Mauricio Pochettino

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We also had no home advantage for 75% of our season, no pre season for not only 9 of our starting XI with most of them going until the very last moments of the World Cup (3 days back at the training ground before the opening day 7 of them had), we also had no pre season for Winks and Foyth as he got injured and missed out over in the States so that's 11 players with no pre season, plus we had injury disaster after disaster in key areas.

2 ankle ligament injuries to Kane, 3 hamstrings and a broken hand for Dele, 20 games missed for Vertonghen, Aurier, Wanyama & Dier yet we still got our objective and our goal. All without throwing needless money at someone just because the general consensus is you only progress if you spend money. We've gone from the last 16 in the worlds hardest club competition to win down to the last 2. It seems to me that whilst we did play a risky game not signing anyone that having faith in the current squad until something worth buying came along is now well and truly justified.

We had an erratic year on the field yes but off the field we had so many variables, including the reckless decision by the league to close the window 3 weeks earlier than the rest of Europe which, at the time out all English teams at a huge disadvantage at the negotiation stage of deals, yet we came through it in the end.

The chairman got slated for worst case scenarios that could have happened last summer, I think it's time some that did so actually praise him for making big decisions and it paying off like it has done. Very few unfortunately will as it doesn't suit their agenda or will damage their pride. We spent no money at a time when money is tight, we trusted the squad and they've secured top 4 as well as a final amongst Europes elite. Fair play to them for doing so under alll the circumstances surrounding 2018/19
I think the majority of praise should go to Poch because he held on to the money and decided he won't buy anyone unless they are good enough. I praise Levy for delivering the ground but Poch is obviously not 100% happy with Levy's tactics, that has been the case for some time and it represents a failure in communication that this has not been sorted out behind closed doors.
 
I think the majority of praise should go to Poch because he held on to the money and decided he won't buy anyone unless they are good enough. I praise Levy for delivering the ground but Poch is obviously not 100% happy with Levy's tactics, that has been the case for some time and it represents a failure in communication that this has not been sorted out behind closed doors.

So Levy doesn't spend and gets hammered last summer, we have a good season despite him not spending and Pochettino gets all the praise? This isn't directed at you but something ain't right there.

If Pochettino doesn't realise that we can't throw money about like the Man Uniteds, Real Madrid's or Liverpools of this world can, especially having forked out the largest spend ever on a football stadium then this ain't the place for him. He's a great manager, I hope he makes his legacy with us but we simply cannot throw money we can't afford to spend at certain players who will get paid better at other clubs, clubs who had far greater success well before Pochettino and Levy, thus giving them more financial clout.

I see what you're saying but to not praise Levy to some degree for adhering to certain decisions, regardless of whatever has happened behind the scenes is unfair and wrong IMO. He's taken us from a mid table team when he took over to one consistently qualifying for what many deemed the holy grail with the Champions League, hired good managers who, although some didn't work out I can completely understand his reasonings behind certain appointments (Ramos, Hoddle, AVB, Santini etc) and he gave us Pochettino.

Pochettino has done a wonderful job this season and although we will never truly know what went on behind the scenes, a decision was made not to spend any money and we've still ended up as it stands a team that's has the 3rd best season on all fronts plying their trade in England. Fair play to both, it turned out to be a good decision, whoever made it back in August.
 
So Levy doesn't spend and gets hammered last summer, we have a good season despite him not spending and Pochettino gets all the praise? This isn't directed at you but something ain't right there.

If Pochettino doesn't realise that we can't throw money about like e Man Uniteds, Real Madrid's or Liverpools of this world can, especially having forked out the largest spend ever on a football stadium then this ain't the place for him. He's a great manager, I hope he makes his legacy with us but we simply cannot throw money we can't afford to spend at certain players who will get paid better at other clubs, clubs who had far greater success well before Pochettino and Levy, this giving them more financial clout.

I see what you're saying but to not praise Levy to some degree for adhering to certain decisions, regardless of whatever has happened behind the scenes is unfair and wrong IMO. He's taken us from a mid table team when he took over to one consistently qualifying for what many deemed the holy grail with the Champions League, hired good managers who, although some didn't work out I can completely understand his reasonings behind certain appointments (Ramos, Hoddle, AVB, Santini etc) and he gave us Pochettino.

Pochettino has done a wonderful job this summer and although we will never truly know what went on behind the scenes, a decision was made not to spend any money and we've still ended up as it stands a team that's has the 3rd best season on all fronts plying their trade in England. Fair play to both, it turned out to be a good decision, whoever made it back in August.

Poch clearly knows the that there are some restrictions we face in the transfer market but it doesn't mean just because we can't invest the same amounts as the biggest spending clubs in the world that Poch shouldn't expect significant funds to be made available
 
Poch clearly knows the that there are some restrictions we face in the transfer market but it doesn't mean just because we can't invest the same amounts as the biggest spending clubs in the world that Poch shouldn't expect significant funds to be made available

Inflation due to the TV rights came into it, along with the club taking its prospective target qualities up a notch. It's all well and good buying a £10m player but when you have a team filled with quality like we stumbled upon the leap is far greater and has far bigger risk is you aren't organically generating those kind of funds.

Can you imagine what an Alexis or a Pogba would be doing for internal goings on at the moment? We will spend, of that I have no doubt but whilst others threw all of their gold at deals last summer we didn't. Simple business principles tells me that the money in the Premier League ballooned fees for English clubs last summer, a lot of clubs got taken for a ride. This year there won't be as much money for these clubs as simply put they've already spent it. This puts us in a far better negotiating position to attract good quality at far more reasonable fees.

Should Pochettino have received money last summer? Yes he should but that money is still there, if anything it's doubled after a summer of purse string watching. I'm sure if the right quality is there, players will be signed mate.
 
So Levy doesn't spend and gets hammered last summer, we have a good season despite him not spending and Pochettino gets all the praise? This isn't directed at you but something ain't right there.

If Pochettino doesn't realise that we can't throw money about like e Man Uniteds, Real Madrid's or Liverpools of this world can, especially having forked out the largest spend ever on a football stadium then this ain't the place for him. He's a great manager, I hope he makes his legacy with us but we simply cannot throw money we can't afford to spend at certain players who will get paid better at other clubs, clubs who had far greater success well before Pochettino and Levy, this giving them more financial clout.

I see what you're saying but to not praise Levy to some degree for adhering to certain decisions, regardless of whatever has happened behind the scenes is unfair and wrong IMO. He's taken us from a mid table team when he took over to one consistently qualifying for what many deemed the holy grail with the Champions League, hired good managers who, although some didn't work out I can completely understand his reasonings behind certain appointments (Ramos, Hoddle, AVB, Santini etc) and he gave us Pochettino.

Pochettino has done a wonderful job this summer and although we will never truly know what went on behind the scenes, a decision was made not to spend any money and we've still ended up as it stands a team that's has the 3rd best season on all fronts plying their trade in England. Fair play to both, it turned out to be a good decision, whoever made it back in August.
Who made the decision, I don't know.
Both Hoddle and Sugar have both said that they KNOW there was money to spend. How much this was is another question.

Does Poch want 2 or 3 £80-£100m players along with their wages, which we can't afford.
Does Poch want to REALLY compete, if so he might think that only the top players would enable us to do that.

Levy might have said that there was only £50-£60m available and refused to sanction a transfer of anyone over the age of 28, for example.

Maybe this is where their different views come in.

We all want the best players but in reality we can't afford them.

I don't think Poch will leave but he might be getting a bit frustrated as expectation is now so high. Hence, his talking about a new 5 year plan and being clear and open about our plans and where we want to be in a further 5 years.
 
Inflation due to the TV rights came into it, along with the club taking its prospective target qualities up a notch. It's all well and good buying a £10m player but when you have a team filled with quality like we stumbled upon the leap is far greater and has far bigger risk is you aren't organically generating those kind of funds.

Can you imagine what an Alexis or a Pogba would be doing for internal goings on at the moment? We will spend, of that I have no doubt but whilst others threw all of their gold at deals last summer we didn't. Simple business principles tells me that the money in the Premier League ballooned fees for English clubs last summer, a lot of clubs got taken for a ride. This year there won't be as much money for these clubs a season they've already spent it. This puts us in a far better negotiating position to attract good quality at far more reasonable fees.

Should Pochettino have received money last summer? Yes he should but that money is still there, if anything it's doubled after a summer of purse string watching. I'm sure if the right quality is there, players will be signed mate.

I also believe we'll sign players this year and early noise around transfers has been positive , i believe we pushed our luck last season and got away with it so in the regard of not spending any money I won't praise Levy at all and see Poch as by far the biggest reason we made top 4 this season.
 
So Levy doesn't spend and gets hammered last summer, we have a good season despite him not spending and Pochettino gets all the praise? This isn't directed at you but something ain't right there.

If Pochettino doesn't realise that we can't throw money about like the Man Uniteds, Real Madrid's or Liverpools of this world can, especially having forked out the largest spend ever on a football stadium then this ain't the place for him. He's a great manager, I hope he makes his legacy with us but we simply cannot throw money we can't afford to spend at certain players who will get paid better at other clubs, clubs who had far greater success well before Pochettino and Levy, thus giving them more financial clout.

I see what you're saying but to not praise Levy to some degree for adhering to certain decisions, regardless of whatever has happened behind the scenes is unfair and wrong IMO. He's taken us from a mid table team when he took over to one consistently qualifying for what many deemed the holy grail with the Champions League, hired good managers who, although some didn't work out I can completely understand his reasonings behind certain appointments (Ramos, Hoddle, AVB, Santini etc) and he gave us Pochettino.

Pochettino has done a wonderful job this summer and although we will never truly know what went on behind the scenes, a decision was made not to spend any money and we've still ended up as it stands a team that's has the 3rd best season on all fronts plying their trade in England. Fair play to both, it turned out to be a good decision, whoever made it back in August.
Like I said in previous replies, Pochettino is the guy that pays the ultimate penalty if we don't perform if we lose the games, he has to keep everybody happy included disgruntled players who want to leave. There are many people who don't get credit, the tea lady, the fans, the physio, the rest of the coaching staff , Levy get complemented far more than they do and probably more than any chairman in the league.

You have a legitimate point about Poch he knew the job when we came in but we are where we are now, so the dilemma is tell Poch to go and hire a Dyche and a DOF and lower expectations or try to match Poch's ambitions. If he does the former this place will go up in flames.

I don't think there is anyone that will NOT give Levy praise for the progress the club as made but it doesn't mean he's above criticism either, everyone gets criticised, Poch, Kane, Alli, Son etc, I don't see why Levy is any different.
 
If I was a city player I would be, even after winning the league, top professionals always want to improve and always want to be the best.
:eriksenlol:

It doesn't make them wrong to voice those concerns though.
If someone sees dark clouds and believes it's going to pour down and it doesn't happen, it remains dry.
it doesn't mean they were wrong to have that concern, it was based on something tangible.

Why are you arguing against something you just made up?

I didn’t say they were wrong to be concerned.
I said their predictions were wrong and their fears of Poch quitting and us missing top 4 didn’t materialise.

Are you actually disagreeing that they were wrong over this? You do know that we qualified right? And Poch is still here?


No but it doesn't mean that your prediction was not valid at all especially if you lost by a single point.
What’s being valid got to do with it?
If I said we would win the title and we finish 3rd I’d be plain and simple, good old fashioned wrong.

Liverpool squad is very good but I'm certain they are going to look to improve this summer, they have Simon Mignolet as a back up keeper, Lovern and Orgi and a crocked Sturridge. Not good enough, infact we should all get on our knees and pray that Mignolet plays in the final, we'll see some Karius type shit if he does. So yeah not good enough to not want to out and spend to improve the squad.

So Liverpool’s squad is very good despite having players in it that aren’t good enough.

But our squad is not good enough for the same reasons.
 
So Levy doesn't spend and gets hammered last summer, we have a good season despite him not spending and Pochettino gets all the praise? This isn't directed at you but something ain't right there.

If Pochettino doesn't realise that we can't throw money about like the Man Uniteds, Real Madrid's or Liverpools of this world can, especially having forked out the largest spend ever on a football stadium then this ain't the place for him. He's a great manager, I hope he makes his legacy with us but we simply cannot throw money we can't afford to spend at certain players who will get paid better at other clubs, clubs who had far greater success well before Pochettino and Levy, thus giving them more financial clout.

I see what you're saying but to not praise Levy to some degree for adhering to certain decisions, regardless of whatever has happened behind the scenes is unfair and wrong IMO. He's taken us from a mid table team when he took over to one consistently qualifying for what many deemed the holy grail with the Champions League, hired good managers who, although some didn't work out I can completely understand his reasonings behind certain appointments (Ramos, Hoddle, AVB, Santini etc) and he gave us Pochettino.

Pochettino has done a wonderful job this season and although we will never truly know what went on behind the scenes, a decision was made not to spend any money and we've still ended up as it stands a team that's has the 3rd best season on all fronts plying their trade in England. Fair play to both, it turned out to be a good decision, whoever made it back in August.

Last time we just spent and got the likes of Nkouduo etc it didn’t really help us at all. It’s incredibly difficult to get good players for cheap hence why Poch probably turned down a few players last summer if he thought they wouldn’t improve the squad and then just be difficult to sell and get rid of later.

That’s not a dig at Levy but given where we are in the table the type of players we require to maintain our development cost money. From Poch’s perspective he is probably seeing if we will take the next step and invest heavily in the playing squad before doing one thing or the other.

No one is asking us to be Man City but if you at Liverpool they had issues at CB and goalkeeper and spent and fixed them. We have full back issues and CM issues, that will probably cost the better part of 100-150 mil to sort properly and that’s without Toby or Eriksen leaving.

Levy has done an amazing job with the stadium but our transformation on the pitch into a top side has been down to Poch mainly. I’d love them to come to an agreement that allows us to invest in the squad and continue to grow as a club with Levy as Chairman and Poch as manager.
 
:eriksenlol:
So you don't think top professionals want to improve and be the best.
Why are you arguing against something you just made up?

I didn’t say they were wrong to be concerned.
I said their predictions were wrong and their fears of Poch quitting and us missing top 4 didn’t materialise.

Are you actually disagreeing that they were wrong over this? You do know that we qualified right? And Poch is still here?
You are crowing like the predictions were wild and without foundation, just 11 days ago you said the squad wasn't good enough, I don't see where you think you have the moral high ground, the predictions din't come off but it doesn't mean they were without foundation.

What’s being valid got to do with it?
If I said we would win the title and we finish 3rd I’d be plain and simple, good old fashioned wrong.
A lot when you are trying to take the moral high ground and act like the claims were ridiculous

So Liverpool’s squad is very good despite having players in it that aren’t good enough.

But our squad is not good enough for the same reasons.
I already explained in the last post that Liverpool's squad was not good enough and that there was several players that needed replacing. liverpool's squad is stronger than our own and we can't afford to have players on the bench who can't do a job for the first team.
 
The TV money cycle is a good point, most clubs spend it as soon as it comes so since the deals are for several years, holding your cash for a year and then spending out of sync with most might (might) be very fruitful.
 
So you don't think top professionals want to improve and be the best.
I dint believe City players give a fuck that they lost more games than Liverpool, because they won more games and therefore the title.

You are crowing like the predictions were wild and without foundation, just 11 days ago you said the squad wasn't good enough, I don't see where you think you have the moral high ground, the predictions din't come off but it doesn't mean they were without foundation.
Awwwwww moral high ground is it now? I thought we had "freedom of speech" right.....
What wild predictions did I make last summer? The squad was good enough for top 4 and could win the CL...sounds about right.

I said they had regressed. I also said they had proven me wrong about that. Im delighted to be wrong that they had regressed. You dont seem happy to be wrong....odd.

A lot when you are trying to take the moral high ground and act like the claims were ridiculous
Freedom of speech mate.......dont need to feel inferior about it

already explained in the last post that Liverpool's squad was not good enough and that there was several players that needed replacing. liverpool's squad is stronger than our own and we can't afford to have players on the bench who can't do a job for the first team.

So liverpools squad isnt good enough but you are claiming they had a better season than City and that citys players are crying about losing more games

LOL
 
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I´ll make it easy:
They said the squad was not top 4. We finished top 4
They said Poch would quit. Poch didnt quit.
Actually, sir, very few of us said we would fail to get top 4. But we did say standing still and doing fuck all was going backwards.

2017/18 3rd 77 points
2018/19 4th 71 points.

How is that progression?

Despite the shite abysmal seasons United, Arse and chav fans claim to have had we've clearly gone backwards and gone from comfortable top 4 to squaking in due to the calamity of others.

It's ok to be wrong mate. I was wrong on the stadium.
 
I dint believe City players give a fuck that they lost more games than Liverpool, because they won more games and therefore the title.
Ok I believe you're wrong and will want to improve next seasn.
Awwwwww moral high ground is it now? I thought we had "freedom of speech" right.....
What wild predictions did I make last summer? The squad was good enough for top 4 and could win the CL...sounds about right.
Yeah we do have freedom of speech, it doesn't mean you aren't trying to take the moral high ground
So you predicted that then changed your mind earlier this month and then changed it back again when we beat Ajax? Is this the final time you will change your mind or will it change again if we lose?
I said they had regressed. I also said they had proven me wrong about that. Im delighted to be wrong that they had regressed. You dont seem happy to be wrong....odd.
I'm happy we are, where we are it's beyond my expectations, doesn't mean that some peoples complaints where without foundation because the predictions didnt come true.


So theyre squad isnt good enough but you are claiming they had a better season than City and that their players are crying about losing more games

LOL
I claimed no such thing. I only claimed that city players would to improve as top professionals.
 
Ok I believe you're wrong and will want to improve next seasn.
I didnt say they dont want to improve next season though. I said I dont think they care that Liverpool came second.

Yeah we do have freedom of speech, it doesn't mean you aren't trying to take the moral high ground
So you predicted that then changed your mind earlier this month and then changed it back again when we beat Ajax? Is this the final time you will change your mind or will it change again if we lose?

I changed my mind when the season finished and I had been proven wrong.

I predicted what? I didnt make a prediction. I said the players had regressed.....I also admitted being wrong about it.

I'm happy we are, where we are it's beyond my expectations, doesn't mean that some peoples complaints where without foundation because the predictions didnt come true.

I dont say they had no foundation. I said they were wrong.
And they were because Poch didnt leave and we finished top 4

I claimed no such thing. I only claimed that city players would to improve as top professionals.

LOL....so nothing about Liverpool losing less games being better
 
Actually, sir, very few of us said we would fail to get top 4. But we did say standing still and doing fuck all was going backwards.

2017/18 3rd 77 points
2018/19 4th 71 points.

How is that progression?

Despite the shite abysmal seasons United, Arse and chav fans claim to have had we've clearly gone backwards and gone from comfortable top 4 to squaking in due to the calamity of others.

It's ok to be wrong mate. I was wrong on the stadium.

Its progression because weve played most of the season with back up and gone all the way in the CL......

I thought you said we were fatigued?
Was we fatigued last year too....? Because surely you must feel thats a factor to 6 less points.

We got top 4 because we won 23 games. Only City and Liverpool won more games.
I was wrong that the payers had regressed...they proved they were good enough for the clubs target.
Im ok with being wrong.
 
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