• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Mauricio Pochettino

We are all victims of our own success eventually, i.e. the Peter principle, but to take a few of your points

- The issue wasn't the sale of Walker, it was 1. How he handled the situation when Walker made it clear, 2. Not adapting to a player that wasn't Walker (or adapting to Rose not being the same player he was either)

- You hit on what's Poch's biggest flaw, he relies on young, hungry players that blindly believe in him and will run themselves into the ground mentally and physically, Him not being able to manage Dembele like other managers at Spurs managed King is a horrible statement, Dembele has literally come out and said he could have played the games, his body just couldn't take Poch's training. The failure to help the team win anything broke the belief, and the older players broke first ..

- To me, the blueprint for Poch's success was there, transition to a team that has young +a few key experienced players, focus on getting the best out of Dele, Son and Eriksen (Kane is a given), manage Dembele, change the system from a FB overcommit model to a higher reliance on AMs (we have a lot of depth there), find a way to incorporate newer players faster into system (a year+ is too long to make an impact), work more on tactics than outrunning the opponents (again I see Eriksen as example, under Poch he consistently ran more mileage than all but top 2 or 3 midfielders in the league, is that what we really wanted from fudging Eriksen?)

Said it before, hindsight makes it easy and maybe it makes hypocrites out of us all .. but success was there for him .. he wasn't good enough
You must’ve had a fantastic career in football management mate. I bet you won the quadruple a couple of times on your computer didn’t you?
 
If he so selling youth team players for that much money and of course the lesser players he doesn’t and doesn’t play then that’s fine

it’s not like we were forced to sell first team players that the friend coach didn’t want is it? well walker claims Poch binned him off and I believe Poch said the opposite but there you go
pretty sure everyone else was deemed surplus to requirements and no one was sold without Poch approval
City had already been in Walker’s ear offering him 3 times his money. Walker threw a strop when he asked for a significant pay hike at Spurs and was told one wasn’t forthcoming.

I think at times he might’ve sold players he would’ve liked to have kept in order to raise funds. Mason for example I think he would’ve kept. Also last season he had both Trippier and Aurier available with whoever raised the biggest fee able to go to raise funds for other transfers. In an ideal world I think he would’ve kept them both until after we’d brought in a new first choice right back but needed to generate funds.
 
Last edited:
There is younger and better options out there
Isak could become brilliant from what I’ve seen but his buy out may have changed
Muriqi could progress nicely and would be a real handful for teams here
Both should cost £20/£30m and both would love to play for a cub like ours so would have the hunger needed to play second fiddle at times
I think Isak will be a lot more than £20m now. I mentioned Muriqi in the transfer thread and think he would be perfect. I guess it depends on our budget this summer, I think it is likely to be reduced due to lower league finish, lack of CL next season. I wonder whether it would make sense to sell Ndombele to raise funds if somebody would take him for say £45 million? Or is it possible that his attitude could be sorted out (I think attitudes aren’t a thing easily changed).
 
I think Isak will be a lot more than £20m now. I mentioned Muriqi in the transfer thread and think he would be perfect. I guess it depends on our budget this summer, I think it is likely to be reduced due to lower league finish, lack of CL next season. I wonder whether it would make sense to sell Ndombele to raise funds if somebody would take him for say £45 million? Or is it possible that his attitude could be sorted out (I think attitudes aren’t a thing easily changed).
Our funds IMO will be down but I believe we budget around £30/£50m for Europe and we have an upside coming from the new ground which will compensate for that loss
I think we’re looking at similar money to this season with sales although the curve ball was £27m in January. My guess is £100m plus sales

isak has an agreed fee of £30 which to me means we could gazump it with a few £m more to Dortmund (like we did to get Toby)

But I’d gladly take Muriqi. From hat little I’ve seen of him he reminds me of Mitrovic in thats he is a nuisance striker to play again at and that’s part of our problem recently. No one wants to make the defenders work hard

on Ndom... fudge knows!!!
Im a massive fan. I was one of the Geist go say sign him 2 years ago and the guy has all the tools. What he is missing clearly is a mind set to suit this league. It’s fixable but only if he wants to fix it. I hope sissoko has some kind of influence over him as he is his mate and you cannot argue around sissoko attitude not being top notch.
We do know that joss isn’t a forgiving man and that won’t help unfortunately. Date i say Poch would have suited this situation better
 
Last edited:
You must’ve had a fantastic career in football management mate. I bet you won the quadruple a couple of times on your computer didn’t you?

Seriously mate? fudge off ..

Several people have tried to have a legitimate conversation with you, point of views and you circle back to the same stance and then this?

My response could be exactly the same, you want to support a team that buys titles/trophies and any player they want? there are 2-3 clubs I could suggest
 
Our wage bill was under 40% of turnover, the lowest ratio in the PL, so even with wages, he had less backing pro-rata than every other PL manager.
We had a stadium to pay for. Poch was party to the decision to spend our funds on upping wages (to keep players) rather than on new signings.
 
Seriously mate? fudge off ..

Several people have tried to have a legitimate conversation with you, point of views and you circle back to the same stance and then this?

My response could be exactly the same, you want to support a team that buys titles/trophies and any player they want? there are 2-3 clubs I could suggest
I’ve had legitimate conversations on here with many, many people, over many, many years. Not sure I’ve ever told a single one of them to fudge off.

Apologies that my response to you was a little flippant. It’s just that I find it quite amusing to read posts that make it all seem so easy for our manager (always with a large dollop of hindsight of course). I think some forget that this is the only manager in our entire history to take us to the final of the biggest European competition, the only manager we have ever had that achieved 4 top 4 finishes in a row, and he did this largely operating with one hand tied behind his back. He wasn’t perfect, nobody is. However I think some on here are disgustingly disrespectful of what he did for our club.

As for supporting another team, that is a very low blow old boy. I assume you are a true Spurs supporter, who has and has only ever had, one club? If so then you’d know that changing clubs isn’t an option. Of course I have no idea, having only met one or two posters from this forum, however I would be confident in saying that I have spent more money on following Spurs and seen more games live than all but perhaps 2 or 3 on here. I have had my ST for over 25 years now, and an away ST for several years as well.
 
We had a stadium to pay for. Poch was party to the decision to spend our funds on upping wages (to keep players) rather than on new signings.
Indeed, and do you think that was the right decision? Would Harry Kane still be here earning £60k a week for example?

I don’t think our decisions on transfer and wage budgets were wrong. Once the stadium went way over budget, Levy had to get the money from somewhere, as I don’t think the club could’ve carried £1 billion + of debt. Diverting transfer funds and wage budget to the stadium fund is completely expected.

My only point is that considering that wage and transfer budget, Poch over achieved and did so by quite a significant margin. I fail to see how anyone cannot agree with that.
 
Our funds IMO will be down but I believe we budget around £30/£50m for Europe and we have an upside coming from the new ground which will compensate for that loss
I think we’re looking at similar money to this season with sales although the curve ball was £27m in January. My guess is £100m plus sales

isak has an agreed fee of £30 which to me means we could gazump it with a few £m more to Dortmund (like we did to get Toby)

But I’d gladly take Muriqi. From hat little I’ve seen of him he reminds me of Mitrovic in thats he is a nuisance striker to play again at and that’s part of our problem recently. No one wants to make the defenders work hard

on Ndom... fudge knows!!!
Im a massive fan. I was one of the Geist go say sign him 2 years ago and the guy has all the tools. What he is missing clearly is a mind set to suit this league. It’s fixable but only if he wants to fix it. I hope sissoko has some kind of influence over him as he is his mate and you cannot argue around sissoko attitude not being top notch.
We do know that joss isn’t a forgiving man and that won’t help unfortunately. Date i say Poch would have suited this situation better
If we have £100m plus sales then that should be enough to get us back to top 4 (although I expect Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool to all spend a lot more than that this summer).

It does mean that we might to buy clever though, i.e. be clever with a couple of bosmans like Willian and Kurzawa, and also look at players with 1 year on their contract like K0ch and Hopjberg.

Ndombele in some ways I would hate to see leave, as I think he has as much ability as Paul Gascoigne. Unfortunately though it seems he doesn’t have Gaza’s same will to win, and that is something that just cannot be taught.
 
If we have £100m plus sales then that should be enough to get us back to top 4 (although I expect Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool to all spend a lot more than that this summer).

It does mean that we might to buy clever though, i.e. be clever with a couple of bosmans like Willian and Kurzawa, and also look at players with 1 year on their contract like K0ch and Hopjberg.

Ndombele in some ways I would hate to see leave, as I think he has as much ability as Paul Gascoigne. Unfortunately though it seems he doesn’t have Gaza’s same will to win, and that is something that just cannot be taught.
There is talk of clubs not going mad in spend due to “current” circumstances but we will see

I do think we will spend £150m though which is 5/6 bergwein level players which could really improve the squad

I’m also not convinced Chelsea have the money to spend that much and they have losses recently to manage. They also have a big squad despite the rumours which is an issue for them

United will spend but I’m not sure on what or who as their a club who haven’t had a plan for years. And their most recent signings have worked consistently which isn’t normal for any club.

pool will tweak the team but also shift some out so they will be trading and juggling hoping to get better in for those out (Shaquiri, Llallan and dingdongvick)

it’s a weird summer and no one knows what the real imo act of COVID will have. We’re in a great place though due out set up and wage structure.

I’ll be interested in what teams like Everton do as their cooking the books now with Usmanovs money and it’s going under the radar
 
I’ve had legitimate conversations on here with many, many people, over many, many years. Not sure I’ve ever told a single one of them to fudge off.

Apologies that my response to you was a little flippant. It’s just that I find it quite amusing to read posts that make it all seem so easy for our manager (always with a large dollop of hindsight of course). I think some forget that this is the only manager in our entire history to take us to the final of the biggest European competition, the only manager we have ever had that achieved 4 top 4 finishes in a row, and he did this largely operating with one hand tied behind his back. He wasn’t perfect, nobody is. However I think some on here are disgustingly disrespectful of what he did for our club.

As for supporting another team, that is a very low blow old boy. I assume you are a true Spurs supporter, who has and has only ever had, one club? If so then you’d know that changing clubs isn’t an option. Of course I have no idea, having only met one or two posters from this forum, however I would be confident in saying that I have spent more money on following Spurs and seen more games live than all but perhaps 2 or 3 on here. I have had my ST for over 25 years now, and an away ST for several years as well.

Mate, it's more than flippant and I have been on this board a long time and through many iterations and haven't had to tell anyone to fudge off ..

You equate my point of view to some teenager playing video games and are offended by me telling you to find another club? Yes I know it's not an option, I've also supported the club for a long time and can have the money spent argument (I've lived in 8 countries and I fly to London to see games, so it's airline, hotel, +ticket costs for me), doesn't make me a "better" fan, just means I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it as I got older (just like some fans are lucky enough to be in London).

The rest of the conversation I'm not going to do .. you have your point of view and are not interested in counter points ..
 
Mate, it's more than flippant and I have been on this board a long time and through many iterations and haven't had to tell anyone to fudge off ..

You equate my point of view to some teenager playing video games and are offended by me telling you to find another club? Yes I know it's not an option, I've also supported the club for a long time and can have the money spent argument (I've lived in 8 countries and I fly to London to see games, so it's airline, hotel, +ticket costs for me), doesn't make me a "better" fan, just means I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it as I got older (just like some fans are lucky enough to be in London).

The rest of the conversation I'm not going to do .. you have your point of view and are not interested in counter points ..
Au contraire old boy. I always read other people’s points of view, I don’t have to agree with them however. Or do you think yours is the only point of view that counts? You think Poch had an easy job and under performed, I think the opposite. Either one of us could be right. You seem to be getting a little hot under the collar though. It’s also a little puzzling to see you say that I’m not interested in counter points as you then say ‘the rest of the conversation I’m not going to do’?

As it seems you are indeed a real, true lilywhite, Spurs fan, you’ll know it is an absurd suggestion to tell another fan to support another club.

Anyway, let me know the next time you’re over and what games(s) you’re going to and, home or away, I’ll buy you a beer and we can debate Poch, Jose, Levy, Ndombele, or whatever you choose, civilly over a drink.
 
Nail on head. Poch was the perfect manager for us at that point in time. However his failure to adapt to changing circumstances was his Achilles heel.

"Failure to adapt to changing circumstances.."?!!!!

What are you talking about?
The "changing circumstances" that saw him create a top 4 regular on a shoe-string, only to be expected to behave in year 4/5 like he did in year 1 i.e. you ultimately do what we tell you? I could go on...
 
Seriously mate? fudge off ..

Several people have tried to have a legitimate conversation with you, point of views and you circle back to the same stance and then this?

My response could be exactly the same, you want to support a team that buys titles/trophies and any player they want? there are 2-3 clubs I could suggest

Except that wasn't necessary. We had the man and systematically fudged it in the final two years of him being here. We didn't notice as much because we were still top 4.
 
That would be the most ludicrous thing we could do. Well, one of them...

I don't want to veer this thread off topic (ah the irony considering the purpose of this thread!) but I don't see N'dombele + Dele working out long term in the same team / squad so one of them has gotta go in the long term IMO!

To bring it back to Poch, I don't want to use the term being a victim of his own success as I don't consider what he achieved as true success, how could it be considered as such without demeaning our days of actual glory? It's that issue of getting so close but knowing that he wasn't the man to take it that crucial next step. Maybe you could say it's chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or that I have unrealistic ambitions of the club but I'm just always disappointed in us striving to be the bricky version of Arsenal that didn't win anything. However there was some great football and beautiful moments, just a shame that it always came with a crashing wave of disappointment when I feel like the quality was there to have made the final step.

I don't know if I posted on here to this effect but when he was touted I thought "He looks like a great project manager but is he a natural born winner?" and I think there's enough evidence to suggest that he is not. I was also aware of a few high cost (all relative I know) signings that hadn't panned out for him and as mentioned the big money gambles did not work. There's already been enough back and forth on this thread with esteemed posters who have a deeper understanding of finances / the market, I'd have to side with @Bedfordspurs when we look at the general quality of player brought in but also the condition of players by the time Poch was dismissed.
 
"Failure to adapt to changing circumstances.."?!!!!

What are you talking about?
The "changing circumstances" that saw him create a top 4 regular on a shoe-string, only to be expected to behave in year 4/5 like he did in year 1 i.e. you ultimately do what we tell you? I could go on...

If you can't comprehend simple English then I will spell it out for you in bite sized chunks.

The good: Phase 1 He came in. We already had a good base. He sorted out our squad. His first two seasons he recruited well. He forged us into a great team. We played fantastic football at a high tempo. He created a super club with everyone pulling in the same direction. Everyone believing in the project.

The bad: Phase2: World class training facilites. Fantastic new stadium being built.Team at the height of its powers. BUT we never won anything. Our recruitment was a shambles. No quality players purchased - even though we were CL regulars. Poch unable to improve hardly any of the many players bought in this Phase. Existing team breaking down - Walker sold, Dembele, Dier and Wanyama broken. Multiple injuries. Discipline breaking down.

The ugly: Phase 3: Poch losing it - starting imo at Burnley away. Team ageing and unable to cope with double training sessions. Players losing form. Many different formations tried. Unrest apparent but masked by flukey run to CL final. Poch exacerbating situation by sounding off in press . No coherent transfer strategy with lack of quality recruits and zero succession planning.Team form now essentially relegation standard. Poch's last throw of the dice was to splash mega cash on players he then said wouldn't be ready for 18 months to two years! His transfer dealings over Phase 2 and 3 finally comes back to haunt him despite spending over £400m during his tenure on new players. Levy has had enough.
 
Replies in bold within your...


If you can't comprehend simple English then I will spell it out for you in bite sized chunks.

My comprehension is wonderful thank you. Your trite and inaccurate summation required further explanation IMO. That's all. By the way, try and remain civil would you? I can join you in PatroSarcasm Alley" but it won't be a good look.




The good: Phase 1 He came in. We already had a good base. He sorted out our squad. His first two seasons he recruited well. He forged us into a great team. We played fantastic football at a high tempo. He created a super club with everyone pulling in the same direction. Everyone believing in the project.

"A good base" eh? Why don't you lobby for Sherwood's return then?


The bad: Phase2: World class training facilites. Fantastic new stadium being built.Team at the height of its powers. BUT we never won anything. Our recruitment was a shambles. No quality players purchased - even though we were CL regulars. Poch unable to improve hardly any of the many players bought in this Phase. Existing team breaking down - Walker sold, Dembele, Dier and Wanyama broken. Multiple injuries. Discipline breaking down.



See, this is where YOUR "comprehension of how our club is structured is obviously lacking. Do some research. Your assertion if the players remains a moot point (that is you bang the same drum and it simply does not fit the song). Your inability to comprehend what it is to remain top 4 when not in your own stadium is remarkable. That's just the start...


The ugly: Phase 3: Poch losing it - starting imo at Burnley away. Team ageing and unable to cope with double training sessions. Players losing form. Many different formations tried. Unrest apparent but masked by flukey run to CL final. Poch exacerbating situation by sounding off in press . No coherent transfer strategy with lack of quality recruits and zero succession planning.Team form now essentially relegation standard. Poch's last throw of the dice was to splash mega cash on players he then said wouldn't be ready for 18 months to two years! His transfer dealings over Phase 2 and 3 finally comes back to haunt him despite spending over £400m during his tenure on new players. Levy has had enough.


You are so far off the compass I am viewing that it remains a useless discussion. Needless to say, the person who FAILED to adjust their vision in this situation is Levy. No blame per se, he has a method which has worked for him and us in terms of building structures, but the dynamic shifted two years ago and he needed to either back Poch or not. He chose not to.

I almost wish Poch had quit then; you and others might understand more clearly. Instead he showed too much loyalty, to us and the players. He bears responsibilities for not being decisive enough in a couple of instances, but had he quit when we were in the middle of building the stadium it would've royally fudged us. Royally.

He never looked for "giant" investment, he wanted PRUDENT investment and quick sales. BTW 65 on Ndombele, 25(?) on Sess and LoCelso was what, 20 on loan with option to buy? Both on the last day of the window? With us knowing Eriksen was going? With Poch having asked for Grealish for 25 mill and not got him a year before?

We had JUST been in the CL Final. It was the moment to right some wrongs. He didn't even get who he wanted by pre-season.

No-one is ever 100% innocent, but the degrees you land on him are simply inaccurate.


 
Back