I've had a wait and see attitude to Pochettino since his name was first mentioned as a possibility for manager.
I admit going back he seemed a disappointing choice after the thought of LVG and i would have been just as happy with him or De boer or Koeman.
I've been impressed with him since he's been here but it had never really turned to warmth, maybe a case of once bitten twice shy after AVB.
After yesterdays result and his post match interviews though thats genuinely changed. It would have been easy for him to moan a bit about not having a clean sheet yesterday and other minor points but what came across was his genuine JOY at the performance. The man was happy, really publicly happy and i'm sure thats been picked up by the squad the same as it has by me.
This is a man who can sit stone faced swigging from a bottle and not crack any kind of facial expression during Lamela's rabona, who even after the 5-3 and 4-1 against Chel53a and Emirates Marketing Project still felt there was significant work to be done and these results are the past now. It really felt like the sun came out with Poch yesterday.
Under Redknapp we had magnificent runs but there was always that itch at the back of your mind that this can't and won't last, and if we don't achieve something from this our squad is sightly reliant on a couple of players who won't be here much longer (Bale/Modric and i guess you could include King) or who are aging and will need to be moved on (Parker/Gallas etc) and poooof, rebuild time....again.
Under AVB there was a similar itch, but everything depended on Bale and there was always a nervousness after what happened to him at Chel53a, a vulnerability to the entire situation. Added to that the rumours of his transfer targets and his spiky relationship with the press and even Levy and as positive as we wanted to be we just couldn't relax.
Under Mauricio theres a feeling, for me anyway, of absolute concreted foundations. That this is going to last. A sense that he has the genuine respect of the players, the staff, Levy, the press and even pundits. A youthful squad playing for him and fighting for their positions and actually wanting to play to be PART of whats going on, not just to play because thats what footballers do.
His handling of Lamela, whatever the f*** he's done to/with the moose, his switching position of Dier, his crushing of the rumoured rebellious elements of the squad, i could go on and on, have been nothing short of magnificent.
Even the few question marks over his use of substitutions have dried up significantly recently and may hopefully evaporate when he's had a chance to add to the squad a bit more giving him more personally chosen options off the bench.
Theres no feeling of luck here, no feeling that we are where we are because Arsenal or Chel53a or whoever have had a bad start or run like there was under Redknapp/AVB, no feeling of "this is it right now, its good, great even, but it can't get better" either. There aren't even any crazy expectations from us (yet!) we are all still patient, calm and just enjoying whats happening...and knowing its getting better anyway.
I usually hate altering a couple of past results and then saying "wow look where we would be if..." but i can't stop myself thinking that a win over arsenal was highly deserved and i expected us to beat liverpool at home and that would have put us top of the table. Thats without even looking at the early part of the season when i thought we were quite poor, especially as entertainment and Kane not scoring.
Best of all though is the calm confidence i feel. Bad results may come but i don't think we will have a run of them. A player here and there may get upset but its going to be dealt with. Match by match we are going to improve. Week by week the players are becoming more drilled in whats expected of them and getting better at doing it. After Kane/Mason/Alli quality young players will be thinking this is the place to come and be given a real chance, Not Emirates Marketing Project, Not Chel53a, Not Man U. No chance Poch is going to crack, no chance he's going to get poached, no doubt who's the boss.
Concrete foundations.
Coys