The Poch has been confirmed as manager thread!

[markiespurs]

There'll still be ups and downs, but we're steadily moving in the right direction.

totally agree

just compared to last season the defense is looking more solid and we are starting to put together some fantastic football.

 

[thinktank]

Poch's interview here: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/matchcentre/tottenham-hotspur-vs-manchester-city-26092015/

 

[Mullers]

I'm not getting carried away with today's result, last season we beat big teams as well and I am still disappointed about the Arsenal result. No doubt there will be an increase in top four talk but I'm just not buying into it, it's a long season, I do think however that we are definitely capable of winning something. The quartet of Son, Lamela, Kane and Eriksen will damage a lot of teams when they hit top form.

I think the squad itself does need a wee bit of tinkering, with a few going out and coming in, so that were more able to compete in all competitions but there isn't any rush, that can be done in the summer.

 

[NEVILLEB]

IT'S NOT THE MANAGERS. IT'S THE PLAYER RECRUITMENT.
IT'S NOT THE MANAGERS. IT'S THE PLAYER RECRUITMENT.
IT'S NOT THE MANAGERS. IT'S THE PLAYER RECRUITMENT.
IT'S NOT THE MANAGERS. IT'S THE PLAYER RECRUITMENT.
IT'S NOT THE MANAGERS. IT'S THE PLAYER RECRUITMENT.

 

[kitchen]

I'm starting to think that this transfer window was truly excellent from Poch and his team. First step was to sign defenders. You don't win anything without solid foundations. Bolstering the defence in several positions with Wimmer, Alderweireld and Trippier was a brilliant and necessary move, and it's a huge ask, but if we can maintain the best or second best defensive record in the league throughout the season then we'll finish top 4.

On top of that Alli looks potentially great, Son is giving our front line balance finally, N'jie looks promising, and moving Dier to CDM has been inspired. An injury to the spine players is my main worry. Kane, Lloris, and Dier in particular being out will hurt us. If we can buy another striker and CDM in January we'll be looking great.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

I still think we're a little short in terms of having a nicely balanced squad. I hope we buy a decent striker to compete with Kane and a midfield powerhouse to pull the strings, direct and drive the team forward. If we address these two areas in January, then the future looks very promising.

 

[Shadydan]

I think all we need is a striker to backup Kane then we'd have a shout in all comps tbh.

 

[Mullers]

I think all we need is a striker to backup Kane then we'd have a shout in all comps tbh.

Not if you have Vorm and Fazio in the side.

 

[Shadydan]

Not if you have Vorm and Fazio in the side.

I don't expect them to play that much, although I think Vorn suffers from the fact that he's not as good as Lloris more than him just being plain average.

 

[Atomic Flea]

One of my complaints last season about Poch was that he never really made any inspiring substitutions and left it too late to bring anyone on that had sufficient time to change a game. I do realise that we didn't have any dependbale options to bring on last season whereas now it has changed. Hoping to see Poch become more adaptable now that he has better options available.

When Townsend came on vs Sunderland he made a massive impact. N'Jie yesterday also. Seems like it's working now.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Saw this brilliant stat/table on MNF, where Neville was very complimentary of Pochettino. In my opinion, this is the clearest indicator yet that Pochettino has had an unquestionable positive impact on the team.

 

[Xeeleeyid]

We've been playing well all season. It's just that the results are starting to come through. You win some you lose some, everything seemed to go right versus City, but we deserved to smash Everton and we didn't. I think we're deffo good for another top six finish if we keep this up, but I think we're going to play some more entertaining football this season along the way.

 

[jezz]

We're gonna win the league and Europa.
There I said it and yes I'm an optimistic fcuker

 

[thinktank]

 

[Misfit]

I disagree with some of the details but generally-speaking, Neville continues to be one of the very few good pundits around.

We won't be as easy on the eyes in the near future as us Spurs fans would want but he's spot on in that this isn't the desired end product, only the foundation.

Also nice to see one of the best goal scorers Spurs have ever had on MNF. Didn't know Jamie had landed there.

 

[Dharmabum]

I know it's 4 years old and, yes, it may have been posted before

http://www.footytube.com/news/guard...cio-pochettino-as-kids-show-their-worth-L5120

Espanyol indebted to Mauricio Pochettino as kids show their worth

The inventive management of Mauricio Pochettino and a flourishing youth policy has helped Espanyol defy their critics
by Sid Lowe 4 years ago.
Espanyol indebted to Mauricio Pochettino as kids show their worth


Summer in Spain's second city and it looked like the dumbest deal since the Dutch kept Pulau Run, happily handing over a strip of swampland on the Hudson instead; the worst bit of business since the guy from Decca burst into the boardroom and triumphantly announced: "I've signed this great new band. They're called the Tremeloes." Espanyol got rid of Raúl Tamudo and got in Sergio García. They'd booted out the greatest goalscorer in their history and replaced him with a bloke who was going to be good once but never was. Strapped for cash, living a little dangerously, they'd gone and signed the "striker" who had joined two clubs too good to go down and immediately gone down, the man with a perfect record: three first division clubs, three first division relegations. And they'd spent €6m – six flipping million – [or £5m] for the privilege.

They were doomed.

Doomed? Perhaps not. Six months later, Espanyol are in rude health. As the season reaches the halfway stage with Barcelona having broken every record going, top of La Liga on 52 points and with a +50 goal difference,across the city at what is becoming arguably the best football stadium in the country, their bitterly forgotten neighbours are performing a miracle all of their own. The club who, according to director Joan Collet, are suffering from "apartheid" – because what Espanyol suffer is just like Sharpeville and Robben Island – are really socking it to the man. Well, maybe not the man – Barcelona beat them 5-0, after all – but some men. Far from being in the relegation zone, Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol are just three points off a Champions League place.

They're not getting cocky. The coach Mauricio Pochettino keeps reminding his players that back in 2007-08 under Ernesto Valverde, 18 games into the season they were third having gone 14 matches unbeaten only to endure the worst second half in La Liga history, winning just three in 20. But one thing's for sure: they're safe. Seventeen consecutive seasons in the first division are about to become 18. Not that they'd be satisfied with that. The days of visiting the black virgin of Montserrat to plead for her intervention to survive are over. With Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and even Athletic Bilbao underachieving, with Valencia always simmering with latent self-destructive intent, a European slot and maybe even a top-four finish really isn't out of the question.

It is a huge success story – and this is the point in the story at which Sergio García proves everyone wrong, at which it is pointed out that he did play for Spain at Euro2008 and, according to his Wikipedia page, he did score 6969696969696969 goals as a kid at Barcelona. This is the point of the story at which Espanyol's sporting directorate puffs out its collective chest and goes: "See? See?!" Except that people do see.

And they have seen it all before too. No, sorry: this success, just like last year's success, has little to do with their summer signing.

Eighteen months ago, Espanyol signed Shunsuke Nakamura, publicly describing him as "finger licking good" and privately hailing him as the solution to all their problems, as 8,000 gathered for his presentation, Japanese TV signed an Espanyol-only deal and he released a light blue parakeet into the air like some kind of paladin of peace before going on to reveal the slight flaw in the plan: he is not very good. What followed was no goals, no assists, and an early departure. So far, Sergio García has scored just once – and that was an 87th-minute strike against Zaragoza, the fourth in a 4-0 win; so far, Sergio García's greatest contribution might just have been getting injured.

Now that may sound flippant, but it is true. Few clubs have made a virtue out of necessity quite like Espanyol. Fewer still have done it with the bravery and balls of Pochettino. When you look at Espanyol's success this season, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that much of it is the fruit of fortune. Or it would be if Espanyol had a fortune, if Pochettino was not such an impressive and resourceful manager, if those that came before him – those that built and developed the club's youth system – had not laid such solid foundations. Sergio García got injured, Ernesto Galán got injured, Felipe Mattioni got injured, Jesús Dátolo got injured. All of them are new signings. This weekend, Espanyol defeated Sevilla 2-1 at the Sánchez Pizjuán: Jedward impersonator José Callejón got both goals. He would have departed in the summer, but a deal fell apart. Not one of the starting XI was a summer signing.

Six of them are Espanyol youth team products. It is a running theme. When Espanyol's kids first emerged from the club's residency on Gran de Gràcia a decade or so ago – players like Joan Capdevila, Sergio González, Raúl Tamudo, Alberto Lopo and David García – one of their team-mates was the Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino. The commitment to, and importance of, the youth set-up was, says one insider, an idea he "suckled on from [then coach] Paco Flores." And although the economic reality of the club that is an estimated €115m in debt and occasionally pays its players late has seen that commitment undermined – Espanyol now only take kids from a 50km radius of the city, salaries have plummeted in the B team, and those who ask to come for a trial have to pay €100 for the privilege – the effects of that drop in funding have not yet filtered through.

Meanwhile, Pochettino's commitment remains steadfast and, notwithstanding signings like Sergio García who will be paid for over six years, the same economic reality that has seen diminishing investment in youth and forced the departure of seven players in the summer has also seen increasing need for youth.

When Pochettino took over as coach in 2008, his role was simply to save Espanyol, who lay in the relegation zone. With a little divine inspiration, he did. But the man who, adding together his playing and managing career, has now experienced more first division games for the club than anyone else in their history, also had an eye on building, on stability. He imposed a tactical style on the youth teams for the first time – Espanyol and the B team play 4-2-3-1, but everyone else has to play 4-4-2, which Pochettino believes is the best system for general development. He attends training sessions, speaks to players and coaches right the way through the system and demands constant updates. He also insisted on making each team play in an age group above, to increase their competitiveness and accelerate their development. As one member of the technical staff puts it: "We're not interested in our youth teams winning games; we're interested in them developing players for the first team."

It has worked. Not least because, as the sporting director Ramón Planes puts it: "You have to be very brave to give debuts to kids and stick with them." And Pochettino is brave: signings have played important roles, with winter arrivals Osvaldo and Iván Alonso especially significant over the last two and a half years, but he has handed debuts to 10 players from Espanyol's youth team. Only three clubs in the top flight have more youth team products in their first team squad: Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Barcelona. No squad has a younger average age. It has been worth it, too: Víctor Ruiz and Javi Márquez in particular have been hugely impressive – genuinely good players attracting interest from all over Europe.

Without Pochettino's trust, they might not have taken the step up. That trust goes beyond just throwing them in, too: the coach is extremely defensive of his players, very close to them. "When I saw him as a player, he was frightening," admits Ruíz, "but in person he is the exact opposite."

His sessions are, says one player, "fun". Yet the sessions are hard, too. "He makes you work like a dog," says Osvaldo. And if hanging around, sniffing each other's arses and licking your own balls doesn't sound particularly hard, think again. At first he introduced double sessions, fitness work in the morning, ball work in the afternoon, but now his sessions are short and intense. "Sometimes," Osvaldo adds, "you feel like killing him but it works."

If training is hard, so is the coach. For all the support, as the Spanish phrase has it, Pochettino doesn't get married to anyone; players are forced to remain on their toes, assured of nothing. As a player he was good friends with Raúl Tamudo and even shared investments with him but had no qualms about taking the captaincy off him and easing him to the door.

Moisés Hurtado and Rufete were both ushered towards the door too – both were dressing-room heavyweights. Pochettino's first physical coach lasted barely weeks – despite the fact that Pochettino is his son's godfather.

Pochettino insists on his team playing aggressively (only three sides have committed more fouls), pushing high up the pitch, and chasing down opponents. They are strikingly well organised. He has a recording system linked up to his iPhone where, with a single touch, he can automatically order up replays of the previous move, ready to use at half-time. His side does not have a huge amount of firepower but they are incredibly effective: last season they scored fewer than Leo Messi but every goal earned 1.51 points. This season that figure is at 1.36: they are fifth despite scoring just 25 goals and having a goal difference of nought. But if that makes them sound like they are long-ball merchants, the impression is false: Pochettino insists on playing the ball out under control wherever possible and not sitting back and parking the bus. Take this quote, for example: "There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you: Espanyol look for you. I feel very close to their style of football."

The man who said it? Pep Guardiola.

Although Espanyol are not always great to watch away from home, they've been impressive at Cornellà, where they have won eight out of nine – only losing to Barcelona. Like last season, when they picked up 33 of their 44 points at home and should have beaten Barcelona, 24 of their 34 so far this season have come at Cornellà. The intensity and aggression is helped by a new stadium where there is a real communion between stands and pitch – a communion enhanced by the presence of so many youth team products and also by the continued 'presence' of late captain Dani Jarque, who died of a heart attack during pre-season training before last season. "It sounds like a cliche," reveals one insider, "but once the shock of his death was overcome, that really has helped to create a bond and a sense of purpose".

After narrowly escaping relegation in 2009 and signing the player incapable of escaping it in 2010, what no one expected at the start of 2011 was for that purpose to be a place on Europe's biggest stage. Few expected the kids to be Espanyol's salvation but when it comes to Cornellà the kids are all right.

 

[Ironskullll]

................

Pochettino insists on his team playing aggressively (only three sides have committed more fouls), pushing high up the pitch, and chasing down opponents. They are strikingly well organised. He has a recording system linked up to his iPhone where, with a single touch, he can automatically order up replays of the previous move, ready to use at half-time. His side does not have a huge amount of firepower but they are incredibly effective: last season they scored fewer than Leo Messi but every goal earned 1.51 points. This season that figure is at 1.36: they are fifth despite scoring just 25 goals and having a goal difference of nought. But if that makes them sound like they are long-ball merchants, the impression is false: Pochettino insists on playing the ball out under control wherever possible and not sitting back and parking the bus. Take this quote, for example: "There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you: Espanyol look for you. I feel very close to their style of football."

The man who said it? Pep Guardiola.

I liked the whole article but the part I highlighted struck a chord...

I dragged these stats off the BBC site, for fouls committed during PL matches this season:

A Spurs 12 Man Utd 12
H Spurs 15 Stoke 11
A Spurs 14 Leicester 7
H Spurs 20 Everton 9
A Spurs 12 Sunderland 11
H Spurs 9, C Palace 11
H Spurs 17 Man City 6
A Spurs 19 Swansea 8

And that's with us tending to dominate possession!

I've occasionally looked up the stats in previous seasons, and these figures represent an absolute sea change. In previous seasons (not sure of last year, don't recall looking) it was only ever against Arsenal where it would be even close - we were the softest of touches. Not that the object of the game is to commit fouls (obviously), any more than it is to run the most (obviously), but these fouls, running and possession stats are, IMHO hugely significant. The fouls stat speaks for itself insofar as it indicates a much more robust approach, one which we've wanted for years. But is also gives an insight into the possession statistic. Without knowing how long a period of possession lasts, it's hard to draw conclusions from possession stats. The foul stats suggest that we're working amazingly hard to win the ball back, and that it's working. Not so much necessarily of a high press, as a quick and aggressive press. I'd really like to see how long our periods of possession are in comparison to other teams and previous seasons. Are our high possession percentages the result of a few lengthy periods of possession or just a great number of shorter periods?

Regardless, I think that this is indicative of a new attitude permeating the entire team. It'll be interesting to see what the rest of the season holds and whether it sustains that impression. I hope it does!

 

[Xeeleeyid]

I liked the whole article but the part I highlighted struck a chord...

I dragged these stats off the BBC site, for fouls committed during PL matches this season:

A Spurs 12 Man Utd 12
H Spurs 15 Stoke 11
A Spurs 14 Leicester 7
H Spurs 20 Everton 9
A Spurs 12 Sunderland 11
H Spurs 9, C Palace 11
H Spurs 17 Man City 6
A Spurs 19 Swansea 8

And that's with us tending to dominate possession!

I've occasionally looked up the stats in previous seasons, and these figures represent an absolute sea change. In previous seasons (not sure of last year, don't recall looking) it was only ever against Arsenal where it would be even close - we were the softest of touches. Not that the object of the game is to commit fouls (obviously), any more than it is to run the most (obviously), but these fouls, running and possession stats are, IMHO hugely significant. The fouls stat speaks for itself insofar as it indicates a much more robust approach, one which we've wanted for years. But is also gives an insight into the possession statistic. Without knowing how long a period of possession lasts, it's hard to draw conclusions from possession stats. The foul stats suggest that we're working amazingly hard to win the ball back, and that it's working. Not so much necessarily of a high press, as a quick and aggressive press. I'd really like to see how long our periods of possession are in comparison to other teams and previous seasons. Are our high possession percentages the result of a few lengthy periods of possession or just a great number of shorter periods?

Regardless, I think that this is indicative of a new attitude permeating the entire team. It'll be interesting to see what the rest of the season holds and whether it sustains that impression. I hope it does!

I think equally, or more significant for me is reading the views of opposing fans after each of our games this season. Other than Stoke and possibly Man U from memory, my overriding memory is of the majority of opposing fans agreeing that their performance against Spurs was their "worst of the season", "crap", "couldn't keep the ball", "couldn't string too passes together", "couldn't get going", "we were so crap we made Spurs look good, they're not even that good".

It can't surely be luck or coincidence that so many teams have their worst game of the season against us. I think actually we press so aggressively that simply we are forcing a lot of errors.

One thing that really struck me is that for four games in a row now i've seen independent fans of different football clubs comment that "Spurs seemed to have two players for every one of ours" or "Spurs seemed to have an extra player or two on the pitch". I've also seen consistent comments of "being overrun".

It's a consistent style that is starting to emerge. Our aggression and work-rate are really coming through to even neutrals and opposing fans, not just to us that watch regularly.

 

[Ironskullll]

I think equally, or more significant for me is reading the views of opposing fans after each of our games this season. Other than Stoke and possibly Man U from memory, my overriding memory is of the majority of opposing fans agreeing that their performance against Spurs was their "worst of the season", "crap", "couldn't keep the ball", "couldn't string too passes together", "couldn't get going", "we were so crap we made Spurs look good, they're not even that good".

It can't surely be luck or coincidence that so many teams have their worst game of the season against us. I think actually we press so aggressively that simply we are forcing a lot of errors.

One thing that really struck me is that for four games in a row now i've seen independent fans of different football clubs comment that "Spurs seemed to have two players for every one of ours" or "Spurs seemed to have an extra player or two on the pitch". I've also seen consistent comments of "being overrun".

It's a consistent style that is starting to emerge. Our aggression and work-rate are really coming through to even neutrals and opposing fans, not just to us that watch regularly.

I'm wondering also about the "high press". I've seen many comments saying that there's little difference between AVB's tactics and those of MP, and that there's no discernable philosophy here, but do you recall in the days of AVB, Lloris's role almost as a sweeper keeper, and the number of times he was required to leave his box? That seldom ever happens now, so and so we find ourselves putting our finger on two aspects of the emerging "philosophy" that's different to what went before, not just one.

 

[Supersi32]

I'm wondering also about the "high press". I've seen many comments saying that there's little difference between AVB's tactics and those of MP, and that there's no discernable philosophy here, but do you recall in the days of AVB, Lloris's role almost as a sweeper keeper, and the number of times he was required to leave his box? That seldom ever happens now, so and so we find ourselves putting our finger on two aspects of the emerging "philosophy" that's different to what went before, not just one.

We play what I would call a selective high press rather than an all out agressive high press. Pochettino still likes to play a possession based game but it's a world apart from the turgid nonsense we played under AVB.