Which player has improved the most under Pochettino?

[jonola]

For me it's between Jan and Dembers.

Prior to Poch, Dembers just wasn't at the races and now he looks like the player we thought we were buying, fitness levels have no doubt caused his upturn in form.

Jan a couple of seasons ago just looked totally disinterested and I often thought, there's the next player to force his way out of Spurs. The fact he has Toby next to him has helped of course but I can see him now being with us for a few more seasons.

Overall for the players that remain, I think all of them have become cleverer players, notable mentions to Rose, Lamela and Walker.

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Other = Dier

 

[Riandor]

No one player.
That for me is the beauty of this regime, its all about the TEAM. All ave improved and when one falters the others step in. I can't pick an individual, though I will give special mention to Rose, who like others, I was not a fan of until now.

 

[nicdic]

Shout out to Tom Carroll. Not yet nailing down a starting XI position, but who would have thought of being I a position where we'd bring him on away at City to try and get the win after just being pegged back?

 

[Chinaspur]

So does everyone think Alli would have developed into one of the most valuable players in the league if dropped into any team in the league?

 

[Borks]

Surely the best way to view it is net increase in transfer value since Poch came? Id have thought on that basis it has to be Kane.

I disagree for reasons nightgoat gave. Transfer value has far too many factors other than performance to be a fair indicator.

 

[Larryjanta]

how could you miss Dier OP? Wish we could get Poch to improve your survey abilities! ;-)

He seems to have improved everyone. I can't think of a single player who was here when he arrived (and still is) who hasn't improved. Dier wins for me as he's turned him into something not even Dier thought he could be (like Wenger did with Henry). At the end of the year, I would have been OK with Lamela and Dembele leaving and now I'd be distraught so strong work there also. The full backs seem to have brains to go with their abilities which is remarkable given one of them is Walker.

All in all, top work

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Surely Delle Alli? From zero to hero ... everyone else was at least in the PL or equivalent league before, he's come from nowhere to be one of the rising stars of the league, i can't see past giving this straight to him without even passing go.

But he's not on your list!

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I've chosen two, Dembélé and Walker. Most of the others are very young and it was reasonable to assume that most of them would continue to develop and improve their game. These two, along with Vertonghen close behind, were already mature footballers and had already established a pattern of play at Tottenham before Pochettino arrived. Thus we can see that their development is directly related to the current regime, not just to growing maturity.

 

[Spursidol]

The most improved player since Pochettino has been manager is surely Kane?

To go from:

2013/14: 19 appearances: 4 goals
2012-13: 21 appearances: 2 goals
To:
2014/15: 51 appearances: 31 goals
2015/16: 35 appearances: 19 goals and counting..

Is a staggering improvement. And the goals and number of appearances only tell half the story. He has improved beyond recognition from at best squad player to one the best, most prolific and most influential strikers in Europe. He is in many ways our talisman and most important player and very few if any saw that coming at the beginning of the 2014/15 season.

How much of this improvement is due to Pochettino is debatable and one would expect such a young player to improve naturally with age (although that is not always the case) but I think we can safely assume that Pochettino and his coaching team have at the very least created the right conditions and environment for Kane to develop and flourish over the past two seasons.

Of course, practically every player involved in the first team squad right now is playing at an improved level compared to when Pochettino took over. It really does show what a fantastic job he is doing.

Kane made his breakthrough in 2013/14, when after much of the season coming off the bench, often for only a few minutes Sherwood played him in the last 6 or 7 PL games of the season with Adebayor (after a run of games mainly with Soldado and Adebayor) and in those 6 or 7 PL games Kane scored 3 times. Were you to look at that season on minutes played and goals scored, he probably only played about 9 games equivalent.

In 2014/15 Poch tried all the senior pros first like Adebayor and Soldado, with Kane starting some of the EL games where he excelled, and then in about November Poch started Kane in PL. The rest is history.

So whilst I'd certainly credit Poch with helping Kane to develop, he had already proved he could score PL goals before Poch arrived, the only delay in continuing Kane scoring in PL from the previous season was Poch (rightly) giving Adebayor and Soldado a chance to prove themselves - and like with Kaboul, Capoue, Paulhino et al that unfortunately took time.

 

[Sir Henry]

81 votes for Dembele so far lol , I've just double checked I'm not posting on RAWK

 

[Spursidol]

Very difficult question to answer.

For me its 2 players in particular :

Dembele - After about 3 seasons of an underperforming player (against pre-acquisition expectation) and last summer I thought he would have gone had we not had so many other players to shed - this season he's right up there as a a top class player for us, and a regular first team starter, rather than the 'bit part' player he had become. Only weakness for me is that he doesn't score as much as I'd hope (I'd hope he scored as many as Lamela/Eriksen/Chadli/Son).

Lamela - After one season of injury and another where right wing was the weakest position in the Spurs side, this season he's improved hugely, and pretty much back to the standard we thought we had bought from Roma.

But a number have improved like :

Rose - Had been an ok LB, but last season became a very good LB.
Kane, Mason, Bentaleb - Poch certainly helped these youngsters establish themselves in his (and their) first complete season with Spurs.
Alli - Poch must have helped enormously in getting a League 1 player move to PL apparently seamlessly
etc

Think its the first time in a long time, Spurs have actually hired a coach rather than someone who saw themselves as a manager thinking that they could buy ready made players. And that for me is the big difference

 

[Styopa]

Kane made his breakthrough in 2013/14, when after much of the season coming off the bench, often for only a few minutes Sherwood played him in the last 6 or 7 PL games of the season with Adebayor (after a run of games mainly with Soldado and Adebayor) and in those 6 or 7 PL games Kane scored 3 times. Were you to look at that season on minutes played and goals scored, he probably only played about 9 games equivalent.

In 2014/15 Poch tried all the senior pros first like Adebayor and Soldado, with Kane starting some of the EL games where he excelled, and then in about November Poch started Kane in PL. The rest is history.

So whilst I'd certainly credit Poch with helping Kane to develop, he had already proved he could score PL goals before Poch arrived, the only delay in continuing Kane scoring in PL from the previous season was Poch (rightly) giving Adebayor and Soldado a chance to prove themselves - and like with Kaboul, Capoue, Paulhino et al that unfortunately took time.

I don't disagree with any of your post but I still stand by my argument which is Kane has improved above and beyond what anyone could have realistically expected at the time in such a short space of time.

If we are answering the question of 'who has improved the most since Pochettino became manager?' then my answer would remain the same. I believe Kane has made the biggest leap of all of our players.

 

[Tucker]

I took the OP to mean players that were underperforming before he arrived. Which would discount his own signings like Dier and Alli.

 

[Good Doctor M]

Kane hands down... he went from 3rd back up to International must start over Pochs reign. That's a staggering improvement.

Jan and Dembele improved... Kane broke a scoring record that's stood for 20 odd years and went from being a serial lower league loanee to club talisman. It's not even something up for discussion really.

 

[Spursidol]

I don't disagree with any of your post but I still stand by my argument which is Kane has improved above and beyond what anyone could have realistically expected at the time in such a short space of time.

If we are answering the question of 'who has improved the most since Pochettino became manager?' then my answer would remain the same. I believe Kane has made the biggest leap of all of our players.

Yup, but the thread title is 'who has improved the most under Pochetino' implying that Poch has been key to evelop them.

Kane was always a good prospect as a youngster, scoring freely, and did so on loan at Orient and Millwall (both when he was a youngster), so for example establishing himself in Millwall's side at a younger age than Teddy Sherringham. So he was always going to be a decent prospect in PL.

In 2013/14 AVB should have played him more, but didn't, but Sherwood did at the end of the season and showed he had already developed an ability to score in PL.

Its always difficult to predict how good youngsters will be, and clearly Kane has jumped from getting into the first team regularly to almost superstar status within seemingly months, but I think that shows that he had developed a lot in 2013/14 (and before) but not had the first team opportunities. Which means that Poch inherited a player largely developed, just needing playing time.

So whilst I certainly credit Poch with some of Kane's development, he would have been a PL starter for us under Sherwood or any decent manager willing to give youngsters playing time.

 

[Disconosebleed]

81 votes for Dembele so far lol , I've just double checked I'm not posting on RAWK

I'm not sure what you're struggling with. He's always been talented, but he rarely transferred his ability into performances - and by whatever means, whether technical, tactical or motivational, Pochettino has overseen his development into one of the league's best midfielders.

Previously - including the first year under Pochettino - he was a competent but frustrating 6.5/10 every week, playing well within himself. It was never a question of work rate - he always put a shift in and wasn't afraid of a physical battle - but he seemed to lack either the confidence or the intelligence to move the ball into attacking positions, happy to retain possession with sideways and backwards passes. There's nothing wrong with having a player like that, but Dembele so clearly had more to offer that it was intensely frustrating.

Over the past six months or so, he has been utterly transformed, finally making the most of his undoubted ability - not only does he win all the physical battles as he always did, not only does he retain possession as he always did, he actually offers something going forward as well, creating and scoring goals. He's become a top-class all-round midfielder, offering us defensive solidity when we're out of possession, dynamism when we're transitioning to attack, and much more in possession with Dier offering him the freedom to make things happen in the final third.

There have been plenty of improvements under Pochettino as everyone has discussed, but Dembele is the one which Poch can take most credit for, because he wasn't a youngster like Kane or Dier who was always destined to improve, nor an under-motivated coaster like Vertonghen or Walker who just needed a kick up the arse - Pochettino has completely changed the TYPE of player Dembele is, in order to get more out of him. He's gone from a decent, underwhelming to a match-dominating colossus, with only a change in mentality under the manager. And that's why, for me, he is absolutely the most improved under Pochettino. There has never been any doubt about Dembele's qualities, but a string of managers had failed to bring out the best in him - Poch has.

 

[Spursidol]

Kane hands down... he went from 3rd back up to International must start over Pochs reign. That's a staggering improvement.

At the end of Sherwood's brief reign, Kane had replaced Soldado in the first team. Only reason why Poch 'relegated' him to 3rd choice was to give Adebayor and Soldado a chance to show what they could do....

When the answer was clearly 'not a lot' when it came to scoring goals, Poch turned to Kane, who had been scoring for fun in EL, and tried him in PL....and the rest is history

 

[Mr Pink]

You could pick any of about half a dozen, possibly more.

Some players were always going to buy into what Poch wanted - like Kane, they were just so suited to what Poch demands in their respective positions.

I've always been a huge Dembele fan but there's no doubt the biggest change is with him - the improvement is so noticeable and we're seeing it consistently.

He's leaner and plays with more appetite to really win the ball back. Was always good off the ball but there's no doubt he's trying to release the ball faster and his determination off the ball is seriously impressive.

Previously we'd see glimpses of his talent, sporadic at best, but Poch has managed to adapt his game so we're now seeing dominant midfield displays week in week out.

Remarkable.

 

[DiscoD1882]

i dont think Dembele has improved. i think he is just fit now and can run for the whole game. He has always had the ability but was just a luxury player. Now he is a vital cog. who can last the whole 90 minutes