Mauricio Pochettino: Spurs want Premier League, not domestic cups

[Jgplk1]

I really wish people would read the actual quotes instead of the just reading the thread title or papers like the Sun...

I completely agree with what he actually said. We shouldn't "aim" for a domestic cup. We should be going for the Premier League first, then the Champions League. I'd love to win a cup, but we should be focusing on the PL & CL. He says he'd love to win a domestic cup but that we should be aiming higher. He's right. Non story

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Trust the Sun to spin that

Looking forward to all the jibes from the rival fans spinning it to their liking as well

Don't go the the same thread on the front page, there's some big bites over there

 

[SwedishSpurs]

They may not be saying it out loud, but I'm pretty sure all the other Premier League managers would agree with Poch. There's a reason pretty much all teams are putting in rotated sides in the early rounds of the domestic cups and it's simply because they are focusing more on the League and the European cup (if they got any). Poch doesn't say that he doesn't want to focus on the domestic cups, he says that he doesn't want to focus on the domestic cups ONLY. Quite big difference.

 

[Trix]

Poch can't afford to not win something.

Yes he can. Fairly sure his remit this year would have been to qualify from the CL group and to take a CL team into the new stadium.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

And he didn't say he doesn't want to win a cup, he said the priority is Premier league first, then champions league. And that he would love to win a cup but it's not the main focus.

 

[Danners9]

A few of the papers going with this headline despite the actual quotes they've based it around suggesting something very different.

He is saying that to be a big club you have to be high in the league and be in the CL year on year, which is true, and the cups aren't as important as that, but he'd still like to win one. No problem whatsoever with this... the headline writers have had their fun though.

 

[JW72]

He's basically saying we should aim for the highest prizes we can achieve, which is exactly what every single Spurs fan would agree with.

I'm sure I once heard something about setting our sights high...echo of glory...something like that...

 

[hellava_tough]

He probably should have said he wants to win everything! Like a greedy kid in a candy store.

But I understand where he's coming from.

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

Having read his comments it confirms that Poch has exactly the correct priorities. He hasn't said "league cup? Meh, tis but a piffling cup of no significance, I fart in its general direction". He would still like to win it, he just wants to focus on the highest possible achievements in the game. He wants us to think big. Nothing wrong with that.

I read into it that he'll field more peripheral players in these competitions. What top team doesn't? I'm positive that for a final he'd go full tilt.

 

[JonnySpurs]

If you completely ignore what Poch actually said, and I quote "OK, I would love to win the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup for our fans", then I would personally still take the line that ulitmately we need to focus as much as possible on the Prem and CL and domestic cups are very much lower down on the priority list.

The domestic cups just don't matter to me anymore. I would never be unhappy to win one, that's just stupid, but equally I wouldn't be screaming from the rooftops about how great we are if we won the league cup. I can barely remember who has won that in recent seasons cos I just don't care.

People can say there is glory in it if they want, there isn't for me. There's glory in winning the league or the CL and maybe the FA cup to a degree but all you have to do is look at Arsenal and see that winning it 3 times in 4 seasons has changed nothing at that club. The fans are still fighting each other in the stands and split down the middle about Wenger In or Wenger Out.

Irrespective of my divisive opinion though, Poch clearly hasn't said what The Sun is reporting or what the OP was suggesting when he started this thread.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

I think what it means for a big team to win trophies is to win the Premier League or Champions League. There are a lot of examples: in my second season at Southampton, Wigan won FA Cup. Where is Wigan today, with all my respect? League One. That is the most important example.

I'd have less of a problem with what he said, if he didn't also say this. how are the likes of Wigan in any way relevant to the situation we're in? surely Man U, City, Chelsea and Liverpool - who have all managed to win cups AND challenge for the two big trophies - are of more relevance here?

I think one thing is for sure though, in making such a strong statement of intent as this, he should and will ultimately be judged on whether or not he wins the league or CL. it's a very ballsy statement to make for a manager that's never won anything before.

 

[teok]

Poch can't afford to not win something.

 

[mill]

Resting Davies at the weekend would suggest we are taking this seriously, unless he sits this game out too which would make his omission on Saturday strange, unless he's carrying an injury we don't know about

 

[Bobbins]

And Europe isn't a cup? And admitting you can't realistically compete on all four fronts means you're too big? I've seen pig turd with more promise than that sports editor

No, Europe isn't a cup unless you win it.

 

[Bobbins]

To be honest he doesn't help himself with his comments about Wigan.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Tell that to the gutter press

That Paul Jiggins would be doing the world a favour if he stepped in front of a speeding lorry.

That said, Pochettino should be a little more careful with comments like that to the media as headlines like this will always be the result, especially off the back of a bad result.

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

To be honest he doesn't help himself with his comments about Wigan.

He's right though.

Not sure everyone should.be so sensitive. The man was talking sense.

 

[spursfan77]

He's basically saying we should aim for the highest prizes we can achieve, which is exactly what every single Spurs fan would agree with.

He even says it would be nice to win the Carabao or FA Cup. Total non-story.

I agree. They've massively twisted his words this time. When you actually see him say it, it's not like how he said it in the summer at all.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

He's right though.

Not sure everyone should.be so sensitive. The man was talking sense.

he's right about what though, that they won the cup and got relegated? is this a legitimate concern for us?

 

[Bobbins]

He's right though.

Not sure everyone should.be so sensitive. The man was talking sense.

He isn't right though, because it's just one example, and a terrible one with no relevance to us. We're not in a relegation fight, we're not going to end up in League One because we won the FA Cup.

We're a team that needs to win something, and soon. We're realistically not winning the league or CL in the next two seasons with the stadium move and Wembley, and winning a cup doesn't mean some kind of automatic finish outside the top four as is being implied.