In Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at White Hart Lane he has overseen the emergence of some very talented youngsters, taken Tottenham to a Wembley cup final for the first time in seven years, and recorded memorable home victories over two of Spurs' fiercest rivals in Arsenal and Chelsea. With Tottenham fans perhaps more excited about the future than at any other time since the beginning of the Premier League, I look at the reasons as to why I believe Tottenham and Pochettino are the perfect match.
The best managers in the world have very unique styles. What they all have in common is that their varied styles produce success. Different managerial philosophies mean that success can be attained in a variety of ways, and of course, the very term success is defined differently, based on the club being managed. Pochettino has a very unique style- tenacious without the ball; his team’s press the opposition high up the field and allow them no time to develop attacks from deep. The swarming of the Arsenal and Chelsea players at White Hart Lane this season was evidence of this in 2-1 and 5-3 victories respectively. Danny Rose has somewhat come to embody the philosophy of his manager, reminiscent of the energizer bunny as he races up and down the Tottenham left-flank supplying quality deliveries going forward, and controlled aggression when defending. However, to match this controlled aggression without the ball, Pochettino firmly believes in a passing style full of creativity, with the likes of Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli and Kane allowed to express themselves when in possession of the football. The 2014-15 season for Tottenham was successful. The club is going through a period of transition which has seen the exit of the likes of Bale, Modric, Van der Vaart and King leave in recent years. The emergence of younger players has meant that the levels of expectancy at the club have been somewhat lowered, and as I alluded to earlier, the definition of success at Spurs is now a different one.
Many fans were pleasantly surprised by the 5th place finish which was achieved by Pochettino’s men. To catch and overtake Southampton was an achievement, and then to pip Liverpool to 5th place made for a very enjoyable season’s end. It also proved what can be done with a very young side, the experience gained from this past season will be invaluable in the future.
What we are beginning to see at Tottenham now as well, is the adoption of a genuine forward-thinking plan of action regarding transfers. Take the likes of Alli, Wimmer and Trippier- all three are young, hungry, exciting additions to the Spurs ranks. Pochettino evidently enjoys working with younger players, and does not shy away from placing his trust in them for the big occasions. Mason, Bentaleb, Kane and Rose can all vouch for that. Alex Pritchard and Tom Carroll are likely to feel the positives of this new way of thinking at White Hart Lane too- themselves will act like two new signings for the 2015-16 season.
With money perhaps a little more tight than it has been in recent years due to the financial constraints placed upon the club by the building of the new stadium, Pochettino’s eye for developing youngsters, combined with the scouting expertise of Head of Recruitment Paul Mitchell, there is a very rosy tint to the transfer dealings which Spurs are likely to do this summer. Rather than pay over the top prices for international stars (which is a tried and failed method in recent years at Spurs), Pochettino seems to be placing an emphasis on youth. With the backing of Daniel Levy never in question (Levy has always backed his managers with fair sums), there is a genuine belief that Pochettino and Tottenham are a very, very good match.
With Paulinho, Kaboul, Capoue, Soldado, Adebayor and Dembele all supposedly deemed surplus to requirements if sufficient replacements can be found, the transfer policy at Tottenham is now steeped in a belief that youthful hunger can be an adequate replacement for an international who is perhaps not willing to implement his managers style. There are rumours that Jonjo Shelvey could be on his way to Tottenham, a move that does not sound too surprising when you think of his age, tenacity, and ability with the football- Shelvey would suit the aggressive, high-pressing style of Pochettino sides when they do not have the ball.
Given that so much is changing at Tottenham - the new training ground is state of the art, the stadium is soon to be too, Pochettino is leading a very positive and exciting charge at the helm of our great club, and is quickly changing the perception of Spurs. One particularly remembers Alan Hansen’s theory that ‘you can’t win anything with kids’- that’s been proven wrong in the past, let’s hope the young charges from Tottenham Hotspur, and indeed their young manager, can continue to prove that theory very wrong.
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I am sorry but that is a poor view, and makes me wonder if the writer watched us at all last year?
ReplyDeletePochettino is a one- dimensional coach, unable to adapt if tjings dont work. You wtite as though he invented the pressing style - he didn't. Biesla seems to and has many disciples who play it.
The season produced generally lacklustre football that saw us beaten by relegation fodder, and only 5 or so games out of just over 50, were decently executed. Take out Kane, and we were mid table.
Pochettino is little different vto a lot of managers in playing talented younger players. Last year under Sherwood we played Rose, Bentakeb and Kane occassionalky. The diference this year? iMason (for a change he came back off loan uninjured) and eventually gave Kane more games.
If Pochettino is the right man for Sours, then we deserve to be mid table mediocrity.
that seems to be a quite limited view of last season.. Poch did improve a number of players (Rose, Bentelab, Kane with extra 1-1 sessions with poch, Chadli, Lamela (I think) was king of assists last season though I concede is expected better.. Some of the football was poor I agree and without Kane your right about mid-table.. Dier was quality in his first season. We had literally nothing down the right all season with over-rated Walker (which poich has observed with Tripp signing) and that embarassment Townsend.. Poch is relatively quick to bring on subs round the 60th minute mark if there is no improvement in 2nd half (albeit within same said system). AVB just won title in Russia but the fans hate him, why? Because of the sturgid football on show. Once all dead wood shifted and replaced with pochs own choices of young hungry players who WANT to play for spurs will be great to see. Thank God we dodged the bullet of the baffoon LVG. I agree with the author, next season will be much better and seasons to follow..
DeleteIt is unbeleivable this talking up of the extremely average.
ReplyDeleteThe 'philosophy' if existant is Turgid, Poch pulled in less points than the previous car crash of a season which had a managerial change with the 2nd half of the season Sherwood in charge.
The famous 'youl win nothing with kids' will certainly ring true for average Spurs, average Poch and the penny pinching bargain basement Chairman.
hmm penny pinching chairman!!! Backed every single manager not least AVB whereby he spent ALL of Bale money.. How can't you see progress made last year not just with playing staff but with Baldinis change in role and Paul Mitchell appointment, another piece of astute business to add to Levys long list that includes 32m for a what, 28/29 year old berbs, carrick for 18m (in 2006), modric and bale who he got extra season out of despite their intent to leave, VDV bought for 8m sold for 15m..And provided us with solid financial base from which to operate, we could so easily be just like villa, everton, newcastle but were not, why? DANIEL LEVY. Maybe you'd like some sheik to take over and turn us into another faceless club like chelski or city whereby our players are crying because they haven't got a birthday cake,, Maybe you want yours and to eat it.. And our players so average that half of them wanted by bigger clubs, benetalb, kane, rose, lloris etc... 2 more astute signings by poch/mitchell in Wimmer/Trippier with more to follow. How can you be so negative? You just exposed yourself as yet another spurs fan who has no clue..
DeleteWhats the positives then Ged?
ReplyDeleteYour singing about being a feeder club!
Were so much better than Villa, Everton and Newcastle coz we finish 5th/6th?
1 league cup in 14 years im sure glory is on the horizon!
And if hes backed every manager hes obviously not done it very well
ReplyDeletewell he handed over the cash!!! How well can you do that.. If managers are wasting it what can he do.. Redknapp buying Kaboul, piinaar, palacios, crouch, Pavlyuchenko, hutton, rocha, chimbonda, bentley - you cant lay that at levys door.. Bale and modric say they don't want to play for club, Berbs literally going on strike. All he can do in that position is get highest fee for player which he repeatedly does and more. Positives, ok, Financial stability with global partnerships worldwide, understanding importance of selling spurs brand globally, new stadium which looks great, Rose outstanding this season, Kane explosion, hanging on to lloris/vertonghen last summer (this summer too?), Bentelab, Dier quality especially at 4m, pritchard looking the real deal (though time will tell i guess), huge talent pool in youth set up.. You seem pretty fixated on the negatives so I think I'm wasting my time.. So many positives yet you don't mention one.
ReplyDeleteWe arent going to miraculously kick on with the current set up.
ReplyDeleteEvery season is the same achieving nothing then clinging to any positive we can grab on to, to help excuse/paper over the ultimate failure.
Charging fans through the nose to watch our stars leave and watch the money wasted then the bargain basement buys come in.
This is not a recipe for success never has been never will.