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Pochettino must stop embarrassing public statements

By Barrett Rouen

DORTMUND, GERMANY - MARCH 04: Mauricio Pochettino attends a Tottenham Hotspur Press Conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match against Borussia Dortmund on March 04, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
DORTMUND, GERMANY - MARCH 04: Mauricio Pochettino attends a Tottenham Hotspur Press Conference ahead of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match against Borussia Dortmund on March 04, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images) /
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In recent weeks Mauricio Pochettino has been making too many publicly derogatory statements about his club and it must stop so the club can move forward.

Tottenham have collapsed again.  Having worked themselves back into the Premier League title race they surrendered a win to Arsenal with a late goal and then simply through away a disastrous match to Burnley.  This is not the sort of thing title winners do and it’s a shame because despite the recent statement from the manager the club.

That is the sort of thing that makes Pochettino’s recent statements such a problem.  Tottenham have the talent to win the title and in recent weeks he has not looked good.  They have perhaps the best out and out striker in the world as well as two of the best 10 attacking midfielders.  Then they have a solid defense and a world cup winning captain as their goalkeeper.  This collapse does not look good on Pochettino as a manager.

Though he is a likable and jovial man and some of his comments can be taken as jokes it’s not the sort of thing that the manager of a Premier League title challenger jokes about.  His joke at the Premier League manager awards that he was proud to “finally win a trophy” was not polite to his club, his players or his supporters.  For all that matters he is very much so part of the reason why Tottenham haven’t won a trophy isn’t he? He is the manager after all and though things aren’t always easy for Tottenham and the deck is often stacked against him he is still the manager and it is still his job to win.

That said that comment pales in comparison to his statement that it could take up to 10 years for Tottenham to develop the mentality and players into winners was absurd.  His team is talented and strong and they should be winning far sooner than that.  Statements of that kind do nothing except create excuses for his players and stink of a lack of accountability on the behalf of the manager.

In modern football where players are softer and more spoiled than perhaps any time in history and very few of them have the maturity to hold themselves at all accountable it MUST start with the manager.  The manager must be stronger and smarter and even less accepting of half-measures and failure than before.  There are too many distractions and too much accepting of mediocrity in the modern game and for Pochettino this is very unlike him.

These comments will only have made it harder for Tottenham to press on this season and he will come to regret them.  Pochettino is one of the best managers in the world and a genuine talent.  He will though end up regretting this as it is not the sort of move that even he will look back on with pleasure.

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