Mauricio Pochettino - Sacked

[BrainOfLevy]

Eh. I disagree with the closing days of the window being the 'right time' to make a move for a player, because a) we're always going to be left scrambling for the few half-decent stalks left in the crop, who may not necessarily be the players we targeted at the start of the window, b) other clubs are still spending like drunken yuppies even as the window winds down - see the new Barkley/Chelsea links, for instance, and c) it sets us back, in terms of squad preparation, because we will always be weaker with the loss of key players sold/squad players moved on for at least the first few games of the season, as we head into August with an incomplete squad, September with our incomings still settling into life in England, October with our incomings not fit enough by our standards, and November with them still working their way into the tempo and tactics of the side. We effectively handicap ourselves in that regard.

I'm not saying the approach has no logic behind it - it's pretty apparent that we do it because of the reasons you listed. But I don't think it's the right approach to take in every scenario, absolutely not.

I also think the last days of the window thing is overblown a bit. If we can do deals in July, we will. (Wanyama, Toby, Janssen) but overall Levy is constantly weighing our position vs that of other clubs. If we need to spend tens of millions, we will do that too, so I'm not convinced it's about penny pinching (waiting until the last day to sign Sissoko didn't help us get him for a cheap price by any stretch of the imagination). I think it's more the case that we need to wait to make sure we get high quality players that we actually need.

It starts with having a defined way of playing, and therefore knowing the type of player required to help us become more than the sum of our parts. Then it becomes about having options in each position as opposed to scattergun signing players that agents have raised to us (which definitely happened before ). And this way, we know who we want, but then it's about making our moves in the right way to ensure we actually get them.

And our strategy, for our position and with our finances, I would say is the right one. We need to let other clubs spend their money and take up places in their squad so they can't realistically bid with us. Examples of us previously failing: making a move for Willian when Chelsea still had a gap in attacking midfield, and leaving us with no room to outbid them. Example of it working: Sanchez talking about how Barcelona were talking to him but there approach was half arsed - they are too distracted with the Neymar situation and trying to replace him. Other clubs like Chelsea had already made their moves with Rudiger etc so we have a clear run. No bidding war. The player sees us as a genuinely great move to progess his career, everyone is happy.

We don't know how many targets we would lose out on if we moved too quickly, but I think the strategy has been pretty consistent since Poch has been in post and we've finally been aligned between boardroom and technical staff. There have been no Willian type disasters. We seem to move efficiently from one target to the next if one doesn't work out, and we seem to be pretty good at getting deals done for good prices without entering unwinnable bidding wars. I can't think of a player we've desperately needed but lost to a Chelsea for example since Poch has been here. But we can now point to some great signings - Sanchez and Aurier hopefully - that we've executed pretty darn well.

I'm not convinced Poch is that fussed about Barkley to be honest. I think it's more if we can make it work we will, if not, we move on. I also don't know if the marginal cost of not signing these players 2/3/4 weeks earlier is now that big a deal. Our squad, aside from right back, should have been strong enough to compete well with Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Burnley and Chelsea. And by all accounts we needed Aurier's legal case to be sorted, and had able back up in Trippier. It's about getting the right players for the long term and I think we are doing that well. We are being very smart and there is a semblance of a plan, of us being in control, which I haven't always got from us, over the Jol, Ramos, Harry, AVB years. Miss out on Willian....get Dempsey? Was that really the plan?

 

[DubaiSpur]

I also think the last days of the window thing is overblown a bit. If we can do deals in July, we will. (Wanyama, Toby, Janssen) but overall Levy is constantly weighing our position vs that of other clubs. If we need to spend tens of millions, we will do that too, so I'm not convinced it's about penny pinching (waiting until the last day to sign Sissoko didn't help us get him for a cheap price by any stretch of the imagination). I think it's more the case that we need to wait to make sure we get high quality players that we actually need.

It starts with having a defined way of playing, and therefore knowing the type of player required to help us become more than the sum of our parts. Then it becomes about having options in each position as opposed to scattergun signing players that agents have raised to us (which definitely happened before ). And this way, we know who we want, but then it's about making our moves in the right way to ensure we actually get them.

And our strategy, for our position and with our finances, I would say is the right one. We need to let other clubs spend their money and take up places in their squad so they can't realistically bid with us. Examples of us previously failing: making a move for Willian when Chelsea still had a gap in attacking midfield, and leaving us with no room to outbid them. Example of it working: Sanchez talking about how Barcelona were talking to him but there approach was half arsed - they are too distracted with the Neymar situation and trying to replace him. Other clubs like Chelsea had already made their moves with Rudiger etc so we have a clear run. No bidding war. The player sees us as a genuinely great move to progess his career, everyone is happy.

I get where you're coming from - the part about being gazumped by other clubs if we move too early is pertinent. But it's also a bit overblown in my opinion, given that the types of player we can realistically target as our *top* targets early on will mostly get snapped up by the big clubs by the time August rolls around anyway. We're left looking for the targets that are left, as opposed to the ones we may have earmarked at the start of the window. So, realistically, it is less about getting the 'high quality players we actually need' than it is about being sure that we *get* who we go for. Difference in attributedd motivations at play, I think.

We don't know how many targets we would lose out on if we moved too quickly, but I think the strategy has been pretty consistent since Poch has been in post and we've finally been aligned between boardroom and technical staff. There have been no Willian type disasters. We seem to move efficiently from one target to the next if one doesn't work out, and we seem to be pretty good at getting deals done for good prices without entering unwinnable bidding wars. I can't think of a player we've desperately needed but lost to a Chelsea for example since Poch has been here. But we can now point to some great signings - Sanchez and Aurier hopefully - that we've executed pretty darn well.

I'm not sure we haven't lost out on players during Poch's tenure - we just don't hear about it all that much. But we definitely lost out on Batshuayi last season, and, prior to that, we moved *too late* for Schneiderlin and Rodriguez, long after Liverpool had already poached all the rest of Soton's good players - which led to both those players staying at Soton because they weren't willing to sell any more players that window.

This season, again, we don't know if we've missed out on our targets or not - we got Davinson, which (imo) is *fantastic* business and a great statement of intent, but whether he was our first-choice target or whether we gave up on the others as they secured moves beforehand is something we won't really know. Ditto Aurier - if he comes, although he's controversial on a personal level, he's a good footballer. But was he our first-choice?

I'm not convinced Poch is that fussed about Barkley to be honest. I think it's more if we can make it work we will, if not, we move on. I also don't know if the marginal cost of not signing these players 2/3/4 weeks earlier is now that big a deal. Our squad, aside from right back, should have been strong enough to compete well with Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Burnley and Chelsea. And by all accounts we needed Aurier's legal case to be sorted, and had able back up in Trippier. It's about getting the right players for the long term and I think we are doing that well. We are being very smart and there is a semblance of a plan, of us being in control, which I haven't always got from us, over the Jol, Ramos, Harry, AVB years. Miss out on Willian....get Dempsey? Was that really the plan?

Well, the cost of not signing these players earlier is playing others in their places - if we'd gotten them in early enough, they would likely have started the first games, and who knows how different things might have been with Aurier at RB instead of Trippier, or Davinson preventing Alonso's late run, and so on. I also don't know if Barkley is someone we want terribly badly (although we've been linked with him more than any other player in this window), but if he ends up going to Chelsea, and it turns out Poch wanted him....wouldn't that be missing out on a player because we moved far too late?

 

[Raziel]

In response to @DubaiSpur (as its not point to point, but thoughts)

When I look at who we brought in, specifically Sanchez, Aurier, Foyth, all three had built in delays. Sanchez was being looked at by Barca, no question his club was going to wait to see if Barca was going to make a bid, especially with their Neymar money. Aurier had to clear his court issues to be eligible to play here (happened in last week) and Foyth had to fight his club to come to us instead of PSG (who from all indications had their bid accepted). So actually don't think we could have changed the timeline on any of them.

If we do buy a player or two today, Barkley & Llorente are the rumours, Barkley has been injured and Everton is looking for stupid money, he's a bench player for us and is worth the gamble to wait. Llorente we probably could have acted earlier (smacks of 3rd choice or Janssen replacement to me).

We certainly can (and have) do business earlier, it just doesn't work out that way. Thankfully next season this won't be a conversation.

 

[Jordinho]

Mauricio Pochettino has warned new signing Serge Aurier he will not put up with any mischief at Tottenham.

Aurier has joined Spurs for £23million from Paris St Germain and Pochettino is hoping the defender proves a reformed character in north London.

The 24-year-old was banned by his former club for directing homophobic language at his then-manager Laurent Blanc and was then convicted of assaulting a police officer outside a nightclub in Paris.

Pochettino places a strong emphasis on discipline at Tottenham and insists he will come down hard on Aurier if he steps out of line.

“I said to him, ‘I will kill you’, I (would) head-butt him,” Pochettino said.

“I think it was good, we had a long chat. He knows very well how we are, what we expect from him and for us it’s so important, not only him, every player, how they behave here in the squad.

“We need to keep the dynamic we have created. I trust him, I am confident that he can succeed here and help the team to achieve the things we want.

“When you know and you meet some people, always you start to assess him from the day that you meet them and for me we start from (here) because I don’t know him before. For him I think it’s a new chapter in his life.”

Another player prone to controversy is Dele Alli, who is facing disciplinary action from FIFA for sticking his middle finger up during England’s win over Slovakia on Monday.

Alli said after the match it had been directed humorously at Kyle Walker, not referee Clement Turpin, while Walker later continued the joke by posting a well-known video of ‘Mr Bean’ repeatedly making the gesture from his car.

“Look at Mr Bean, no? All the people laugh about that and Dele was joking with Kyle Walker too. Come on. We need to censor Mr Bean,” Pochettino said.

“I respect every single opinion but from my point of view, there is nothing wrong from Dele. He is improving a lot. I am so happy with him. His behaviour is improving a lot.”

After signing Aurier on transfer deadline day, Tottenham also brought Fernando Llorente in from Swansea and Pochettino believes the 32-year-old will bring a winning mentality to his young squad.

Llorente has won the World Cup and European Championship with Spain, as well as the Europa League at Sevilla and three Serie A titles with Juventus.

“First of all he’s a great professional. He’s a world champion – he won the World Cup with Spain – and that is the mentality that can translate to us with the experience of winning big things,” Pochettino said.

“It’s not easy to have the facility to sign players like Llorente. It was an amazing chance for us and I think it’s fantastic he decided to sign for us.”

Pochettino will have been relieved to keep his own key players this summer but Toby Alderweireld’s future remains uncertain.

Alderweireld’s contract expires in 2019 and this week his advisor told Spurs either to improve the Belgian’s terms or allow him to leave. Pochettino, however, is not worried.

“Toby was talking with me in my office this morning,” the Argentinian said. “He’s so happy, he wants to make it clear he is fully committed with the club.”

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/pochettino-threatens-new-boy-aurier-with-head-butt

 

[parklane1]

After signing Aurier on transfer deadline day, Tottenham also brought Fernando Llorente in from Swansea and Pochettino believes the 32-year-old will bring a winning mentality to his young squad.

Llorente has won the World Cup and European Championship with Spain, as well as the Europa League at Sevilla and three Serie A titles with Juventus.

“First of all he’s a great professional. He’s a world champion – he won the World Cup with Spain – and that is the mentality that can translate to us with the experience of winning big things,” Pochettino said.



http://www.teamtalk.com/news/pochettino-threatens-new-boy-aurier-with-head-butt

This, this , this.

 

[Raziel]

Big day for Poch, lots of pressure with the Wembley nonsense, big European team and a must win to give us any shot of getting out group.

Went big on team lineup, Son & Aurier with starts.

Showed a different tactic by actually conceding possession in first half and playing a counter attack game, 2nd half stepped up a little to press higher and led to several opportunities.

Well done Poch.

 

[spurspinter1]

Poch's record at Wembley with Spurs was complete brick before today so I don't see how it is nonsense. Talking about a hoodoo or ghost or curse is nonsense but the results reflected the performances.

Today we were fortunate in the first half to go in 2 - 1 and then the crazily ruled out Dortmund goal helped but at long last at least the players looked like themselves at times, which is great news if we want to achieve anything.

 

[the dza]

We had a bit of luck, but Poch got the tactics spot on. Playing them on the counter led to so many chances for us, we could have scored 5 goals tonight and we'd still have had missed chances on top.

 

[scaramanga]

Poch's record at Wembley with Spurs was complete brick before today so I don't see how it is nonsense. Talking about a hoodoo or ghost or curse is nonsense but the results reflected the performances.

Today we were fortunate in the first half to go in 2 - 1 and then the crazily ruled out Dortmund goal helped but at long last at least the players looked like themselves at times, which is great news if we want to achieve anything.

Until we get a long way into this season, our matches at Wembley will have been disproportionately harder than most - CL last season, and cup finals/semi finals.

Of course our results will be worse at Wembley than most other places. Once we've got a season of matches against the likes of West Ham and Palace then we'll see where we really stand.

 

[Bullet]

I am not sure we chose to play on the counter i.e. we didn't necessarily want that to happen, but they pushed us back and back seriously well and we just couldn't get out by playing through midfield... we tried lots of times but Dier/Dembele/Eriksen got shut down straight away... so eventually we had to hit it longer and play on the counter.

We were hugely fortunate to get that goal given as offside, made a MASSIVE difference to the flow and confidence. Then we scored and they deflated big time.

 

[the dza]

I am not sure we chose to play on the counter i.e. we didn't necessarily want that to happen, but they pushed us back and back seriously well and we just couldn't get out by playing through midfield... we tried lots of times but Dier/Dembele/Eriksen got shut down straight away... so eventually we had to hit it longer and play on the counter.

We were hugely fortunate to get that goal given as offside, made a MASSIVE difference to the flow and confidence. Then we scored and they deflated big time.

I think it was definitely a conscious decision to hit them on the break, but we probably showed them a little too much respect in the first half. The balance was better in the 2nd.

I hope we play this way when we play Liverpool.

 

[Mikey10]

Until we get a long way into this season, our matches at Wembley will have been disproportionately harder than most - CL last season, and cup finals/semi finals.

Of course our results will be worse at Wembley than most other places. Once we've got a season of matches against the likes of West Ham and Palace then we'll see where we really stand.

This.

 

[spurspinter1]

Until we get a long way into this season, our matches at Wembley will have been disproportionately harder than most - CL last season, and cup finals/semi finals.

Of course our results will be worse at Wembley than most other places. Once we've got a season of matches against the likes of West Ham and Palace then we'll see where we really stand.

Yeah I appreciate that the CL group was a real grim one last year as there was nobody there just to make up the numbers but adding in Burnley this season and Gent/Genk (I should remember as I was there for that brickstorm..) of last, there's no benefit to attributing some enigmatic voodoo to the fact that anytime we'd played there under Poch (before today) we were brick. Chelsea are tough opposition, but you make it tougher if you play your mobile WF/3rd choice CF as a left back etc etc.

Today we were up against the ropes at times but came through with the result which is more then we've been able to say previously, we can pretend that Poch is GHod and that last season in the CL didn't happen or try to learn from it. It's great to make that positive start in the competition to blow out the cobwebs, and I also like how two new signings (one making a debut) looked like they'd been part of the team for years where with a fair few Poch Signings it'd taken a lot of time for them to look at home, in my opinion, Serge and Sanchez looked quality and made for it. The kicker now for the group is if we can get a point at their gaff, because if we have play under the same pressure and buckle it'll be tit for tat and won't be as consequential.

 

[mjc23]

What a guy.

 

[Briddo1882]

Yes the disallowed goal was lucky, but how much bad luck have we had at Wembley (against Chelsea alone) in the past.

We made our own luck tonight. We beat an excellent team. Poch showed he's a bit of a wiz where tactics are concerned......but more importantly he can put the tactics across so the players understand him.

Poch is the best manager we have had for years, possibly since Burkinshaw. Just need to win a few of those silver pots that look nice in a display cabinet.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Until we get a long way into this season, our matches at Wembley will have been disproportionately harder than most - CL last season, and cup finals/semi finals.

Of course our results will be worse at Wembley than most other places. Once we've got a season of matches against the likes of West Ham and Palace then we'll see where we really stand.

Christ on a bike.... this is what I've been screaming from the hills

We have conceded a crazily high proportion of goals on target vs misses... and then when you look at it we lost to some top top sides and Leverkusen

 

[thfcsteff]

Yes the disallowed goal was lucky, but how much bad luck have we had at Wembley (against Chelsea alone) in the past.

We made our own luck tonight. We beat an excellent team. Poch showed he's a bit of a wiz where tactics are concerned......but more importantly he can put the tactics across so the players understand him.

Poch is the best manager we have had for years, possibly since Burkinshaw. Just need to win a few of those silver pots that look nice in a display cabinet.

Absolutely. Not to mention the fact that in the first passage build-up to their goal, the bloke was offside!!!! By a clear yard.

 

[nayenezgani]

Does anyone else wonder why @DubaiSpur goes suspiciously missing when we have these momentous successes?

I swear he enjoys reveling in our shortcomings rather than embracing our achievements.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

I am not sure we chose to play on the counter i.e. we didn't necessarily want that to happen, but they pushed us back and back seriously well and we just couldn't get out by playing through midfield... we tried lots of times but Dier/Dembele/Eriksen got shut down straight away... so eventually we had to hit it longer and play on the counter.

We were hugely fortunate to get that goal given as offside, made a MASSIVE difference to the flow and confidence. Then we scored and they deflated big time.

It was, without doubt (IMO of course) a very deliberate tactical change.

I pointed to the commentary in the match thread, they were judging the game as though we were playing as we always do. Which, to give them a little slack, we ALWAYS do. So they put it down as a Dortmund masterclass we couldnt cope with pushing us back...

Seemed obvious to me we didnt really initiate the press until they were into our half. Which is most unlike us. Of course we pushed up and tried to nick it, but it was more of a token effort compared to our usual style. Then they come into our half, we swarm them and try to counter.

People often say we play too high a defensive line, theirs was suicidal.

I absolute conceed we got lucky a good handful of times, and if we didnt it could have been a very different result. That said, we scored 3 and really should have had 3 more!

This is the first time Ive seen Posh really change things up for an opponent, which for me is thrilling - if he is learning to adapt more to win more, I just love the guy even more.

I think it was definitely a conscious decision to hit them on the break, but we probably showed them a little too much respect in the first half. The balance was better in the 2nd.

I hope we play this way when we play Liverpool.

Or, this. If you cant be bothered to read my ramblings read this quote.

Reminds me of when we first beat Arsenal under Redknapp. Deliberately sat back. Pushed them wide because they only attack well through the middle, hit them on the break. Won 2-1 with somethignn like 30% possession, people said it was some sort of baffling result. It wasnt. It was a deliberate ploy, we executed perfectly and were never not in control.

Last night was similar, although not as accomplished.

What a guy.

Smoke him a kipper, he'll be back for breakfast!

 

[nelto]

Woof!