the strongest team available.

I doubt our history plays much in to it, or at least I hope it doesn't. Poch and many of the players have arrived in the last couple seasons. Very few have a long history here. So our history won't - or shouldn't - be a huge factor. And even if somehow it were, the goal should be to change that. Either way, I doubt our history will play much in to his selection process/choices.