We need a new right back more than we need a couple of centre backs or a DoF or Poch....We need a couple of centre backs more than we need a DoF or Poch
-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
We need Levy out more than anythingWe need a couple of centre backs more than we need a DoF or Poch
You have to: it’s how we occupy ourselves until the new season. You know the rules.
How are you feeling about Pochettino coming back, me old mucker? Will it be the straw that breaks the camel's back (and you know what I am talking about)?
Yeah, what a wonderful idea would that be.
To have our defense re-modelled by a former CB who agreed to make Sanchez our record signing?!? A player who has 0 ability to read the game, who can't even judge the flight of the ball, can't head it and is pushed off the ball by lightweight like Gundogan?!?
And after that he had audacity to come out and call for MORE decision making power?
He was way, way, way out of his depth in that front. Might as well make a huge pile of money and set it on fire. At least it would generate some warmth.
He took six months to win my heart, the next two years were the best sex I've ever had, but then I found out he liked to wear ball gowns and stilettos while I was at work and the relationship soured.
Definitely not my first (second, third or fourth) choice, but I guess there are bigger munters on Big Steve's Tinder App, so he wouldn't be the very scariest choice. FFS don't tell Sheldon Foden I said that.
Seriously, I'd only take him back if we brought in a DOF and kept him and Levy away from the recruitment.
How about you?
Last edited:
This smacks of a desperate "placate the restless natives" move by Levy. Maybe the hierarchy is getting a little nervous by more fans turning against ENIC?
Not sure how I feel about it. Would certainly be one of the more bonkers thing to happen during my time supporting Spurs.
I mean I thought he had a dream of managing PSG one day? He's, allegedly, willing to leave after only five months to return to a team he was sacked from only two years previously. WTF?
Not sure how I feel about it. Would certainly be one of the more bonkers thing to happen during my time supporting Spurs.
I mean I thought he had a dream of managing PSG one day? He's, allegedly, willing to leave after only five months to return to a team he was sacked from only two years previously. WTF?
Irritated.
At the thought of him coming back, or the thought that we let him go only to bring him back?
The former.
What about if it was him or Martinez or Rodgers?
I'd be beside myself if we hired Martinez. I'd accept Rodgers, but I'd be a little bit underwhelmed. If I stopped following Tottenham, I would still watch football.
It's highly unlikely Poch would accept a DoF.
And then there's all that ITK, taken with a huge pinch of salt, that Poch eventually lost the confidence of some of our key players (notably Kane), and that was why Levy pulled the trigger.
If that's true, and it's a big if, then re-appointing Poch would not prevent Kane leaving. Instead, it would provide the transfer fund for a complete rebuild of his original team.
Bizarrely, Poch may now have the upper hand with Levy desperate to placate the fans & generate season ticket renewals.
And I note that it was Poch who pushed for GLC & Ndombele ahead of Bruno, so some of the players he wanted are already at the club.
So I can see this happening.
Last edited:
I don't think any appointment will persuade Kane he wants to stay, the only thing that keeps Kane here is a lack of big enough bid and/or Levy giving him a stupid big contract.
I'm not sure Poch's appointment would placate a big chunk of us. Nothing short of a good DOF appointment and a recruitment overhaul would placate me, and that's before we get to the new head coach, many of us would much rather some fresh ideas. Poch looked like his software needed updated last couple of years he was here.
Thing gets interesting with Zidane leaving Real Madrid. PSG director may try to lure Zidane in.
Pochettino is in talks with Tottenham so will he leave PSG for a sensational return?
By Jack Pitt-Brooke 11m ago
Tottenham Hotspur are in talks with Mauricio Pochettino about a shock return to the club this summer.
Pochettino, who was sacked by Spurs only 18 months ago and appointed as Paris Saint-Germain head coach in January, is attracted by the idea of a quick return to the London club and to English football after failing to settle in the French capital. But while re-appointing Pochettino would also be attractive to chairman Daniel Levy, as he tries to repair relations with fans and relaunch the team towards the Premier League’s top four, it will be very difficult to pull off.
There is still one year left on Pochettino’s PSG contract and the Ligue 1 club do not want the upheaval of a third head coaching change in as many years. They would face another summer of disruption only a few months after sacking Thomas Tuchel in December. If Pochettino does ultimately decide that he wants to return to Tottenham, he would most likely have to resign in order to force his way out.
Pochettino’s spell in Paris has been mixed so far: PSG won the French Super Cup and the Coupe de France, and got to the semi-finals of the Champions League with thrilling victories over Bayern Munich and Barcelona along the way. But they were knocked out of Europe at that point by Manchester City and have lost their Ligue 1 title to Lille after suffering three defeats in six matches between February 21 and April 3. This is only the second time in nine seasons that PSG have failed to win their domestic championship.
Pochettino has won two cups but not the league with PSG (Photo: Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)
But although Pochettino has enjoyed the chance to work at an elite club, he has found his role in Paris to be less powerful than the one that he held at Spurs in five and a half years working with Levy. The Argentine has found himself facing the same internal issues at PSG as predecessor Tuchel did. According to reports in Italy, PSG are concerned enough about the situation to be sounding out replacements.
Again, the prospect of a return to a club where he was so popular is said to be attractive to Pochettino.
He managed Tottenham from the summer of 2014 until his dismissal in November 2019, leading the team on two close-run campaigns for the Premier League title in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and to the final of the 2018-19 Champions League. He is very aware of how loved he still is by the Spurs fans, and also retains a strong affection for Premier League football. Now he has to weigh up whether he wants to return to his old life, as difficult as that would be to arrange, or to press on with this new project across the Channel.
The Tottenham players are aware of the possibility of Pochettino returning, and are excited by the prospect.
In the last two seasons, Spurs have fallen away from the standards he set, finishing sixth and now seventh in the Premier League. Next year, they will be competing in the inaugural season of the Europa Conference League, having missed out on both the Champions League and Europa League. Their fitness levels have fallen considerably, too.
For Levy, the chance to reunite with Pochettino is naturally very appealing and despite sacking him, the two men have remained friends.
In his programme notes for the last home game of this season against Aston Villa, Levy admitted Spurs have “lost sight of some key priorities and what’s truly in our DNA”. There is a strong desire there to get back to the values of the Pochettino era — namely attractive, attacking football, the promotion of young players to the first team, and a sense of unity between all aspects of the club. Through the search for a new head coach to succeed Jose Mourinho, Pochettino has been seen as the benchmark of the type of coach that Tottenham would want to appoint. And now there is a chance that the man himself could be a candidate for his old role.
Ever since Mourinho was sacked five weeks ago, the north London club have been working hard to find the replacement who can get them back on track. That process led to the drawing up of a shortlist, including Erik ten Hag at Ajax, Belgium’s former Everton manager Roberto Martinez, unattached German coach Ralf Rangnick and Brighton’s Graham Potter. They were also interested in Hansi Flick, but the former Bayern head coach will take over the Germany national team after this summer’s European Championship.
None of those four shortlisted candidates has been ruled out yet. Indeed, given the difficulties inherent in getting Pochettino out of PSG, they very much remain in the frame. Ten Hag is still popular, having impressed in his three and a half seasons at Ajax, winning two Eredivisie titles there. Even though he signed a new contract with the Dutch giants on April 30, it does not mean he would be out of Spurs’ reach.
But there is no doubt that Pochettino would be the choice of most Tottenham fans if there is any way for him to return. His popularity has only grown since his departure.
Pochettino took Spurs to the Champions League final in 2019 (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images )
When Pochettino was sacked early last season, that Tottenham side were at the end of their cycle. The club’s failure to invest in players in 2018 meant that the team went stale the following year and some of the players lost their hunger or grew tired of the demanding environment. Just before the Champions League final loss to Liverpool, Pochettino warned of the “painful rebuild” that was required to build a “new project”.
Tottenham have effectively been in transition ever since, with the 17-month Mourinho era delivering neither results on the pitch (no trophy, no return to the Champions League) nor any closure on the Pochettino era.
The club needs a clear-out and a rebuild even more now than they did two years ago.
Pochettino might now have the opportunity to deliver exactly that.
The ball is in his court.