I'd be interested to see how he does there, but only as part of a three. I think it would play into his strengths and his weaknesses would be less prominent. Hopefully it won't be necessary this season, so maybe Pochettino could try it out in a pre-season game or two? That's dependent on our next close season not being an utter bloody mess, as usual, though.
As it appears that Wimmer's days are numbered, Davies certainly seems to be a decent shout for the short-term solution - but with one eye on a long-term solution in case Davies doesn't cut it.
A balanced view of the 'Mauricio Pochettino to Barcelona' story hyped by 'Fleet Street' from UMAXIT. That sounds about right to me. MP's not going anywhere else because Spurs and he are perfect for each other right now. Tottenham supporters can breath, because while it’s suggested that Barcelona’s decision-makers are admirers of Mauricio Pochettino, most reports stop short of claiming him a serious candidate to replace Luis Enrique. Jorge Sampaoli is, quite understandably, the voguing taste in Spain, Ernesto Valverde has his supporters, and even Ronald Koeman and Laurent Blanc are seen as more plausible options.Perhaps that’s because, for all he’s achieved at Spurs, Pochettino isn’t obviously suited to super-club management. There are certainly aspects of his coaching personality which would appeal to Barcelona, not least his dedication to developing youth players, but the Catalan club operates within an entirely different climate to most; it’s a world of politics and pressure, and not one within which it’s easy to construct the kind of personal relationships that Pochettino appears to depend on. While this may sound derisory, it’s not intended to be so: Pochettino’s career to-date suggests that he’s best suited to coaching teams looking to punch above their financial weight. His reputation has been built on extracting the most from players who, at clubs with bigger budgets, would never have been given a proper opportunity. If Tottenham were a side routinely spending £150m every summer, they likely wouldn’t have persevered with Danny Rose, might not have even placed such faith in Harry Kane, and would probably have loaned Dele Alli out upon his arrival. The imperatives are different: fail to win three games at a Barcelona-sized organisation and a manager will become vulnerable, irrespective of what he may be creating or what individual improvements he’s overseeing. There’s obviously an appeal to working for that kind of club, but successful management depends on the right coach working for the right team at the right time. Rather than preferred formations or particular coaching attributes, that’s what really defines a successful appointment. The hope is that Pochettino remains at Spurs for the foreseeable future. Not just because he’s done such good, but because the marriage between him and his employer is so well weighted. It’s a partnership which suits the collective interest: they are what he needs them to be, he is what they want. There are always other factors in play (wages, ego, ambition), but the value of that relationship should not be underestimated – and, obviously, nobody should be in a hurry to throw it away. The common narrative is that Spurs would suffer without Pochettino and would experience some kind of retraction. That’s probably true, but it’s equally valid to suggest that, at another club, his own qualities might not be accentuated in the same way.
Another argument against the "Pochettino to Barca!!!" shrieking from the usual clickbait merchants is the simple argument that Barca demand the team play one way and one way only, and that has further been entrenched into the club's ideology since the Guardiola era - yet this style of play is not how Poch sets up his teams, far from it, and I sincerely doubt that Barca would be willing to allow him to come in and revamp the team to play the way he wants them to play as opposed to the way they tell him Barca play. When bringing up the subject in the Hack Watch article I pointed out how obvious (and remarkably convenient) it was that no journalists were crowing how Klopp could be their next manager, as if Poch's contract at Spurs isn't worth the paper it's printed on yet Barca would respect Norbert's ironclad contract - or judging by the 25/1 odds that nobody's mentioning, are they saying Norbert is good enough for Liverpool but not good enough to Barca? If that wasn't enough to tie their flawed logic into all manner of knots, then there's the other glaring flaw: 33/1 odds for Guardiola to return to the Nou Camp, even though with City and Barca both floundering it's certainly not outside the realms of possibility for Barca to bite the bullet and have Guardiola return, after all the Chavs bit the bullet and threw a ****load of money at Moronho to right the ship, similar can be said with Lippi at Juve or Capello at Milan.
The main objection to Pochettino to Barca is that the fans hate him. He played for and managed Espanyol for about 13 years and around 400 games. It would be like Gary Neville managing Man City or Liverpool.
Totally agree. Barcelona is a non-starter for numerous reasons but I just don't see him going anywhere in the next 5 years. He's very, very good and as the article says he fits our needs perfectly. Currently, his skills and our assets are a match. However, he's still learning. Performances and failures like Liverpool away this season and the CL campaign/Gent show that he's not the finished article yet. Looking at those results and performances and predicting that he's the next Real or Barca manager seems a big stretch to me.
Even more ludicrous is how various sites are convinced that not only is Poch headed to the Nou Camp, but we're lining up Roberto Mancini as a replacement. Talk about lazy journalism that fails the most basic of scrutiny. How did the discussion in the bullpen go, exactly? "So if Barca listen to us and hired Pocket Tino, who should we say is going to replace him?" "Well, Spurs are balancing the books to pay for their new stadium, so they need to invest wisely..." "I've got it! Roberto Mancini! He's out of work, isn't he?" "Well yes, but..." "Can you type that story up by one o'clock?" "But it's ten to one now." "That's plenty of time!" "But your story makes no sense. Spurs are trying to balance the books, yet Mancini throws cash around like a rapper in a strip club." "I said the story needs to be on my desk by one. Get on with it." Prove me wrong, sports journalists.
Mauricio says.... "Like always, I told you, (football) it's the business I know very well. I was born with a ball in my arms and I understand very well the business. "We are in one of the biggest clubs in Europe. For me Tottenham is one of the biggest clubs. We are in a position where you can see we play very good football, exciting team, very good players. "I don't want to speak because if you speak too much it is possible people can twist my words. I am happy here. I understand the business. It's normal in football today." It won't make an ounce of difference.
I'd put money on Pochettino being able to augment the Barca tika-taka with a faster/intense MF pressing game to produce an even better team. Contrast with Pep : who rather than do the above with the Munich 2012-13 machine and achieve the nightmare scenario, managed to pussify their Teutonic physicality and pace into Barca tika-taka lite.
In slightly more feasible news, we're being linked with Benfica attacking midfielder Joao Carvalho. I say "slightly more feasible" due to a combination of his season-long loan at Vitoria Setubal most likely being his final seasoning before graduating to the Benfica first team, and looking at the countless other teams being linked with him this looks like a potential auction which means an inflated fee and/or inflated wages. In other words, if we want to kick Eriksen up the backside, there's other options (i.e. Ante Coric, Nadiem Amiri)
Transfer Cluedo update - Dele Alli with Bayern Munich in The Mirror; and Eric Dier with United in The Sun. Time for some more Moussa Sissoko rumours? No, thought not.
Yet there's no mention of the bust-up between Rashford and Moronho in training yesterday afternoon because The Special Once is refusing to accept Spurs' offer for Rashford, even though the player sees a move to Tottenham as the ideal way to develop into a top class player...
I think we can safely chalk up the Mirror's reports of signing Wilfriend Zaha for £30m this summer to the office dartboard...
Sissoko'd be a good signing for Palace. Played in centre midfield for a team that'll finish comfortably in the lower reaches of the PL would suit him just fine. I'd take Zaha as a swap deal to get rid of Sissoko....just. Then again, what wouldn't I take in exchange for Sissoko? Jack Wilshire, Fabregas and the mother-in-law? Sounds about right.
Two of our recruitment staff have left the club, apparently. Paul Mitchell's well publicised departure has finally gone through, while our main youth spotter, David Webb, as been sacked. The latter is down overlooking some big talents that we were offered for peanuts, allegedly. Ousmane Dembele and Alexander Isak both joined Dortmund instead and are now very highly rated. Not sure why we had this pair running our scouting, though:
