Tottenham Links: Wenger or Pochettino, Who's Better?

Here’s a very late Tottenham Hotspur Links to read.

To quickly begin, here’s the latest stories involving Tottenham. First up, who is the better north London manager? Championships won, of course it’s Arsene Wenger. It’s not exactly close. But how about being the better tactician? Or better yet, who has the most potential to help lead their club to greater heights? Not as easy to decide huh? Almost even between the two.

Next, Leiceister City’s Jamie Vardy could miss both Tottenham games if he isn’t healthy. Yeah this is in fact a Leicester City story appearing on a Spurs blog, but when it’s a team who is being involved with Tottenham, it’ll make the rounds as a story to link up. And finally, another comparison article looking at who should be Tottenham’s starting left-back be? With that said, to the links below.

Who’s the better manager, Arsène Wenger or Mauricio Pochettino?
- [via Give Me Sport]

In terms of major championships won, Arsène Wenger is clearly better than Mauricio Pochettino by winning a total of 19 trophies with three different clubs. For Pochettino, he hasn’t won a championship as a manager with Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham.

So why even compare the two? Well, why not?

When you take away championships from the conversation and just focus on what both managers can bring to their team, they’re not that different. They’re pretty similar. But in terms of having a higher potential and/or ceiling to reach. Then that goes to Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham.

However, let’s not discredit Wenger. Because what makes him good — when again, you take away his championships won as a manager — is his consistency. Arsenal, under the Frenchman’s guidance, has finished in the Premier League’s top four for 19 seasons.

This season is Wenger’s 20th year managing Arsenal.

In terms of Champions League football? Since the Round of 16 was introduced during the 2003-04 season, the Gunners have made it into the knockout stages for 13 consecutive seasons (including this season). Again, Arsene Wenger is a consistent manager.

As for Pochettino, he has potential to become just as good as Arsène Wenger in due time if he’s able to manager Tottenham for nearly 20 years, and if he can continue maintaining his steady climb up the league table. Adding in a fraction of the championships that the Frenchman has won would be icing on the cake.

But when you look at both coaches and who is the better tactician, it’s even. They both get the job done. This season is no different, Arsenal is first and Spurs are fourth. Yeah one club is at the top of the table and ahead by six points. But at the end of the day, if they both finish in their same positions they would have done exactly what they’re good at. Wenger finishes inside the top four again and Pochettino continues his steady climb upwards from last season’s fifth place finish.

Jamie Vardy could miss both fixtures against Tottenham
- [via The Guardian]

Jamie Vardy’s recent groin operation will see him miss at least one game against Tottenham, that being their FA Cup third round tie. However, there’s still a possibility that Vardy could get even more time off with the second and final Premier League matchup between Spurs and Leicester happening just three days later.

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Obviously rushing a player back from a recent injury isn’t a smart move to make, so Leicester City manager, Claudio Ranieri might let Jamie Vardy rest even more until the Foxes’ second match with Tottenham this month is over.

Otherwise they would run the risk of getting Vardy hurt for a longer period of time and only having one other dominant goalscorer in Riyad Mahrez to try and keep Leicester in the top four all by himself.

Now, it should be noted that the Guardian believes Jamie Vardy would need 10 days of rest to fully recover. With today being January 8th, and adding in 10 days of recovery time, that would mean Vardy will be back on January 18. The 28-year-old would miss both games against Spurs.

It’s good news for Tottenham and makes things a bit easier, but then again, the Italian manager was already going to rotate his squad for the FA Cup third round tie to begin with. And he already had plans to keep Jamie Vardy out if necessary.

“He’s OK,” Claudio Ranieri said. “Today [Thursday] Jamie is working with the physio and he should be OK for the league game [January 13]. I say to my physio I do not want to lose him for a long time. If he is ready for the second Tottenham game, it’s OK. If not – Aston Villa.”

“We will change a lot, because these players deserve a chance to play. It will be a blend of players. Our mentality won’t change. We go to win. If Tottenham are better, well done to them.”

Who should be Tottenham’s first-choice left-back?
- [via London Evening Standard]

With four-fifths of Tottenham’s back line, Hugo Lloris included at goalkeeper, solidified the only position which doesn’t seem to have a clear-cut starter is left-back. Meaning, yes, this is another comparison article. A who’s-better-than-who story regarding Ben Davies and Danny Rose.

Standard Sport looked at four, but instead it’s best to look at three: tackling, positioning and attacking. Time to start comparing.

As a tackler, Danny Rose is better when he’s going in for a challenge on one-on-one situations. Ben Davies is good, but seems to prefer to tackle at the perfect time, rather than going for it on a consistent basis. Different defensive-minded styles will do that for players.

When it comes down to positioning, Ben Davies excels if ever so slightly. Davies is more reliable but still has some hiccups at times. That said, the Welshman is still improving and will only get better. Danny Rose isn’t as bad, but does tend to get caught out of position a bit more frequently.

Next: Can Pritchard Find a Way into Spurs' Starting XI?

And lastly, attacking. Davies is better as a whole despite Danny Rose being more of an attacking threat. Both defenders’ crosses are could use some more work. Rose needs to be more accurate, Davies needs to put more oomph on his crosses. However, Ben Davies is more inclined to continue linking up well with teammates rather than blazing down the left flank and sending a cross into the penalty box like Danny Rose would do.

So who’s actually better in the end? It seems like Ben Davies is only slightly better than Danny Rose when it comes to positioning and attacking but isn’t that good yet as a tackler. Still, both players are improving with the higher ceiling favoring Davies rather than Rose. If anything though, depending on how Mauricio Pochettino wants his full-backs to play — style-wise — with both left-backs getting even reps, Davies has made 10 appearances and Rose has made 11, respectively, this means that Pochettino is still trying to figure out who’s better.

Tottenham Hotspur Links: Arsène Wenger or Mauricio Pochettino, Who’s Better?

By Alexander Balano | Jan 8, 2016

Here’s a very late Tottenham Hotspur Links to read.

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