Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[Gutter Boy]

This is a classic!


David Hytner

Tuesday 28 October 2014 18.30 EDT



Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham Hotspur are being stifled by the tightness of the White Hart Lane pitch. The London club have struggled at home once again this season, particularly when visiting teams have sat deep to compress the space.

Tottenham have the joint-shortest pitch in the Premier League, according to the official statistics, alongside Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers, and only those two clubs have narrower playing surfaces. Tottenham’s pitch, which measures 100 metres by 67 metres, is 6% smaller than half of the others in the division.

Pochettino has seen his team lose three out of five home league fixtures – against victims, West Bromwich Albion and Saudi Sportswashing Machine – and he has come to feel hemmed in, when the onus has been on Tottenham to prise apart visiting teams.

“Our style means we need a bigger space to play because we play a positional game,” Pochettino said. “It’s true that White Hart Lane is a little bit tight and it’s better for the opponent when they play deep. On Sunday there were two shots from Saudi Sportswashing Machine – it was unlucky for us. And they play deep. West Bromwich play deep, victims the same, they play very deep and it was difficult for us. We need time to adapt to our new set-up and to understand better our position on the pitch.”

Tottenham have looked more polished away from home in recent seasons – they certainly did under one of Pochettino’s predecessors, André Villas-Boas – and it has been easy to see them as being more at ease on the counterattack. At White Hart Lane, where they face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday night, they have sometimes frustrated the home crowd, who have made their displeasure known.

Villas-Boas reacted to the perceived negativity towards the end of his tenure, when he said that “it is like it drags the ball into our goal instead of the opponents’ goal” but Pochettino has no problems with the expectation levels of the home support. “In football there is always big expectation,” he said. “In Tottenham, in Espanyol, in Southampton, in Real Madrid and Barcelona, it’s how you manage the pressure in your situation.”
Advertisement

Tottenham are not managing it well at present and, although it is very early days, Pochettino’s tenure has been bogged down by some of the problems that Villas-Boas faced and could not solve. There have been the travails at home, possession without incision, individual errors and questions, which Pochettino has not been to slow to raise, about the squad’s mentality.

“We did a lot of work [on the psychological side] in groups and as individuals on the training ground, in meeting rooms and in my personal office,” Pochettino said. “But always you need more time to change the habits. We talk about mentalities and changing habits. It is harder to work on. The mental process is always more slow than the physical or tactical. We know that our challenge is to change this mentality.”

Pochettino was asked whether he had used a sports scientist to bolster his players. “I think we are the psychologists,” he replied, with a nod towards himself and his coaching staff, which features the assistant, Jesus Perez, who has a background in sports science. “The players want to hear the manager and the staff. We can help them.”

Pochettino also said that he wanted his players to take the initiative and hold their own meetings in order to grow as a unit. “We’ve tried to push this because it’s important sometimes that players have different meetings with the captain to realise some different situations,” Pochettino said.

“But this isn’t because we can’t hear something from them because we are always open to hear everything. We are a family and you always need your teammates. Our challenge is to create something special between 25 players so that they can know each other and improve the togetherness and show it on the pitch.”

I've been thinking this about the pitch for years. In fact I think we discussed it here a few weeks ago. It makes no sense for a passing team to have such a tiny pitch.

 

[Mumorn]

I've been thinking this about the pitch for years. In fact I think we discussed it here a few weeks ago. It makes no sense for a passing team to have such a tiny pitch.

agreed.

 

[Bullet]

“We did a lot of work [on the psychological side] in groups and as individuals on the training ground, in meeting rooms and in my personal office,” Pochettino said. “But always you need more time to change the habits. We talk about mentalities and changing habits. It is harder to work on. The mental process is always more slow than the physical or tactical. We know that our challenge is to change this mentality.”

Good stuff, changing the mentality is so important.

Whenever players talk about playing for Man Utd they mention that as soon as they walked in the stadium they felt an aura and an expectation and everybody there acts in a certain way i.e. towards being the best... I assume at Spurs there is a feeling that "good enough will do" and "don't push yourself too hard, just do enough to get by and then we can go and do keepy uppies"

 

[indianspur]

Well all he has done is plant a seed in the players heads that we can't flourish at home because of the pitch size. Great psychology is that.

We've had teams and players in the past that had no problems performing on that pitch

Come on Poch, cut the excuses

 

[Mumorn]

Well all he has done is plant a seed in the players heads that we can't flourish at home because of the pitch size. Great psychology is that.

We've had teams and players in the past that had no problems performing on that pitch

Come on Poch, cut the excuses

we had better players which youve alluded too as well as having two superb wingers in our team, one of which is now one of the best footballers in the world. he isnt using an excuse, hes just saying the pitch isnt ideal.

 

[indianspur]

we had better players which youve alluded too as well as having two superb wingers in our team, one of which is now one of the best footballers in the world. he isnt using an excuse, hes just saying the pitch isnt ideal.

Its something he doesn't have to mention to anyone other than his coaching team.

And to be honest, if he believes the pitch is too small, then why does he insist on having us play so much down the centre. Why not utilise better the space he already has?

Like I ssid, he and his coaches need to solve it in private.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

I've been thinking this about the pitch for years. In fact I think we discussed it here a few weeks ago. It makes no sense for a passing team to have such a tiny pitch.

Agreed. There has to be a reason why we look like such a different team at home.

I do think the pitch is one massive part, and that entitlement from the fans is another. I'm also actually yet to see a genuine criticism of Poch's decisions that actually stand up to scrutiny. There's no specific bad decision he is making that anyone is pinpointing, anything just seems to be 'we're losing, so he's doing something wrong'.

On the entitlement point, I think the players do need to be stronger and continue to play in a proper way rather than trying to rush the ball. But our fans are great when we are playing nice, fast paced football. But as soon as the game goes against us, we get on the players backs. We don't support them. The younger players get less of it, but even Bentaleb, if he makes a pass back to keep possession, gets howled by the crowd. Psychologically, when you are playing under the pressure of needing to get results at the same time as learning a new system, it isn't helpful. And I'll be really surprised if anyone can genuinely say to me that we have supported the team in adversity this season. At home, when it's gone against us, the atmosphere has been foul.

 

[indianspur]

No-one mentioned the pitch when we beat QPR

 

[90291Spur]

No-one mentioned the pitch when we beat QPR

Or Inter Milan. Or The Goons 5-1 or Chel$ki 2-1.

 

[indianspur]

Or Inter Milan. Or The Goons 5-1 or Chel$ki 2-1.

Exactly, also how can teams come to WHL and pass us off it if the pitch is so small. City and victims managed to use their passing game to great effect on such a small pitch. How can they adjust?

There we absolutely no need for Poch to bring this out in the public. It sound like an excuse and like I said our already mentally fragile players definitely don't need to be exposed to a ready made excuse for their failures at home.

 

[billyiddo]

No one mentioned 442/high lines or players out of positions either :rio:

 

[90291Spur]

Exactly, also how can teams come to WHL and pass us off it if the pitch is so small. City and victims managed to use their passing game to great effect on such a small pitch. How can they adjust?

There we absolutely no need for Poch to bring this out in the public. It sound like an excuse and like I said our already mentally fragile players definitely don't need to be exposed to a ready made excuse for their failures at home.

Maybe the ball is too round and the grass is too green as well.

 

[billyiddo]

Exactly, also how can teams come to WHL and pass us off it if the pitch is so small. City and victims managed to use their passing game to great effect on such a small pitch. How can they adjust?

.

Games between two teams set up to attack are usually open affairs with both teams going for the win - so more space is usually on offer. Games against sides which are happy to sit deep, stay compact and not give much away result in less space - on a small narrow pitch this is increased (or decreased as it were...)

It's not rocket science guys

 

[monkeybarry]

I've been thinking this about the pitch for years. In fact I think we discussed it here a few weeks ago. It makes no sense for a passing team to have such a tiny pitch.

It may be true, but its also a lazy excuse and I expected better of Poch.

We can't change the pitch size In the current stadium - so Poch needs to suck it up and adapt, not make excuses.
Unless he expects us not to get results at home for the next few years until the new stadium is built.

 

[Mumorn]

Its something he doesn't have to mention to anyone other than his coaching team.

And to be honest, if he believes the pitch is too small, then why does he insist on having us play so much down the centre. Why not utilise better the space he already has?

Like I ssid, he and his coaches need to solve it in private.

Because thats his philosophy and he's getting the players he has at hand used to it even without the correct tools as of yet. When Walker is back we'd have width from the left and right and things wont look as half as narrow.

No-one mentioned the pitch when we beat QPR

Because QPR gave us space and we exploited it - why would we moan about the pitch instead of celebrating a 4-0 win. I also didn't see people moaning about Poch then either when we were joint top.

Or Inter Milan. Or The Goons 5-1 or Chel$ki 2-1.

Once again, for those who can't seem to read or comprehend. We had better players, such as Modric or VDV who could make most of our ****e pitch. Plus we had width from two of the most dangerous wingers in the league, one of which is now one of the best in the world. We have neither of those things and play completely different with a diff set of players.

Exactly, also how can teams come to WHL and pass us off it if the pitch is so small. City and victims managed to use their passing game to great effect on such a small pitch. How can they adjust?

There we absolutely no need for Poch to bring this out in the public. It sound like an excuse and like I said our already mentally fragile players definitely don't need to be exposed to a ready made excuse for their failures at home.

City and victims play arguably as "narrow" as us. Except they have done it for a lot longer, whilst weve done it for 3 months. They also have better players suited for the role, in Man Citys case the likes of Silva, Aguero, Toure etc. - There is every reason to bring it out in public, its his opinion, don't like it? tough ****. He can say what he likes, if he thinks its the reason as to why we're poor at home, so be it. I hope he can look into it further and find a way to make it work on our pitch.

 

[90291Spur]

Once again, for those who can't seem to read or comprehend. We had better players, such as Modric or VDV who could make most of our ****e pitch. Plus we had width from two of the most dangerous wingers in the league, one of which is now one of the best in the world. We have neither of those things and play completely different with a diff set of players.

Serious question. So when we had two amazing wide men we could do really well on our narrow pitch? And now that we don't have wide men we can't do well on our narrow pitch? And why doesn't our head coach drill the team to play well on our narrow pitch?

 

[sc25]

There is every reason to bring it out in public, its his opinion, don't like it? tough ****. He can say what he likes, if he thinks its the reason as to why we're poor at home, so be it.

First of all, 23 thousand posts. Very well done, sir.

As far as the meat of this particular post of yours, I think I'll reserve comment and maybe wait for the usual half dozen or so to rationalize it, as they circle the wagons and scamper for cover, along the lines of...'I'm not sure if Poch should necessarily have vented in that way and aired our dirty laundry in public, however....'.

 

[metalgear]

It's not poch it's the players or more importantly the type of players that can play together as a coherent unit. Perhaps is the series of managerial changes, but isn't the dof structure supposed to overcome that?

 

[milo]

What is it with everyone constantly looking an argument? It is perfectly possible to discuss the width of our pitch and Poch's comments without getting into people's faces or acting like Poch had broken into your house and shat in your bed whilst you were out at work.

 

[metalgear]

I dunno , could be anything from poor social skills to insufficient sex ....