Well two things to that, 1, it is not working and it makes no difference to what they write and 2, that it seems to me ( imo) you are making it up as you go along with this discussion.
Needless to say we will probably never agree on this subject.
I think the idea that Poch 'doesn't care about the cups' is utterly absurd and the reaction of the players and the staff after Saturday should make it blindingly clear that everyone cares. Poch clearly cares, and the idea that by talking down the FA Cup publicly, he has affected the motivation of the players is just nonsense to me. Look at their reaction - players and staff. They all wanted it desperately. What Poch was trying to say publicly clearly had no relation to how much he actually wanted to win that cup privately, and it's a very lazy narrative that the media are looking to construct.
With that said, there is something to be said for saying something publicly that doesn't invite such skepticism. There's something about saying something that is within the realms of realism and therefore doesn't serve as a negative. I can see what Poch was saying, and I agree with it. But when it is so clearly not congruent with the reality of the situation - and the reaction from everyone associated with the club on Saturday showed that it wasn't - then I think a change in tack might be in order. Whether he was trying to take the pressure off in a one-off game, or whether he was trying to make the point that a player under his charge should be motivated all season long, to be consistent and not just in the one off games, either way I think we'll be seeing a different message next season. He doesn't need to make those points anymore, and in any sense they aren't realistic. We clearly do want to win a trophy and there's no point suggesting otherwise. The players have arrived at a point where they feel they deserve it, they act like it, and to say anything else just invites derision and unnecessary scrutiny on the team when really we should be viewed as one top team playing against another with a 50/50 chance of winning.
Claiming we don't need a trophy now has elements of 'they doth protest too much' about it and makes it easy for media and fans to view us not as that top team that has done well to get to that point, but as Spurs, 8 Semi Finals lost in a row, no trophy for a decade, etc etc. Coming a little bit more towards public opinion would help reduce that pressure and invite less derision. That doesn't mean we have to say it is existential for us to win it, and that a loss renders all work pointless, but there's probably no harm in him saying we want it because we want something to show for how good and consistent we have been, and if we don't get it we will be disappointing, because we expect to win things. I think Saturday was a watershed, we've come so far and I think he has done a great job shifting our mentality so that we are consistent in the League over a season as much as we can reasonably expect. Now it's about adjusting again, and taking that next step. It's a very interesting psychological and leadership problem and one I expect him to figure out.
