IAIN MACINTOSH: The gamble few would have backed
The Southampton chairman was the object of everyone’s fury in January when he sacked Nigel Adkins and replaced him with Mauricio Pochettino.
He can’t sack the man who returned the club to the Premier League after back-to-back promotions, we spat. Oh yes he can. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, we raged. Oh yes he did. With a 2-0 victory over Adkins’ new team, Southampton all but secured their top flight status with six games left to play. So, humble pie anyone?
Well, perhaps not. While Cortese’s gamble has paid off handsomely, that doesn’t excuse the fact that dismissing Adkins was an act of rare cruelty in a game not known for its fluffy side. The poor man had taken the Saints from the third flight to the Premier League, forging a good, young side in the process. If Southampton are to become an established top 10 outfit, as Adkins predicted this week, he will have played a major part in their rise. Sacking him was just…well…rude.
And yet, Cortese deserves great credit for his acquisition of Pochettino. The former Argentina international was relatively unknown in the UK, at least to people who don’t watch rather more La Liga than is socially acceptable. A solid, if unspectacular stint with Espanyol gave little indication that he would settle into England so swiftly and his inability to speak English seemed like an insurmountable hurdle. When you throw in the pain of Adkins’ sudden dismissal, this was a recipe for disaster.
But there has been no disaster. No panic, no problems and no fuss. Quietly and effectively, Pochettino has gone about his business, tweaking and tinkering, race-tuning Adkins’ team into something altogether more effective. He has resisted the temptation to wade into the media storm, sensibly allowing the anger to dissipate. The supporters, who put up little open opposition to Cortese’s machinations, have quickly accepted the new man. They are still keen to preserve Adkins’ legacy, but happy to move on to a brighter future.
Adkins said last week that he can’t see too much difference between his old team and his successor’s version, but Pochettino’s side are far more aggressive without the ball. They slam into the opposition high up the pitch, shutting down their time on the ball, forcing mistakes. He has also had an effect on some of the players.
Jay Rodriguez looked a solid enough signing this season, scooped from Burnley for £7m, but he’s really blossomed under Pochettino. Excellent against Reading, he tore his old manager’s team apart.
There were shades of a young Stan Collymore about him at times in the way he ran at defenders, terrifying them with pace and power. His goal, his third in three games, was a testament to his willingness to fight for every scrap. Adkins complained that it should have been disallowed for a foul on goalkeeper Adam Federici but in truth, if Federici had shown as much heart as Rodriguez, he would have cleared the ball.
With one-time Liverpool target Gaston Ramirez excelling in the front line and Rickie Lambert continuing to offer performances that belie his chunkiness, the Saints have a trio of attackers who should be able to sustain their club in the top half of the table. Nathaniel Clyne has settled down at right-back and Luke Shaw, the 17-year-old left-back, is displaying a level of courage and composure that should be impossible for someone so young. Adkins put this team together, and it is a cruel fate that he should have to watch them prosper while he is doomed to a season in the Championship, but Pochettino has them purring.
It is perhaps a lesson to all of us that consensus, even an almost unanimous consensus, isn’t always to be relied upon. Cortese made a big decision, a very harsh decision, but it paid off. It’s hard not to feel sorry for Adkins, but Pochettino appears to be taking Southampton to the next level. We were quick enough to tell Cortese when we thought he was wrong. It’s only fair that we acknowledge that he might actually have been right.
