A bit off topic but on topic, has anyone else noticed that in just about every interview our players have they speak about "just the next match"? Hugo said it today when asked about the final 'long way to go, we are just worried about the next match'. It is a recurring theme I have seen and I believe it is Poch stating that the only important thing is the next match, not the final, not top 4, not worrying about so and so a week from now. He has them focused and driven to that next match, because if you keep winning the next match something good is bound to happen. Just love the mentality we are showing towards the competition and the media. #winner
-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
Considering Poch's motto is "You can always improve", do you think he's going to settle for just that? He'll want more from Dembele, just as he wants more from every player.
I worry that if Dembele is too worried about getting chances to score he'll lose the focus on his key role on the pitch.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/mauricio-pochettino-made-southampton-winning-5110028
Just saw this article , I'm surprised he actually made such remarks . I hope it was just another case of misinterpretion .
Just saw this article , I'm surprised he actually made such remarks . I hope it was just another case of misinterpretion .
Let's just say I'd rather Madrid buy Kane than Poch.
Love him.
Lifetime contract, please.
Love him.
Lifetime contract, please.
Think it's a bit of both really. I think Poch installs a belief throught the club and Koeman is benefiting from that. Plus Koeman had cash to spend as a result of Poch's profitable work. But I think Koeman is decent as well and has signed the right players as replacements.
I don't see anything wrong with his direct quotes.
"It is always easier taking over a winning team which is the case this time with Ronald [Koeman]."
""You have to say that they invested close to €80million in the summer and it was already a winning team on the up. When we arrived at Southampton in January of 2013 they had the team that had conceded the most goals in the league."
He has a point. Even though Southampton sold key players they had improved a lot, had great fitness levels and a great team spirit. You couldn't say the same for Spurs when he took over. Think the title of the article is a bit misleading.
By Jonathan Liew
10:30PM GMT 09 Feb 2015
Despite arriving in English football only two years ago, Mauricio Pochettino’s pre-season training sessions are beginning to assume a legendary, almost mythical quality. At Southampton in 2013, he made his squad walk barefoot across burning coals during a brutal boot camp in Portugal. At Tottenham Hotspur, by all accounts, he made his presence felt in similarly imposing fashion.
“There’s not been a good moment in pre-season, if I’m honest,” Harry Kane, who has made the most drastic improvement under Pochettino this season, admitted. “There were double sessions, times when you were pushing yourself to the limit, but you’re doing it for a reason. This is the reason that you’re seeing now.”
On Tuesday evening, Pochettino’s Spurs visit Liverpool on the crest of a wave, with a chance to take a giant leap towards their goal of Champions League football. Victory against Woolwich on Saturday lifted them above their rivals into fifth place, having been 10th less than two months ago. They may already have played 40 games this season, but there is an indefinable resolve to them, a mental and physical steel that has helped them win six games in the 85th minute or later.
When he was at Southampton, Pochettino trained his players to raise their game as the season went on, making them among the strongest finishers in the division. Now he is attempting to do the same at Tottenham, and the seeds of their endurance were sown many months ago. Pochettino’s aim during pre-season is to break his players so thoroughly that they grow back stronger as a result. The hot-coals exercise at Southampton was one example. Another was getting his players to smash arrows over their collarbones as a test of physical and mental strength.
“It was a challenge: mind over matter,” striker Rickie Lambert remembered of the experience. “You knew nothing worse could happen to you during the season.”
On one level, Pochettino’s determination to make his players “suffer like a dog”, as former Espanyol and Southampton striker Dani Osvaldo put it, evokes a very old‑school, almost militaristic taste for hard graft and hard knocks. But there is a broader intellectual framework to it. There is a reason why Pochettino keeps banging on about his “philosophy”; the Argentine is a coach who values improvement on the training ground above investment in the transfer market. Pochettino – who describes himself as a head coach rather than a manager – believes intrinsically in making players better rather than upgrading them for a newer model.
Kane, the club’s top scorer, is not the only academy graduate to have flourished under the new coach. In midfield, Nabil Bentaleb has continued the progress he first showed under Tim Sherwood last season. Alongside him, Ryan Mason has developed into a ball-winner of real substance: only Lucas Leiva and Charlie Adam have made more tackles per 90 minutes than him in the Premier League this season.
“Why not?” Pochettino responded when asked about his faith in youth. “This is our identity. We have to give these players opportunities to show their value. Maybe we are brave. In the first season [at Espanyol] we gave 25 debuts to players from the academy. You need to be patient, to have quality, and I think my staff have this quality.”
On the training ground, Pochettino’s exhaustive preparation stretches to tactics as well as fitness. At Espanyol, he innovated by fitting GPS trackers to players’ shirts, filming matches and downloading the footage on to an iPad on the bench so players and systems could be analysed mid‑game. Nathaniel Clyne, Southampton’s right-back under Pochettino, said of his training sessions: “He’d have us pressing high, keeping a high line, receiving the ball in difficult situations, keeping possession and basically having the confidence to play football rather than being afraid. The understanding in our defence was down to our training. Personally, it took my game to another level.”
This is the key to the Pochettino method, then: he trains the mind as well as the body. Tottenham’s familiar frailty against big teams, so evident under Andre Villas-Boas, has been virtually buried this season, with wins over Chelsea and Woolwich in their last five games. Clyne again: “He planted it into our heads that even if we were up against bigger teams and bigger players, we could compete at the same level as them.”
Kane said: “I think it has changed. We’ve been behind a lot in games this season but we’ve shown great character, stuck to our game plan and dug deep even in the final minutes and showed that again. We’ve made this a tough place to come.”
On Tuesday, Spurs face a Liverpool side who have won all of their past four meetings, scoring 15 goals in the process. When Liverpool won 3-0 at White Hart Lane earlier in the season, Tottenham were a floundering mess at the back. Doubts were cast over Pochettino’s defensive organisation, his motivational skills, his big-game pedigree. But, as he insisted, he just needed time. “When you arrive at a new club, it is not easy to settle your philosophy. You need time. In football, it is hard to demand time, but that is the truth.”
And in time, we will find out if Pochettino really does have what it takes to lead Tottenham into the top four.
10:30PM GMT 09 Feb 2015
Despite arriving in English football only two years ago, Mauricio Pochettino’s pre-season training sessions are beginning to assume a legendary, almost mythical quality. At Southampton in 2013, he made his squad walk barefoot across burning coals during a brutal boot camp in Portugal. At Tottenham Hotspur, by all accounts, he made his presence felt in similarly imposing fashion.
“There’s not been a good moment in pre-season, if I’m honest,” Harry Kane, who has made the most drastic improvement under Pochettino this season, admitted. “There were double sessions, times when you were pushing yourself to the limit, but you’re doing it for a reason. This is the reason that you’re seeing now.”
On Tuesday evening, Pochettino’s Spurs visit Liverpool on the crest of a wave, with a chance to take a giant leap towards their goal of Champions League football. Victory against Woolwich on Saturday lifted them above their rivals into fifth place, having been 10th less than two months ago. They may already have played 40 games this season, but there is an indefinable resolve to them, a mental and physical steel that has helped them win six games in the 85th minute or later.
When he was at Southampton, Pochettino trained his players to raise their game as the season went on, making them among the strongest finishers in the division. Now he is attempting to do the same at Tottenham, and the seeds of their endurance were sown many months ago. Pochettino’s aim during pre-season is to break his players so thoroughly that they grow back stronger as a result. The hot-coals exercise at Southampton was one example. Another was getting his players to smash arrows over their collarbones as a test of physical and mental strength.
“It was a challenge: mind over matter,” striker Rickie Lambert remembered of the experience. “You knew nothing worse could happen to you during the season.”
On one level, Pochettino’s determination to make his players “suffer like a dog”, as former Espanyol and Southampton striker Dani Osvaldo put it, evokes a very old‑school, almost militaristic taste for hard graft and hard knocks. But there is a broader intellectual framework to it. There is a reason why Pochettino keeps banging on about his “philosophy”; the Argentine is a coach who values improvement on the training ground above investment in the transfer market. Pochettino – who describes himself as a head coach rather than a manager – believes intrinsically in making players better rather than upgrading them for a newer model.
Kane, the club’s top scorer, is not the only academy graduate to have flourished under the new coach. In midfield, Nabil Bentaleb has continued the progress he first showed under Tim Sherwood last season. Alongside him, Ryan Mason has developed into a ball-winner of real substance: only Lucas Leiva and Charlie Adam have made more tackles per 90 minutes than him in the Premier League this season.
“Why not?” Pochettino responded when asked about his faith in youth. “This is our identity. We have to give these players opportunities to show their value. Maybe we are brave. In the first season [at Espanyol] we gave 25 debuts to players from the academy. You need to be patient, to have quality, and I think my staff have this quality.”
On the training ground, Pochettino’s exhaustive preparation stretches to tactics as well as fitness. At Espanyol, he innovated by fitting GPS trackers to players’ shirts, filming matches and downloading the footage on to an iPad on the bench so players and systems could be analysed mid‑game. Nathaniel Clyne, Southampton’s right-back under Pochettino, said of his training sessions: “He’d have us pressing high, keeping a high line, receiving the ball in difficult situations, keeping possession and basically having the confidence to play football rather than being afraid. The understanding in our defence was down to our training. Personally, it took my game to another level.”
This is the key to the Pochettino method, then: he trains the mind as well as the body. Tottenham’s familiar frailty against big teams, so evident under Andre Villas-Boas, has been virtually buried this season, with wins over Chelsea and Woolwich in their last five games. Clyne again: “He planted it into our heads that even if we were up against bigger teams and bigger players, we could compete at the same level as them.”
Kane said: “I think it has changed. We’ve been behind a lot in games this season but we’ve shown great character, stuck to our game plan and dug deep even in the final minutes and showed that again. We’ve made this a tough place to come.”
On Tuesday, Spurs face a Liverpool side who have won all of their past four meetings, scoring 15 goals in the process. When Liverpool won 3-0 at White Hart Lane earlier in the season, Tottenham were a floundering mess at the back. Doubts were cast over Pochettino’s defensive organisation, his motivational skills, his big-game pedigree. But, as he insisted, he just needed time. “When you arrive at a new club, it is not easy to settle your philosophy. You need time. In football, it is hard to demand time, but that is the truth.”
And in time, we will find out if Pochettino really does have what it takes to lead Tottenham into the top four.
This may be common knowledge to others, but this really surprised me. He seems to be well more liked for his offensive properties, but this was impressive to know.
I could be wrong, but I think that this has been implemented here as well. As Chadli was coming on, I was pretty sure that someone was flipping through images on a tablet with him right before he went on the pitch.
I'm so excited by where it looks like we are going...
Ipads, black boxes, Oh my!
N
No harm in both if it's possible.
Think he's the man but why oh why does he keep on bringing on this fucking clown?
aulinholol:aulinholol:aulinholol:
aulinholol:aulinholol:aulinholol:Think he's the man but why oh why does he keep on bringing on this fucking clown?
Couple of reasons...
Stambouli must have not been fit.
And to show
just how shit Paulinho isSell sell sell
:eriksenlol:
I guess if Eriksen is going to be ineffective on the left side then we do.
Team Focus: Pochettino's Youthful Tottenham Built for Bright Future
by Alistair Tweedale at Wednesday, Feb 11 2015 16:05
The list of superlatives left to describe Harry Kane’s phenomenal rise over the past months is fast running out. Praise upon praise has been heaped on the man-of-the-moment, with past players and pundits alike demanding an England call-up whilst talk persists of the likes of Real Madrid sending scouts to check on his progress.
While his former boss weighs in hoping to wrestle some of the credit for Kane’s surge having introduced him to the first team at the tail end of last season, it is his current boss that deserves recognition for keeping faith in the youth at White Hart Lane in spite of the vast riches spent on bringing players in to the club in recent years.
The team that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino fielded in the north London derby victory over Woolwich at the weekend was the youngest put out by any team in the Premier League this season. After the Liverpool game, Spurs have now put out the 4 youngest starting elevens of the campaign. A lack of experience may have cost them with the same team fielded in defeat at Anfield on Tuesday night, but there are certainly reasons to be optimistic about the future. Pochettino, who blooded youth at Southampton, too, has played a significant role.
And while Kane laps up every piece of praise thrown his way, there are other youthful heroes in the Tottenham ranks. Credit should go to Eric Dier, who, after learning his trade in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon, has stuck to his guns over a preference to play at centre-back – even rather questionably refusing an England Under-21 call-up after Gareth Southgate told him he would only be used at right-back – and after starting his Tottenham career filling in on the right side of defence, now looks to be one of Pochettino’s first-choice selections in the middle.
Pochettino looks to be getting more out of Spurs’ record-signing Erik Lamela, who has clearly bought into the high-octane, pressing game better than some others, and though he is top of the side’s assist charts (5) after laying on Kane’s goal at Anfield, his return of only 1 goal leaves something to be desired. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Christian Eriksen’s contribution needs no introduction. It is in central midfield that developments have been most striking, though.
Tim Sherwood showed a huge deal of faith in young Nabil Bentaleb last season and his rise has been astonishing. From an unknown 18-year-old a fair way into last season, Bentaleb has developed into one of the most integral members of Tottenham’s squad as well as the Algeria national team, too. He played 90 minutes in 3 of the Desert Foxes’ 4 World Cup matches and more recently played every minute in their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations campaign. In his absence, Spurs were taken to an FA Cup replay by Burnley, were later knocked out by Leicester and lost in the league at Crystal Palace. They arguably came out of the last month with better results than some of their performances deserved (in the 2-1 win at home to Sunderland, for example).
In fact, the defeat at Liverpool was only the third competitive game Spurs have lost all season out of 17 matches that Bentaleb has started (17.6%). The previous defeats came away to Chelsea, who until recently drawing with City had a 100% record at home in Premier League games this season, as well as at home to Liverpool, who completely dismantled Tottenham at White Hart Lane back in August when they were still very much a work in progress. Comparatively, Spurs have lost 5 of the 13 (38.5%) Premier League games Bentaleb has missed this season and been defeated in 7 out of 24 (29.2%) in all competitions.
An inherently competitive nature serves him well in a squad bursting at the seams with midfield talent. He has made himself indispensible and is by some distance now their most important player in that position, indisputably ahead of the likes of Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Benjamin Stambouli and Mousa Dembélé in the midfield pivot positions.
Possessing unerring confidence despite his age, Bentaleb is unbelievably assured in possession, averaging 57.1 passes per game at a success rate of 86.1% and does not let settings such as Stamford Bridge overawe him. During the warm up for that game in early December, Bentaleb was snapping at heels and scowling in frustration whenever he ceded possession in what was only a small-sided game of keep-ball amongst teammates. Sky-high standards continue to propel the Algerian onto bigger and better things.
He has struck up an utterly unprecedented but extremely impressive partnership in midfield with Ryan Mason, who was even less well known at the season’s outset. 23 years of age, he is a late developer, having made his Tottenham debut some six years before coming off the bench to turn a Capital One Cup tie against Nottingham Forest on its head this season. In the intervening years he has spent spells on loan at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and last season, Swindon.
His range of passing and propensity to score rightly remain in question, but he does exactly what his manager asks of him, flitting about energetically, winning possession and setting attacks into motion. He is making more tackles than any other Tottenham player, with his 3.3 per game the eighth-most in the whole Premier League. Of central midfielders, only established Premier League players Lucas (17.7) and Nemanja Matic (22.7) are making a tackle more frequently than the Spurs academy product (22.8).
He is key to maintaining the tempo that Pochettino demands in central midfield, not through his passing (though he does tend to move the ball quicker than the likes of Dembélé, Paulinho or Capoue), but through his harrying of opponents alongside Bentaleb. In doing so he has risen rather incredibly to one Spurs’
The season has, in spite of yesterday’s defeat, started to take shape for Pochettino’s Tottenham, and certainly looks like it could turn out a success. What the events of their campaign serve to show is that Tottenham did not need to go out and splash the cash they made from the sale of Gareth Bale in order to rebuild; they already had the means of recovery at their very fingertips. With a manager boasting fresh ideas and a youthful squad ready to heed his instructions, there is a strong chance of success beyond an upcoming cup final with Chelsea. Champions League football is the ultimate goal for this season, but the team being built at White Hart Lane will only be stronger next season if they do end up missing out.
by Alistair Tweedale at Wednesday, Feb 11 2015 16:05
The list of superlatives left to describe Harry Kane’s phenomenal rise over the past months is fast running out. Praise upon praise has been heaped on the man-of-the-moment, with past players and pundits alike demanding an England call-up whilst talk persists of the likes of Real Madrid sending scouts to check on his progress.
While his former boss weighs in hoping to wrestle some of the credit for Kane’s surge having introduced him to the first team at the tail end of last season, it is his current boss that deserves recognition for keeping faith in the youth at White Hart Lane in spite of the vast riches spent on bringing players in to the club in recent years.
The team that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino fielded in the north London derby victory over Woolwich at the weekend was the youngest put out by any team in the Premier League this season. After the Liverpool game, Spurs have now put out the 4 youngest starting elevens of the campaign. A lack of experience may have cost them with the same team fielded in defeat at Anfield on Tuesday night, but there are certainly reasons to be optimistic about the future. Pochettino, who blooded youth at Southampton, too, has played a significant role.
And while Kane laps up every piece of praise thrown his way, there are other youthful heroes in the Tottenham ranks. Credit should go to Eric Dier, who, after learning his trade in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon, has stuck to his guns over a preference to play at centre-back – even rather questionably refusing an England Under-21 call-up after Gareth Southgate told him he would only be used at right-back – and after starting his Tottenham career filling in on the right side of defence, now looks to be one of Pochettino’s first-choice selections in the middle.
Pochettino looks to be getting more out of Spurs’ record-signing Erik Lamela, who has clearly bought into the high-octane, pressing game better than some others, and though he is top of the side’s assist charts (5) after laying on Kane’s goal at Anfield, his return of only 1 goal leaves something to be desired. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Christian Eriksen’s contribution needs no introduction. It is in central midfield that developments have been most striking, though.
Tim Sherwood showed a huge deal of faith in young Nabil Bentaleb last season and his rise has been astonishing. From an unknown 18-year-old a fair way into last season, Bentaleb has developed into one of the most integral members of Tottenham’s squad as well as the Algeria national team, too. He played 90 minutes in 3 of the Desert Foxes’ 4 World Cup matches and more recently played every minute in their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations campaign. In his absence, Spurs were taken to an FA Cup replay by Burnley, were later knocked out by Leicester and lost in the league at Crystal Palace. They arguably came out of the last month with better results than some of their performances deserved (in the 2-1 win at home to Sunderland, for example).
In fact, the defeat at Liverpool was only the third competitive game Spurs have lost all season out of 17 matches that Bentaleb has started (17.6%). The previous defeats came away to Chelsea, who until recently drawing with City had a 100% record at home in Premier League games this season, as well as at home to Liverpool, who completely dismantled Tottenham at White Hart Lane back in August when they were still very much a work in progress. Comparatively, Spurs have lost 5 of the 13 (38.5%) Premier League games Bentaleb has missed this season and been defeated in 7 out of 24 (29.2%) in all competitions.
An inherently competitive nature serves him well in a squad bursting at the seams with midfield talent. He has made himself indispensible and is by some distance now their most important player in that position, indisputably ahead of the likes of Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Benjamin Stambouli and Mousa Dembélé in the midfield pivot positions.
Possessing unerring confidence despite his age, Bentaleb is unbelievably assured in possession, averaging 57.1 passes per game at a success rate of 86.1% and does not let settings such as Stamford Bridge overawe him. During the warm up for that game in early December, Bentaleb was snapping at heels and scowling in frustration whenever he ceded possession in what was only a small-sided game of keep-ball amongst teammates. Sky-high standards continue to propel the Algerian onto bigger and better things.
He has struck up an utterly unprecedented but extremely impressive partnership in midfield with Ryan Mason, who was even less well known at the season’s outset. 23 years of age, he is a late developer, having made his Tottenham debut some six years before coming off the bench to turn a Capital One Cup tie against Nottingham Forest on its head this season. In the intervening years he has spent spells on loan at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and last season, Swindon.
His range of passing and propensity to score rightly remain in question, but he does exactly what his manager asks of him, flitting about energetically, winning possession and setting attacks into motion. He is making more tackles than any other Tottenham player, with his 3.3 per game the eighth-most in the whole Premier League. Of central midfielders, only established Premier League players Lucas (17.7) and Nemanja Matic (22.7) are making a tackle more frequently than the Spurs academy product (22.8).
He is key to maintaining the tempo that Pochettino demands in central midfield, not through his passing (though he does tend to move the ball quicker than the likes of Dembélé, Paulinho or Capoue), but through his harrying of opponents alongside Bentaleb. In doing so he has risen rather incredibly to one Spurs’
The season has, in spite of yesterday’s defeat, started to take shape for Pochettino’s Tottenham, and certainly looks like it could turn out a success. What the events of their campaign serve to show is that Tottenham did not need to go out and splash the cash they made from the sale of Gareth Bale in order to rebuild; they already had the means of recovery at their very fingertips. With a manager boasting fresh ideas and a youthful squad ready to heed his instructions, there is a strong chance of success beyond an upcoming cup final with Chelsea. Champions League football is the ultimate goal for this season, but the team being built at White Hart Lane will only be stronger next season if they do end up missing out.
