A serious look at Mauricio Pochettino

SquishyMcSquish said:
In fairness this was more because of the ineptitude of others around us. We did everything we possibly could to throw away fourth.

But overall yes, it was a good season for the club. We spent nothing but got to a CL final and got top four, it's better than we could have hoped for.
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In final weeks yes but you were distracted by CL, defeat to West Ham you weren't on it at all and Bournemouth was just wierd self destruction.

Crucial thing was building up 10 point lead on likes of Man. United and Arsenal at various points in the season. It was enough to get you over the line and obviously CL is important to keep paying bills in next stadium.

Could be a good time to freshen up the 11 now. Will probably be Eriksen's last game tonight and I suspect Dele Alli won't be automatic starter next season. Atm he's in on reputation.

So chance to mix up the central midfield. Think you need new full backs aswell, Trippier is a real weak link these days and he's being linked with moves.
 
Ban said:
Yeah I don't know if it was a lack of rhythm or them being nervous but I think players will asking themselves if they could have done more. Maybe it wasn't meant to be but I think they should have been a bit more adventurous.
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100% they will. The likes of Kane, Eriksen, Alli, Son all know they're capable of far better and will be thinking on that all night I imagine.

I think our two centre halves were for the most part good, as were Rose and Winks. Lloris didn't really do anything wrong either.

Otherwise it was poor all round.
 
FootballHQ said:
In final weeks yes but you were distracted by CL, defeat to West Ham you weren't on it at all and Bournemouth was just wierd self destruction.

Crucial thing was building up 10 point lead on likes of Man. United and Arsenal at various points in the season. It was enough to get you over the line and obviously CL is important to keep paying bills in next stadium.

Could be a good time to freshen up the 11 now. Will probably be Eriksen's last game tonight and I suspect Dele Alli won't be automatic starter next season. Atm he's in on reputation.

So chance to mix up the central midfield. Think you need new full backs aswell, Trippier is a real weak link these days and he's being linked with moves.
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That's not really good enough though. You can't afford to become so distracted you lose game after game in the league, that's not what top sides do. Liverpool had a CL final and yet remained ridiculously consistent in the league.

We need a lot of spending in the summer if we have any ambition to compete for trophies going forward, and I mean a lot. If we do manage to keep Poch then he needs & deserves full backing in the transfer market.
 
SquishyMcSquish said:
No blame on him tonight. The Kane decision was 50/50 and I totally understand why he did it, perhaps a mistake but I don't think it would have made a difference.

He wasn't outclassed tactically at all, we had the possession, we had the breaks, just zero composure or quality on an individual level from the players at his disposal.

Managers can only do so much. This one was clearly all on the players.

Klopp also made a mistake in starting Firmino, but that decision won't be scrutinised because they won. They won because Sissoko decided to stick his arm out like that despite knowing the current rules, and because we couldn't clear a simple corner.

That and all our attacking players, not just Kane, offered nothing when presented with dangerous situations.
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Poch gave the team the best chance at winning the game, nullified Liverpool's attacking threat in the first half and the responsibility was on the players to deliver. If im totally honest I thought Liverpool would have played spurs off the park and it wasn't even remotely close to a good performance.

The final third was where the game was lost everything was rushed, no composure, lack of quality in final balls, poor decisions being made don't see how Poch has anything to do with those anomalies. It's easy for us to criticize but football is 50 / 50 mental & physical, not one of us has experienced a champions League final and the magnitude as a professional, for me being partly in musicianship when younger it was nervy enough playing to audiences, it's completely different when it's a competitive environment.

All spurs can do is learn and try to transcend the experience into next season to come back stronger.
 
I thought taking Winks off was a poor choice. They lost all structure & shape after that change, and Eriksen ended up in a far more ineffective position.
 
Was unable to set the team up to go forward effectively - and I think the selection of Kane was a gamble which didn't pay off.

But I can see why he did go for Kane, and losing this final is by no means a dent on his record as manager of Spurs. It's always talked about, but his net spend is Championship level.

Fantastic manager, and Spurs can be delighted with 4th and a CL Runner-up finish.

If they want the guy to take them to the next level, they have to back him with every penny this CL run has given them and more.
 
reckon he will stay and be backed in the summer. Not enormously as this is spurs. Plus there is not a club to go to as such, unless he fancies Roma or Milan. As Sarri seems set for juve
 
SquishyMcSquish said:
That's not really good enough though. You can't afford to become so distracted you lose game after game in the league, that's not what top sides do. Liverpool had a CL final and yet remained ridiculously consistent in the league.

We need a lot of spending in the summer if we have any ambition to compete for trophies going forward, and I mean a lot. If we do manage to keep Poch then he needs & deserves full backing in the transfer market.
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Spurs just lack experience, this was only your third time in competition in last decade and obviously you're not used to playing CL in late April which Liverpool are.
 
Don't get why but it feels there's an obsession with belittling Spurs on this forum. They've been better than us for a good 5 or 6 years now whilst being in transition. Poch has done a magnificent job, never thought I'd ever see Spurs close to a Champions League final.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
No they didn’t, it was a replica of our EL final against Ajax, they’ve had the useless possession and a couple of half-chances, whilst we’ve had the goals.

Liverpool completely dominated the game and were completely in control of it until maybe the last 15 minutes when Spurs started to play with some intensity.

Men vs Boys
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:lol:, you definitely watched the wrong game. Liverpool was the boys and Spurs was the men. The only thing was that the men had talents you would find in a pub team, whereas the boys had players who seem to good for their age group like Freddy Adu, Karamoko Dembele, and so on.



Spurs not only had more dominant posssession, but also created the better chances, more attempts on goal and attempt on target. Liverpool won because they had better players. Spurs would have walked past this Liverpool team if Pochettino had better talent in his team.
 
If he had Messi as an unknown player- he wouldn't play him centrally. As can be seen by his type of striker at every one of his clubs.
 
Amadaeus said:
:lol:, you definitely watched the wrong game. Liverpool was the boys and Spurs was the men. The only thing was that the men had talents you would find in a pub team, whereas the boys had players who seem to good for their age group like Freddy Adu, Karamoko Dembele, and so on.



Spurs not only had more dominant posssession, but also created the better chances, more attempts on goal and attempt on target. Liverpool won because they had better players. Spurs would have walked past this Liverpool team if Pochettino had better talent in his team.
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Tag says it all really, Liverpool looked dangerous whenever they got near the Spurs box, Spurs didn’t have a single clear chance the whole match, Liverpool won that match comfortably.
They were completely in control of the match, Spurs never were, passing around the back for 60 minutes isn’t football it’s masturbation.

“They’ve had more possession”... get outta here mate, cmon, we’re not in 2010, no one cares. :lol:
We know what useless possession is, had it week in week out for 2 years, last 20 minutes aside that was it.
 
I'm actually genuinely sometimes happier when we don't have possession in games because we look more of a threat.

When we have 60% + of the ball we very often look like we lack ideas and fail to break a side down.
 
Amadaeus said:
:lol:, you definitely watched the wrong game. Liverpool was the boys and Spurs was the men. The only thing was that the men had talents you would find in a pub team, whereas the boys had players who seem to good for their age group like Freddy Adu, Karamoko Dembele, and so on.



Spurs not only had more dominant posssession, but also created the better chances, more attempts on goal and attempt on target. Liverpool won because they had better players. Spurs would have walked past this Liverpool team if Pochettino had better talent in his team.
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I know you adore Poch but thats just silly. Other than a Eriksen freekick and Moura shot they didn't have a proper chance. As for talent it's fine margins and finding an excuse in Liverpool having more talent is silly too. Spurs huffed and puffed but didn't trouble Liverpool mostly. Saying it was Spurs men and Liverpool boys.. Come of it.
 
I think he'll leave next season. He's done as much as he can without strengthening the side.

Chelsea's transfer ban and Arsenal being Arsenal will work to his favour but the gap will increase to City.
 
Ban said:
I know you adore Poch but thats just silly. Other than a Eriksen freekick and Moura shot they didn't have a proper chance. As for talent it's fine margins and finding an excuse in Liverpool having more talent is silly too. Spurs huffed and puffed but didn't trouble Liverpool mostly. Saying it was Spurs men and Liverpool boys.. Come of it.
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Pochettino wasn't to blame though.

We had chances/opportunities in good areas - Son was through and made the wrong decision, Alli had options and made a terrible pass, we had a couple more chances with Lucas/Alli etc. The chances were there to do something.

Pochettino can't do much about a lack of quality from individuals in the final third, nor when Trippier decides to be a coward 90% of the time he picks the ball up. He was let down by the players tonight, tactically we were fine and Liverpool created nothing of note, we lost due to a couple of brainfarts.

I don't think Poch deserves loads of credit but I also don't think he set us up incorrectly, couple of questionable selection decisions but mostly with the benefit of hindsight. Key players just didn't turn up.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
Tag says it all really, Liverpool looked dangerous whenever they got near the Spurs box, Spurs didn’t have a single clear chance the whole match, Liverpool won that match comfortably.
They were completely in control of the match, Spurs never were, passing around the back for 60 minutes isn’t football it’s masturbation.

“They’ve had more possession”... get outta here mate, cmon, we’re not in 2010, no one cares. :lol:
We know what useless possession is, had it week in week out for 2 years, last 20 minutes aside that was it.
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Ban said:
I know you adore Poch but thats just silly. Other than a Eriksen freekick and Moura shot they didn't have a proper chance. As for talent it's fine margins and finding an excuse in Liverpool having more talent is silly too. Spurs huffed and puffed but didn't trouble Liverpool mostly. Saying it was Spurs men and Liverpool boys.. Come of it.
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Spurs did had some, Moura attempt was the clearest and biggest chance of the game. Moreover, if Spurs final ball and predator instinct was better, there would have been more chances created. There is a reason why Alison won man of the match. A goalkeeper doesn’t win man if the match if the other team doesn’t pose a threat. In addition, with Van Dijk having Kane in his pocket, Spurs couldn’t steam role Liverpool as the statistic showed that they should. That is what happens when you have quality players in your team. I remembered an opportunity when Son ran directly at Liverpool defense but because of composed defending from Van Dijk, he couldn’t test the keeper. More instances of this existed throughout the game. Ali was the biggest criminal on the pitch today. His final ball was so bad, he looked like a division two player.

Possession is an integral part of football, that is why the best team often shows dominance in this regard.
 
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SquishyMcSquish said:
Pochettino wasn't to blame though.

We had chances/opportunities in good areas - Son was through and made the wrong decision, Alli had options and made a terrible pass, we had a couple more chances with Lucas/Alli etc. The chances were there to do something.

Pochettino can't do much about a lack of quality from individuals in the final third, nor when Trippier decides to be a coward 90% of the time he picks the ball up. He was let down by the players tonight, tactically we were fine and Liverpool created nothing of note, we lost due to a couple of brainfarts.

I don't think Poch deserves loads of credit but I also don't think he set us up incorrectly, couple of questionable selection decisions but mostly with the benefit of hindsight. Key players just didn't turn up.
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I dont think he is to blame at all. Its maybe a question of Kane starting or not but that's about it. As I said players seems struck by the ocassion and not much Poch could have done about it if that was the case.
 
I’ve always been a massive sceptic of the ‘heir apparent’ manner in which Poch is spoken about but I genuinely can’t blame him for today.

Sissoko delivered what I consider one of the most unprofessional pieces of play I have ever seen; you are 30 seconds into the biggest game of your life & you defend in the box with your arm out. Everyone makes mistakes but in a game of that magnitude & not even a minute in to act so senselessly is unforgivable.

Spurs didn’t turn up afterwards & questions should be asked of Poch, but when you work for weeks on a tactic & a player breaks ranks immediately then you’re done for imo.

I feel for Poch in the sense that no manager sends his players out to perform as badly as some of those Spurs players did - should he have started Kane? Probably not but Eriksen was abysmal as was Alli, in a final you can’t afford passengers.

I’m a massive believer in it’s less important how many you score but more key when you score, going 1-0 down in the first minute killed Poch’s plans & whilst questions of him not effectively implemting a Plan B/C/D may be valid he was let down by his players tonight.
 
Poch is clearly a very good manager who's done a very good job at Spurs. But, the hard fact is he hasn't won a sausage. When the real crunchtime comes, his team lose. How many more seasons can this go on for before the fans turn and want him to out?
 
Welby5 said:
Poch is clearly a very good manager who's done a very good job at Spurs. But, the hard fact is he hasn't won a sausage. When the real crunchtime comes, his team lose. How many more seasons can this go on for before the fans turn and want him to out?
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If he is given the funds Pep is and doesn't win anything then people will turn. And I am happier being in a CL final than I would be winning the league cup, FA cup or EL, it's a much bigger achievement.
 
He’s done brilliant this season despite of not winning trophy. The club lost Dembele one of his main midfielder last season, he didn’t even sign a single player to strengthen his squad or even replace Dembele. Finished 4th last season, unlike Jose he didn’t cry like a baby and able to go further to final CL this season and still make it to top 4. And also Kane had some injuries as well.
 
He's done well this season, but he'll always have people question his credentials as a top manager whilst he's not won anything.
 
He deserves credit. He's overachieved this season if anything.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
I’ve always been a massive sceptic of the ‘heir apparent’ manner in which Poch is spoken about but I genuinely can’t blame him for today.

Sissoko delivered what I consider one of the most unprofessional pieces of play I have ever seen; you are 30 seconds into the biggest game of your life & you defend in the box with your arm out. Everyone makes mistakes but in a game of that magnitude & not even a minute in to act so senselessly is unforgivable.

Spurs didn’t turn up afterwards & questions should be asked of Poch, but when you work for weeks on a tactic & a player breaks ranks immediately then you’re done for imo.

I feel for Poch in the sense that no manager sends his players out to perform as badly as some of those Spurs players did - should he have started Kane? Probably not but Eriksen was abysmal as was Alli, in a final you can’t afford passengers.

I’m a massive believer in it’s less important how many you score but more key when you score, going 1-0 down in the first minute killed Poch’s plans & whilst questions of him not effectively implemting a Plan B/C/D may be valid he was let down by his players tonight.
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I said before the game in this thread that Eriksen and Alli had to turn up. They didn't! Kane should not have started
UNITED ACADEMY said:
He’s done brilliant this season despite of not winning trophy. The club lost Dembele one of his main midfielder last season, he didn’t even sign a single player to strengthen his squad or even replace Dembele. Finished 4th last season, unlike Jose he didn’t cry like a baby and able to go further to final CL this season and still make it to top 4. And also Kane had some injuries as well.
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Never seen pochettino ever complaining about his players, just gets on with it. Mourinho complained about the players all season, Ole did the same by the end too. Worst thing that happened to us in hindsight was that 14 game run! Pochettino would have been perfect!
 
I reckon if Spurs had Pogba or De Brunye instead of Eriksen, Spurs probably win the games, Eriksen is overrated and completely useless on balls.
 
It's funny, Poch is getting crucified on Twitter for starting Kane... but on here he's backed. I don't think Ole would be given such an easy ride by his own fans.
 
Skills said:
I thought taking Winks off was a poor choice. They lost all structure & shape after that change, and Eriksen ended up in a far more ineffective position.
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Winks did nothing all game and Spurs needed to score after the 1 IQ move by Sissoko. They should have subbed Winks at half time and tried to turn the game around. Liverpool did feck all and just sat back hoping to score on a counter attack. Poch was obviously afraid that Liverpool would press and dominate the midfield, but it was clear that they had another gameplan after the early goal so he should have been more proactive.

The only time Spurs actually played with a bit of tempo and created chances was when Winks was taken off, Eriksen moved back to CM and Lucas came on. They created feck all before that and the tempo in the game was pedestrian, a huge part because of Winks slow sideway passes.

People who thinks that Winks had a good game and that he should have stayed on knows feck all about football. I’m sorry but that’s the truth.

Liverpool was more than happy to let Winks and Sissoko do nothing with the ball in the middle of the pitch. They were almost afraid to wander into Liverpools half. Who gives a feck about having more possession when it’s all in your own half, you are behind and you create exactly zero chances.

But what a huge letdown and one of the worst played CL finals ever. It was a game of who was least bad and who made fewest mistakes. Cowardly football, except for the last 25 minutes when Spurs went for it.

This final deserved two losers...
 
deafepl said:
I reckon if Spurs had Pogba or De Brunye instead of Eriksen, Spurs probably win the games, Eriksen is overrated and completely useless on balls.
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Eriksen coped fine under pressure for Denmark in the Euro qualifier vs Ireland. I did not expect him to crumble the way he did tonight.

The game was crying out for some composure under the pressure.

Pogba/De Bruyne tonight would have torn Liverpool a new one no doubt.
 
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adexkola said:
Fixed
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You're not wrong, what he's done with the squad he inherited is really good.
It's funny in a way, if tonight had gone differently, he'd be seen as one of the best in the world.
It didn't though, so he will still need to win something for many people to put him up there with the top managers.
I do think he should be looking to move on from Tottenham soon. They're just too unlikely to back him all the way.
 
A game off being the top team in Europe with a wage bill and transfer budget that should have them on a similar level to Everton and Leicester. Hard to fault him, although will have a lot of work to do to stop the rot that's started to set in at the end of the season.
 
Fluked his way to the CL-final and got lucky in the league as well. How is it not his fault that his team played 2/3 of a champions league final without any intensity in their game whatsoever when they needed a goal? That first half was fecking embarrasing.

"Won the tactical battle"
 
Dec9003 said:
You're not wrong, what he's done with the squad he inherited is really good.
It's funny in a way, if tonight had gone differently, he'd be seen as one of the best in the world.
It didn't though, so he will still need to win something for many people to put him up there with the top managers.
I do think he should be looking to move on from Tottenham soon. They're just too unlikely to back him all the way.
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Too much luck is involved in a final to judge him on the result, as Klopp's record will attest to.

Forget the freak 1st min goal, his Spurs team were in full control throughout, he set them up extremely well. When did Liverpool threaten them? The truth is his key players completely bottled it in the final 3rd where it matters. He can't score the goals for them.

His work at Spurs on a shoestring budget has been insane.

He's undeniably a top manager and if it doesn't go as well as hoped with Ole next season, there's no doubt who I would want the club to move heaven and earth for.
 
Got influenced by Kane's star power, who didn't look like he was fully fit for the final... should have kept the starting XI which beat City and Ajax.
 
Decomposing In Paris said:
It's funny, Poch is getting crucified on Twitter for starting Kane... but on here he's backed. I don't think Ole would be given such an easy ride by his own fans.
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People will be results orientated, what's new?

His players bottled it in the final 3rd, along with the 1 IQ play by Sissoko. Starting Kane was not what killed them tonight. Lucas would have made no difference.
 
I can understand why Kane had to start but not dropping Moura. Alli should be drop. Llorente should come up earlier.
 
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