Not true. Pochettino 2014-15 both results/performance wise was not much different to (PTSD incoming) 2013-14. This season the Ange regime started with an 10 game unbeaten run + 26 pts in the bag, and visibly improved and enjoyable attacking football.
It’s an apt comparison to make but there are key differences. Ange got a major head start on Poch for a number of reasons. He hasn’t had to deal with disgruntled and disruptive senior players (Kaboul etc.) like Poch did, and while the squad was and is still a bit of a mess, quality wise, Ange is dealing with more recognised quality players. The flying start we had to the season, jumping that initial gap due to a transition of style, happened because Ange: - had recruitment of players that directly fitted his style (Maddison, VdV, Vic) - has managed to get a lot out of players who were already part of the squad who everyone thought would suit the style (Bissouma, Bentancur in flashes, Kulu, Son, Romero when he’s not being an idiot) - has managed to turn players many weren’t sure would thrive in his kind of football into key figures (Udogie, Porro, Sarr) - has managed to get buy-in from the whole squad even the ones who aren’t playing. Everything seems quite harmonious behind the scenes The wheels coming off are because the quality gap from the starting XI plus a few others to the others is so big with so many unavailable. What’s obvious is that we have an excellent starting XI when everyone is available. What we badly need most is more depth in defence and at 9. Poch’s first few windows we bought, amongst others, players who would become key members of the starting XI and squad in subsequent seasons, like Ben Davies, Dier, Dele, Son, Toby etc. Ange’s first window was more focused on transforming the starting XI, out of necessity, and the broader transformation of the squad is yet to happen. We took a more immediate approach under Ange because we had to - fix the immediate problems in the starting XI and backfill from there. Poch was more of a blank canvas and the club was also a very different beast when he arrived, so we took a more gradual, ground-up approach, albeit one that was accelerated by talent emerging from the academy.
Quite. Ange has shown he knows what he’s doing. It’s hard to see how he doesn’t meet the brief. The structure is in place behind the scenes, or thereabouts. And Ange isn’t asking for Conte or Mourinho signings either. We need to bring the squad up a level or two get closer to, if not match, the starting XI, and improve the latter where possible. January is always a difficult window but we’ve had success in recent years. Next summer will be the big testing point.
There’s already been talk that we’re basically gonna be pleading poverty in January so I wouldn’t get your hopes up, lol. Gonna need those Saudi’s to take an interest in Richarlison, Emerson, Dier, Lo Celso etc.
Pochettino's first season saw us get to a cup final, beat Chelsea 5-3, saw Kane become first choice striker, saw us beat and draw against arsenal and west ham (we lost to both 3x the season before!). For me, that showed the players and the fans that his style of football was worth buying into...so for me it was a positive start.
The pts total is the harsh but fair judge. Even the 2015-16 season, where the football was fair better than that of the previous two seasons, was only effectively about 2 wins better than the season before.
I really don't want to be dogpiling on Hojbjerg, but with him deciding that we were playing 3ATB that makes it somewhat tempting Not sure what the hell is going on with Deki and Johnson on the right, either (unless the subs corrupted the data, that is) please log in to view this image
Being able to throw a rug over Son, Gil, Udogie and Lo Celso isn't ideal, is it? Not sure why our striker is so deep and wide.
