Article by David CoatesClick here to follow e-Spurs on Twitter!
So World Cup fever is upon us and the battles and the awful refereeing has commenced in Brazil. International football holds court in the minds of most fans. But during the past week we have witnessed a monumental occurrence at White Hart Lane.
Mauricio Pochettino spoke to us and in English. There has been a preconception that Pochettino can’t communicate in English. Obviously that can now be put to bed because his English is excellent.
So what can we take from Pochettino’s first interview as our Head Coach? Quite a lot in my view. The interview was obviously staged and rehearsed but there were occasions of improvisation. There were messages for the fans in relation to making us proud of our club. I will always be proud to be Spurs, as much as they upset and anger me my pride in the cockerel is never at stake. But I understand what Poch means.
There was a heart warming message for the players. What this signalled to them was that if you don’t buy into Pochettino’s philosophy you will not be at the club. If you don’t buy into Pochettino’s training methods then you are for the exit door. That’s what I read into it. That’s because of the clarity that Mauricio delivered it with. It was a subtle warning and this is to be welcomed. Those of us who watched the game at Upton Park last season saw a lazy and unfocused display which summed up our lacklustre season.
There will be players already dreading the double session regime but as our new man says the coaching team will use common sense so there is no need for the players to be afraid. I actually want some of them to be afraid. Those who didn’t put the effort in last season need to shape up and prove they want to play for us. I’m currently struggling to think of any clubs who are knocking down our door for our players. This may change after the World Cup, Lloris being the biggest risk, but I’m not really concerned at the moment and this summer so far has been a world away from the last two.
The biggest talking point of the interview for me was the news that Steffen Freund was staying on. I was surprised by this announcement. When Freund was a player with us he was a player of basic ability. His job was to break up play, to act as motivator around the dressing room and to wind up opponents. I will always respect Freund for taking on the challenge of upsetting the two hardest players in the premier league Roy Keane and Duncan Ferguson. However, I don’t understand why he has been given a role at Spurs going forward. My view when Sherwood was dismissed was that we needed a clean slate. The last year has been poisonous inside the club. We needed to remove any first team staff involved in that time and start from scratch. Ferdinand and Ramsey are still in the club but this is a ploy from Levy to get compensation from any club who employ Tim Sherwood. It would appear WBA are going to take this chance so the two of those remain on our payroll until Sherwood’s appointment is confirmed.
Pochettino has brought in an assistant in Jesus Perez, a first team coach in Miguel D’Agostino and a goal keeping coach in Toni Jimenez. The feel good factor is back and I don’t see where Freund fits in or what he has to offer. He was sidelined by AVB and even more so by Sherwood. He’s gone from being assistant manager to a man without a title in the space of 8 months. Plenty of people on twitter have been delighted by the news that he is staying on but we are like no other club. We love old players to come back to the lane regardless of ability and that is purely based on nostalgia because we don’t win anything. Some of you may say that Freund will have coaching skills. My response to that is where is the interest from other clubs and why has he been demoted so quickly. My choice to join the new team would have been Ledley King. Who else is better equipped to teach Pochettino of the culture of our club and what it means? This would also give us the chance to get Ledley on the coaching ladder. This isn’t a sentimental idea or hypocritical considering my point made above but this would have served a benefit to Pochettino and to Ledley King rather than an appointment to minimise another compensation payout. Freund staying doesn’t help Spurs or the man himself.
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Van Gaal has spoken too the other day, and actually Cappuccino speaks the better English of the two. :) I have a very good feeling about this appointment, Just the way he smiles and mentions doubling or tripling the training :)
ReplyDeleteFreund was Germany under 17 manager before joining our coaching staff and by all accounts he was highly highly rated in the germany set up for his coaching skills and in particular youth development. I'd hazard a guess he Iis actually a very competent coach, quite often mediocre players become exceptional coaches as they have had to spend more time studying tactics and skills than those more talented to whom everything on the field came naturally.
ReplyDeleteSteffan Freund is more experienced as a coach than the King but you want Leders instead when you bashed Sherwood consistently because of lack of experience. Yes different roles but your just a biased bitch.
ReplyDeleteStrange anti Freund article from A Spurs supporter - Looking to stir unrest or some other reason?, Ledley King has NEVER coached to my knowledge and may not want to so why write such rubbish - unless to ferment trouble!
ReplyDeletean excellent write un spurs.very fair and sensible.we have waited far too long with false hopes.at last our chairman may have got it right.
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