The Mauricio Pochettino thread

Davo99 said:

I think the fundamental problems at Tottenham stem from those running the club and if I’m being totally honest with myself, it would be unfair to stand in Poch’s way should he wish to leave for either Madrid or Man United. I’d be absolutely gutted, but he would deserve it.

What I’m worried about is if we lose Poch and end up going backwards, or at least set back a couple of seasons with a new manager coming in and the transition that brings, that we indeed won’t win anything with this very talented group of players and we are really going to be cementing the reputation of legends, of nearly men, the whole Spursy thing. The more it goes on, the more it will be ingrained. A lot of football is psychological and the need to rid ourselves of this tag and reputation is almighty and the time really is now. I fear if we go those two steps back, we will never really recover, mentally as a club. As crazy as that sounds I genuinely believe that. The pressures and players mental strength is a huge part of football but I can’t help but fear it’s our greatest struggle.

To think we haven’t played well all season and up until tonight were just 2 points off the top shows, to me anyway, how doable it actually is winning the league. Yet we will somehow find a way of cocking it up. Even if we were 4 clear with 2 to go. How many goals have we conceded lately that were all of our own making?

I can’t help but feel we fucked things up even more drastically than first thought in the summer. Buy s couple of players in the right areas and the lift around the club that would have come with it and who knows what might have happened. The nervousness in the market set a precedent for the season so far. The whole handling of the stadium has been embarrassing. It’s very, very disappointing and I’ve never really been a critic of Levy and co. much in the past.

Click to expand...

This club isn't winning anything certainly anytime soon and yes when the club is presented with opportunities it always finds a way of making itself the laughing stock by being nearly men very frustrating for all concerned.
As for poch if he was to leave then fair enough I'm sure to cement himself as a top manager he will want and need to win trophies which isn't happening at spurs.

Davo99 said:

What did you expect?

I don’t think Poch has even been subtle about displaying his frustration and disappointment at how things have gone.

If we are all honest with ourselves - he deserves to leave.

Click to expand...

Really?? He has been blessed with an excellent squad.. Remember he had nothing to do with kane coming through or with the signing of alli eriksen Vertonghen or Lloris... his tactics at times are baffling. Surely he knows we can't play out from the back against city for example.. his subs are crappy a lot of the time.. our defending of set pieces is awful this season... it's unfair not to attend least acknowledge the weaknesses.. also his handling of the Walker situation was poor..

Diarmuid said:

Really?? He has been blessed with an excellent squad.. Remember he had nothing to do with kane coming through or with the signing of alli eriksen Vertonghen or Lloris... his tactics at times are baffling. Surely he knows we can't play out from the back against city for example.. his subs are crappy a lot of the time.. our defending of set pieces is awful this season... it's unfair not to attend least acknowledge the weaknesses.. also his handling of the Walker situation was poor..

Click to expand...

Sounds like you have made a good case for him leaving too!

dagraham said:

If Poch were to leave I’d rather get a more experienced manager with a pedigree of winning trophies.

However, if we’re to go down the route of young up and coming manager then I agree Howe would fit very well.

Click to expand...

How many experienced trophy winning managers will work with Levy's financial handcuffs on?

Diarmuid said:

Really?? He has been blessed with an excellent squad.. Remember he had nothing to do with kane coming through or with the signing of alli eriksen Vertonghen or Lloris... his tactics at times are baffling. Surely he knows we can't play out from the back against city for example.. his subs are crappy a lot of the time.. our defending of set pieces is awful this season... it's unfair not to attend least acknowledge the weaknesses.. also his handling of the Walker situation was poor..

Click to expand...

By all accounts in the week leading up to the semi final v Chelsea walker spoke to poch about an offer from City. What did poch handle badly? He inherited a very decent squad whi h is still very decent but not excellent. Poch was manager when Alli arrived and when he was purchased, and includes him watching him in the stands at Mk. Maybe his tactics are baffling to you, but do t you see the way the team transitions from system to system seamlessly?

Of course Jol, Harry and Andre who all had very decent squads too didn't finish top 4 or 3 or 2 3 seasons running.

You being harsh bro. Maybe emotional damage limitation on your part?

Lighty64 said:

they can only get rid of him properly by buying his shares which means he would be there in some capacity, though if he is wanting to stay, perhaps that's one of the hurdles that has cost us new owners

Click to expand...

I don't think so mate...if someone buys out Joe Lewis' shares, they're the majority shareholder.
Levy would still be a shareholder, and might even still be on the board...but he wouldn't be calling the shots and could be sacked as chairman.
I might be wrong on this and happy to be corrected by someone who knows more, but that's how it was explained to me by some clued up bloke a few months back.

Davo99 said:

I think the fundamental problems at Tottenham stem from those running the club and if I’m being totally honest with myself, it would be unfair to stand in Poch’s way should he wish to leave for either Madrid or Man United. I’d be absolutely gutted, but he would deserve it.

What I’m worried about is if we lose Poch and end up going backwards, or at least set back a couple of seasons with a new manager coming in and the transition that brings, that we indeed won’t win anything with this very talented group of players and we are really going to be cementing the reputation of legends, of nearly men, the whole Spursy thing. The more it goes on, the more it will be ingrained. A lot of football is psychological and the need to rid ourselves of this tag and reputation is almighty and the time really is now. I fear if we go those two steps back, we will never really recover, mentally as a club. As crazy as that sounds I genuinely believe that. The pressures and players mental strength is a huge part of football but I can’t help but fear it’s our greatest struggle.

To think we haven’t played well all season and up until tonight were just 2 points off the top shows, to me anyway, how doable it actually is winning the league. Yet we will somehow find a way of cocking it up. Even if we were 4 clear with 2 to go. How many goals have we conceded lately that were all of our own making?

I can’t help but feel we fucked things up even more drastically than first thought in the summer. Buy s couple of players in the right areas and the lift around the club that would have come with it and who knows what might have happened. The nervousness in the market set a precedent for the season so far. The whole handling of the stadium has been embarrassing. It’s very, very disappointing and I’ve never really been a critic of Levy and co. much in the past.

Click to expand...

I've been a Levy supporter for years, what he has done for the club is amazing but I'm afraid since the summer I'm very frustrated. He clearly knew well in advance that the ground wouldn't be ready but still sold thousands of STs on the back of it, the empty seats last night showed I'm not the only one boycotting Wembley. That is self defeating but fans must never be taken for granted.

And the lack of signings has made several players complacent due to lack of competition.

Will Poch leave - who knows? It seems unless Levy spends big in January it looks likely so the ball is firmly in his court, let's see how ambitious and determined he is.

Gb160 said:

I don't think so mate...if someone buys out Joe Lewis' shares, they're the majority shareholder.
Levy would still be a shareholder, and might even still be on the board...but he wouldn't be calling the shots and could be sacked as chairman.
I might be wrong on this and happy to be corrected by someone who knows more, but that's how it was explained to me by some clued up bloke a few months back.

Click to expand...

Wonder what levy would be like as chairman if he had an owner who gave him huge funds, probably have a baseball cap on with a dollar sign throwing money about.

shelfboy68 said:

Wonder what levy would be like as chairman if he had an owner who gave him huge funds, probably have a baseball cap on with a dollar sign throwing money about.

Click to expand...

Gb160 said:

Click to expand...

That's him

Trix said:

How many experienced trophy winning managers will work with Levy's financial handcuffs on?

Click to expand...

With the exception of perhaps Benitez (even Levy's budget would have to be a step up from Newcastle) or a manager from a more obscure league, none. Eddie Howe would have to be on the short list if Poch were to leave next summer.

Just you lot wait until it comes out that the new ground is actually made up of Hollywood western movie style props that make it look like you’re in a town, just storefronts propped up using timber

It would be nice if all the people WTFing my posts could explain the following then:

• How badly do Trippier, Dier and Dembele have to keep performing, and for how long, before Aurier, Wanyama and Winks are accorded a similar amount of game time to see if they might just do better?
• How well does Gazzaniga have to do in his fleeting appearances before actually being given the number 2 slot ahead of Vorm, who hasn’t looked adequate in two years.
• How is it ever a good idea to go up against the slickest passing side in premier league history with a Tony Pulus erotic fantasy midfield of Dier, Sissoko and Dembele?
• How can you be 0-1 down at home and not being on our second top scorer from the previous season.

Our manager has enough credit in the bank that he is entitled to a bad season, and given the start of next season to improve the situations, but his negative tactics, inexplicable decisions and loyalty to underperforming players is the reason our season is plodding along.

Trix said:

How many experienced trophy winning managers will work with Levy's financial handcuffs on?

Click to expand...

You can’t blame Levy’s financial handcuffs for Pochettino’s negative tactics and blind loyalty to underperforming players. Winks and Aurier both performed very well until the latter got injured and the former saw Dembele inexplicably waltz ahead of him. I accept that Wanyama might no longer be deemed good enough, but how can we possibly find out if he gets a sub appearance once every six weeks while Dier continues to do his best impression of a lamp post.

People talk about the Levy spin machine, but the Pochettino spin machine is in full flow if the consensus is that he is making proper use of a deep squad full of proven talent, because that is the squad we have and like fuck is he using it properly. Instead, he’s writing books, showing how clever he is with tactical decisions nobody except him understands, and employing Sam Allardyce formations and tactics in games v top quality opposition.

@Archibald&Crooks youre a troll

I'm not sure if the stadium delay and a stale window is enough to make potch leave,he seems a loyal ol' soul. I do think he's threatening too if the issues (whatever they are) aren't addressed. Only my take.

I get annoyed by seeing fans seem to think it wouldn't be a big deal if we lost Poch. It's the exact same people who think we didn't really need to sign anyone last summer. They have this arrogant delusion that we are better than we are and the wheels won't fall off.

Poch is the single reason we have managed to keep so many key players for so long. He is the single reason we have reached the CL 3 times in a row.

To think that we will get some trophy laden manager to walk in and take us up a level is madness.

We are far more likely to drop back into perennial Europe league side.

The biggest problem we have is Levy and Enic. They don't invest enough in the playing side. Poch needs better players if we are to properly challenge. Our squad has serious issues and has for a while. Unfortunately I have serious misgivings that Levy doesn't really see what we
I see. He sees us making our best start go a season ever and is probably thinking justified in not signing anyone. Whereas someone who actually knows the game knows our start has been very lucky and has glossed over our issues.

He actually spoke about it his statement the other day. "Despite the stadium issues we still perform well on the pitch making our best start ever to a season". Oh please. Give it a rest. Anyone can tell you our performanceshave been shocking and our points return hasn't matched our performances.

Two home defeats already to City and Liverpool really doesn't bode well for the season. We are definitely not challenging this season. We've regressed. The squad is stale. We showed a complete lack of ambition. It all comes down to Levy refusing to spend proper money on players.

We will have a new stadium next season hosting FC Cheekyboys in the Europa League and I hope Levy gets it into his head that is was his lack of investment in the squad which made it happen. Huge opportunity missed and like some fans...Levy got too arrogant thinking we could continue to get CL without strengthening and we can't. We've gone backwards by standing still.

I genuinely think Poch is now laying the groundwork to exit the club. It's been clear he's been let down by Levy and the board. He has taken us as far as he can. Levy won't spend money to allow us to go any further.

@Bobby__Lucky said:

By all accounts in the week leading up to the semi final v Chelsea walker spoke to poch about an offer from City. What did poch handle badly? He inherited a very decent squad whi h is still very decent but not excellent. Poch was manager when Alli arrived and when he was purchased, and includes him watching him in the stands at Mk. Maybe his tactics are baffling to you, but do t you see the way the team transitions from system to system seamlessly?

Of course Jol, Harry and Andre who all had very decent squads too didn't finish top 4 or 3 or 2 3 seasons running.

You being harsh bro. Maybe emotional damage limitation on your part?

Click to expand...

Being a manager means dealing with shit hitting the fan like the Walker situation..

He ain't immune from criticism. He also hasn't blooded much in the way of youth. Winks being the only exception.. very decent is about right.. tactics maddening though. Howany times do we play against good teams and look terribly uncomfortable passing the ball out from the back.?

Metalhead said:

Sounds like you have made a good case for him leaving too!

Click to expand...

I don't want him to leave.. I would like to see a change in tactics against teams that have better players than us.. would also like to see more of KWP and let's give llorente a start.. he can't do any worse than kane at the minute.

Primativ said:

I get annoyed by seeing fans seem to think it wouldn't be a big deal if we lost Poch. It's the exact same people who think we didn't really need to sign anyone last summer. They have this arrogant delusion that we are better than we are and the wheels won't fall off.

Poch is the single reason we have managed to keep so many key players for so long. He is the single reason we have reached the CL 3 times in a row.

To think that we will get some trophy laden manager to walk in and take us up a level is madness.

We are far more likely to drop back into perennial Europe league side.

The biggest problem we have is Levy and Enic. They don't invest enough in the playing side. Poch needs better players if we are to properly challenge. Our squad has serious issues and has for a while. Unfortunately I have serious misgivings that Levy doesn't really see what we
I see. He sees us making our best start go a season ever and is probably thinking justified in not signing anyone. Whereas someone who actually knows the game knows our start has been very lucky and has glossed over our issues.

He actually spoke about it his statement the other day. "Despite the stadium issues we still perform well on the pitch making our best start ever to a season". Oh please. Give it a rest. Anyone can tell you our performanceshave been shocking and our points return hasn't matched our performances.

Two home defeats already to City and Liverpool really doesn't bode well for the season. We are definitely not challenging this season. We've regressed. The squad is stale. We showed a complete lack of ambition. It all comes down to Levy refusing to spend proper money on players.

We will have a new stadium next season hosting FC Cheekyboys in the Europa League and I hope Levy gets it into his head that is was his lack of investment in the squad which made it happen. Huge opportunity missed and like some fans...Levy got too arrogant thinking we could continue to get CL without strengthening and we can't. We've gone backwards by standing still.

Click to expand...

I don’t think anyone has suggested or even implied that we’d not suffer without Pochettino, merely pointed out that he is a big part of our curren poor performances too.

Levy didn’t go three at the back and no DM v Watford a few days after trouncing Man Utd at Old Trafford, Levy didn’t pick a midfield of one paced bruisers against Guardiola’s slick City side and Levy isn’t the one refusing to run a meritocratic selection policy. If Pochettino is worried about how things are going at the moment, maybe he needs to think less about facets not in his control and focus on what is within his power to affect, I.e. his own performance. He has been our best manager in the premier league but that doesn’t mean he’s blameless when he has the squad available to produce better than it is and yet somehow it doesn’t happen. He has enough banked gooodwill to have a bad season, but if he isn’t able to handle the current rigours thrown at him and come out a better manager, then he’s not cut out for Madrid, Utd etc anyway.

Levy fucked up badly this summer, we needed to rejuvenate a squad that had been flogged for 4 years, but Pochettino loses the right to complain about that while he is still making such glaring errors.