Pochettino passed fit, but Spurs fans shouldn't get excited!

Discussion in 'Tottenham forum' started by Josh Bolton, June 13, 2014.

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  1. Josh Bolton

    Josh Bolton Active Member

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    After a 15 day wait, Mauricio Pochettino passed his test in proving to Spurs fans that he could speak the North London-lingo, after his interview with SpursTV on Wednesday.

    Announced as Tottenham Head Coach officially on the 27th of May, fans finally got to not only see the Poch in Spurs colours, but also communicating through the Queen’s English.


    First Impressions

    Similar to the majority of Spurs fans, my first impression of the interview was positive, and was enough to wet my appetite for the 2014/15 PL season.

    With the interview done internally (by Spurs), Mauricio would have obviously been given numerous run-throughs and enough time to prepare his answers, allowing the interview to run smoothly, whilst presenting the manager and the club in a positive light.

    Prepared prior or not though, in fairness to Mauricio, his answers were extremely satisfying and did more than enough to quash the growing myth that the only English words that he knew were – “pass ball to Lallana”.

    His best quote read - “Our philosophy is “suffer in training so you don't suffer in the game”, whilst his concluding line of – “we will try to give everything to make you proud of this football club” did wonders in restoring fan morale and unity.

    Holding Your Horses

    With us having little to shout about in the past few months, it came as no surprise that fans would be drooling over an interview where our manager would echo words of: philosophy, pride and commitment; especially after our previous employee had labelled our squad a “much of muchness”.

    Although I agree with those fans who were joyous at the simple fact that our manager spoke as though he possess both a plan and a philosophy, for me, it bore too close to AVB’s first press conference that took place just under 2 years ago.

    Delayed until the unveiling of Hotspur Way, Villas-Boas’ opening interview saw him utter the sultry words of: objectives, setting up the right environment in training, whilst he said he would be putting us ‘back on track for titles”.


    I remember, back in July 2012, thinking – “WOAH! We’ve moved on from listening to a Gaffer (Redknapp) talking to the press like he’s Derek “Dell-Boy” Trotter down the Nags Head, to a Head Coach who sounds like a Portuguese political correspondent who’s ran out of Soothers cough sweets!” Before saying to myself – “we’re gonna win the bloody league!” or at least maybe – “top 4 is ours!”

    Learning our lesson

    They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, and looking back now I think to myself – AVB spoke a good game, but he never really executed a good game, or at least what he would call – his own “philosophy”.

    AVB talked the talk, but never walked the walk, and it’s for this reason alone why I think we should wait to judge Mauricio on what his team says on the pitch, rather than what he says in the press-room.

    By all means, this doesn’t mean we should withdraw our support, but rather we should be more excited seeing his “philosophy” in practice, rather than how it is said from the tongue.

    With blogs, tweets and status’, heck – even my own articles airbrushed to sell, working within in football is different - it’s not what you say it’s what you do!

    The most famous words to come out of this football club were – “the game is about glory”, so let’s not glorify our manager’s words before he’s shown us his own glory game on the hallowed turf of WHL.

    COYS
     
    Ramos43 likes this.
  2. Dan Mac Guest

    The thing that excited me was actually the fact he referenced common sense 3 times. The fact that someone even says that, suggests, at least it does to me, that they have thought not only about what they WANT to do with the players (double training etc) but the way to implement whilst keeping people onside. The way the players at Southampton speak of him shows huge unity - despite the extra work. I'm cautiously optimistic
     
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  3. Ramos43

    Ramos43 Active Member

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    Josh, I've ALWAYS admired your work, my friend, and this again is another finely written piece with good points made throughout. But, my word, you couldn't of picked a WORSE title for your piece if you tried!

    Because 'excitement' is EXACTLY what Spurs fans all over the world WANT and NEED right now, after a campaign which promised so much, delivered so little.

    So, AVB talked a good game, and ultimately struggled to deliver over the long-term. He also gave us GREAT moments, and that should not be forgotten (i.e. our first win at OT in 20+ years, victory over Arsenal at WHL, the development of G. Bale, wins against Lyon and Inter in the EL, and a record points tally).

    Any manager that signs for any ambitious, forward thinking club is likely to say similar things when they are introduced to the public for the first time. After all, it's an opportunity to share their plan, vision and ambition with the watching masses. What else are they expected to say? "I am going to try my hardest, and hope for the best".

    To be fair, I believe Mauricio was a LOT more considered/cautious with his words than AVB was, and yet still managed to come across well.

    The young Argentinian has a presence, charisma and confidence about him that SHOULD excite the supporters and players, alike. I for one have GREAT faith that Pochottino is the man to deliver the success Spurs as a club desperately crave and I have made no qualms about voicing that.

    One of the BEST things about being a supporter of any club/sport/project is having the ability to dream...don't allow your fears to attempt to take that away from us, eh!

    COYS
     
  4. Spurporter Well-Known Member

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    Numerous cliché. I am not impressed. Up until we see his personnel decisions, nothing can be clear. COYS!!!
     
  5. notnats

    notnats Well-Known Member

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    Nice interview and good to hear MP speaking English comfortably enough, he seems quite relaxed and a good communicator. I also liked his common sense approach to his training methods, he knows a lot of the players are coming back from the WC and has reassured them that they don't need to be scared of being overtrained from the go. Hopefully he approaches the season as a marathon and not a sprint, the team needs to peak at the right times and avoid the absurd amount of unnecessary injuries that we suffered last season. Anyway, I think MP came across quite well, he didn't try to say too much considering he hasn't been able to meet the squad or get started with the team, he's obviously delighted to be the new spurs manager and looking forward to getting down to business. By the way did anyone like the look of Lovren the other night ?
     

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