Divine Pochettino dragging Spurs towards the mountain top
y grandfather was born in 1893. Six years later Tottenham Hotspur, the oldest London club in the Premier League, made White Hart Lane their third ground since they played their first matches at Tottenham Marshes in 1882. My eldest son is the fourth generation of The Secret Footballer family to worship at the Lane.
On Saturday, we were there to round off of what has been a good week for Spurs. On Wednesday the team scored three times at the death to kill off Swansea and secure our reputation for being the Premier Leagues coolest operators when it comes to recovering from a losing position. Those three goals brought the goal total for this season in the Premier League to 69. Spurs had never scored more than 67 in a Premier League season.
On Saturday, they added four more goals. You want some context? Spurs’ best ever points total is 72 in the 2012-13 season. Spurs are at 68 with seven games left to play. Best goal difference was 26 in 09-10 season. The current tally is 42.
As the sun shone through the drizzle of goals dropping down on Watford, I looked at my happy son and had the happy thought that he might never know the hard times and heartbreak that his forefathers endured following Spurs.
These are the best times to be a Spurs fan since the double-winning team of 60-61 were in their pomp. Funny, my Dad texted me yesterday morning to say that he had just finished reading the biography of Cliff Jones, the original Gareth Bale, and he recalling being at the Lane with 59,000 others for the first leg of the 1962 Cup Winners Cup game against Rangers.
It was only 1962 and the game was touted as the match of the decade. And you thought Sky invented hype. Spurs won 5-2 but Dad’s memory is of Rangers fans throwing pennies down on the Spurs fans. “They must have really hated us to throw away cash.”
Right now, it’s not fashionable to hate Spurs but at the same time what Pochettino has achieved at the club hasn’t been fully appreciated yet by a media that is still blinded by the bling that Pep and Jose and Jurgen have brought to the party. And then there’s the distraction over the retirement arrangements for the elder lemon at that club which moved up to north London from Woolwich a while back.
Pochettino may not be great tabloid fodder but in time he may be recognised as the best coach in the league. He has worked within Spurs’ wage structure, bought sensibly — well, mainly sensibly before you mention Sissoko and the hapless Janssen (word is that the club are going to ask them both to do some extra stretches after the final game of the season at White Hart Lane when the bulldozers move in half an hour after the whistle). Those two players aside, Poch has the knack of bringing through academy players and getting the best out of guys who many people had dismissed as journeymen. And he’s given Spurs a backbone. They fight.
On Wednesday, for example, Spurs had no goalkeeper and no captain because Hugo Lloris was out and Harry Kane was injured. Danny Rose was crocked, as was Victor Wanyama. Despite all that, Poch still relegated Kyle Walker to the bench. Jose Mourinho would have declared a national day of mourning in such circumstances. Spurs just got on with it.
Pochettino’s 12-hour working days are legendary, as are the days in pre-season when he puts his boys through double sessions and occasional triple sessions. What he does out on the pitch is more interesting.
Players tell me that he constantly pairs everybody up to compete against each other. Full-backs take each other on. Everybody has a partner that they have to out-do. Again and again. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose are the obvious example. Every Spurs fan, if they were honest, thought for a long time that Danny Rose was mediocre on his best days. Pochettino called him in some time ago and told him he would make him the best left-back in Europe, if Rose listened to him. He did, and in fairness today there aren’t many left-backs better.
Specifically, he told Rose that his final ball was erratic and that he panicked. If you watch Rose’s performances pre and post Poch’s arrival, his crossing is a million light years away from what it was. He regularly used to smash it out for a throw on the opposite side. Today it’s on the money every time not because Rose has practised millions of crosses, he’s learned to focus on one ball at the end of training.
Similarly with Christian Eriksen. I’ve heard people say that Eriksen must practice millions of crosses and corners. He practices two at the end of training because Pochettino has told him that if he gives maximum focus to just two balls then they will always be his best efforts.
It’s all about concentration and delivering under pressure. It’s such a radical change from the old days of taking two full bags of balls out onto the training pitch and knackering yourself out, the quality just goes down and down. It goes completely against Alex F’s ethos of practice, practice, practice.
On Saturday, Spurs played without either Rose or Walker and what happened? Kieran Trippier, 26 and signed from Burnley for the loose change that is £3.5 million gave an outstanding exhibition of full-back play. His crosses were sublime. Watford didn’t ask him to do much defending, which was decent of them, but you could see the Poch technique oozing out of him.
Summer will be interesting. On Saturday looking at Spurs I asked myself, who would I replace to kick us on? Just to have an answer ready if Poch asks. Eric Dier seemed like the top candidate, yet Dier is an enigma. If Spurs play three at the back then, yes, there are far better centre-halves than Dier. Bonucci for one. If Dier gets pushed forward and Spurs play a four at the back there are far better players than Dier to play holding midfield. Kante for one.
Yet is there a player out there who can play both roles better than Dier can? Maybe Javi Martinez at Bayern Munich but there aren’t many that jump out.
The point is that Tottenham’s formation is not rigid. It is not about finding players to play one specific position. Pochettino has built this flexibility into them and Dier is certainly one of the best players in the world at recognising when to switch from a three to a four and how to work it.
Managers will usually make that call from the side but sometimes a player will instinctively feel it too. Dier’s football education at the academy in Sporting Lisbon shines through.
Pochettino’s trick has been to play 14 players in three or four different systems. And it is that trick that wins football matches for Spurs. Yesterday there was a stat flying about. Kane (19), Alli (16), and Son (11) have 46 league goals between them this season. That’s the same as the entire Manchester United squad.
There’s an old story about Pochettino at Espanyol when his beloved team were at the bottom of La Liga. He walked the 12k out to the shrine of Monserrat on a hill outside Barcelona to ask for divine help. Espanyol won eight of their last 10 games and survived.
Poch was young then. Now the Gods come to him for help.
Just lift up that phone, Jose.
