He. Is. Gone. Considering Mauricio Potchetino was possibly Spurs’ greatest ever manager, it’s a spot of madness on Daniel Levy’s part to get rid of him. Or is it? We know a thing or two about football boots, but should Potch have been given the metaphorical boot, where’s he going next and who will Spurs replace him with? Here are our answers.
Should Mauricio Pochettino have been sacked?
Short answer, no. But most fans could have come to that conclusion themselves. So let’s also give you the long answer.
In favour of sacking:
Firstly, Tottenham’s form over the last season or so has been undeniably crap. We could sprout figures about their shocking away form, but you know the jist. At the end of the day, Levy and a lot of Spurs fans see the club as a top 4 team – and rightly so. Yet their form over the last year has not been that of a major Premier League club. Results before Christmas last season helped boost Spurs’ position in the table, but the last ten or so matches demonstrated relegation form.
Secondly, and this is the big one (any Spurs fan will tell you), there has been no major trophies to show for the so-called golden era of Spurs teams. You can skillfully dribble past an entire team, but if you don’t score at the end of it then it’s completely futile. Similarly, Spurs can play all the nice football they want, win all the games they want, but if they end up as runners-up in the league or losers of a cup final, none of it matters.
Finally, and this one could be a bit of a myth, but there were reports that he’d lost the dressing room. News of player bust-ups and discontent within the ranks reflected badly on the Argentine. And we all know when there are issues in a team, the manager is the one in the firing line.
Against the sacking:
Enough devil’s advocate, let’s get into the actual facts. Why should Pochettino not have been sacked? Firstly, he took Spurs to the next level. They were a solid, consistent team back in the pre-Poch days, but would be the consistent fifth-place finishers. Even when they broke that mould and secured Champions League football, they failed to develop on that progress despite having the likes of Gareth Bale, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric in their ranks. In crisp terms, Poch took them from standard Walkers cheese and onion to tangy cheese Doritos, and who doesn’t like Doritos?
Secondly, he did this on a budget. Looking back, considering his boss was Levy – a person with North-Korea-type control over finances and a reluctance to spend anything- he’s done a great job. Forget football management, Poch should be a CFO. He would have a company’s finances locked down and still manage to bring home the bacon. If he was in charge of Brexit he’d have got the EU to disassemble, regroup and request to join the UK, and spend nothing doing so as well.
Thirdly, they reached a Champions League final a mere six months ago. Regardless of domestic form, you don’t accidentally reach a Champions League final. You don’t see FC Thun or Lincoln Red Imps suddenly pop up in a final do you? They were, and still are a quality team (Spurs, not Lincoln Red Imps), and they have the potential still. Albeit form is poor, but they’re just a win away from being 5th in the Premier League table, should progress in the Champions League and have a shiny new stadium at hand as well.
Should Poch have been sacked and where next for him and Spurs? – Spurs in Champions League
VERDICT – Should Mauricio Pochettino have been sacked? NO
There is no way he should have gone. Spurs were massively overperforming anyway, but considering they still managed to keep up there in the league with the likes of City, Liverpool and previously Chelsea competing as some of the best teams in Europe, Poch was smashing it.
He’s also overseen a huge relocation to a new stadium, where home games were played at Wembley – that cannot have been easy. It’s madness that he’s gone and he should make for a good appointment wherever he ends up. Speaking of his next job…
Should Poch have been sacked and where next for him and Spurs? – New Tottenham Hotspurs stadium
Who will Mauricio Pochettino manage next?
Unai Emery performing poorly. Many Arsenal fans craving the beautiful football to return to their club. Pochettino now available and able to deliver attractive football… Could it happen? Probably not. Arsenal are currently 33/1 to be Poch’s next club.
Favourites are unsurprisingly Man United at 2/1. He’s been touted to be the saviour of the club for a couple of years now, with United really struggling to fill the giant, Scottish void SAF left.
Second and third favourites are Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, but can the latter really sack a man who’s won them three Champions Leagues? Oh yes they can. Stay tuned.
Who will manage Spurs next?
As for Spurs, there’s a clear frontrunner as to who will succeed the Argentine, and it’s everyone’s favourite piss-boiler Jose Mourinho. The subtle finger on lips to the camera, the specialist in failure comment, the touchline dash at Old Trafford. What a legend. Get him back ASAP.
Other men in contention include Eddie Howe and Rafa Benitez. Howe is loving life at the moment though down on the south coast. If any manager in the Premier League is unsackable, surely it’s him after the job he’s done at Bournemouth
. We do kind of hope he goes to White Hart Lane though, because it will mean we stop reading how he’s tipped to be the next England manager every five minutes. Not sure how we feel about Rafa going there, but anyone who can win a CL with Djimi Traore in defence must be decent.
Also ‘in the hunt’ is Harry Redknapp at an enticing 80/1 – cue joke about Niko Kranjcar and getting the old band back together.
