Pochettino is hardly untouchable. He gets a lot of criticism for some of his line-ups, tactics, and use of substitutes, just as any manager would. A lot of people, including me, were very critical of his decision to play Vorm in the semi v United.
I can’t agree with the idea of not prioritising the league. After a few seasons of finishing 6th, 7th or lower do you really think we’d still have a fantastic team left? Don’t you think that would diminish our chances of winning trophies? You say there needs to be a level expected of the team, yet want us to prioritise possible cup success over doing well in the league. Can you see the contradiction, or is the level we should expect that of a cup team occasionally winning a trophy after a fortunate run of fixtures, but being also rans in the league?
Ideally we’d have the money to be able to have the squad depth of some of the mega bucks clubs, enabling us to rotate the team and still be one of the best in the country. In truth, even if we were we’ll still come up against tough opponents in the latter stages.
Given a choice between winning the FA Cup or finishing top 4 I’d go for the former, but in the real world I’d always want us to aim to do as well in the league as possible, as in this day and age it makes a huge difference when it comes to building and keeping a strong team, which just so happens to be the best way of improving (not guaranteeing) our chances of trophies.
If after 5 years at the club and no silverware to show for it the level of criticism centres on substitutions and team selections then that really says it all. I’m one of a very few supporters who challenge his tenure and just look at the vitriol i receive. Again the man is untouchable for many.
And the point is not to disregard the league - I don’t want to us disgraced anything. If comparable teams such as A. Madrid and Dortmund have been able to compete on multiple fronts and win silverware then there is no reason why we cannot - we have the players, we have the squad. As Bill Nic said it’s better to fail aiming high than succeed aiming low. When you have supporters openly state that they are not really bothered about winning silverware then something is rotten at the club.