Nice mention for
WindyCOYS
Winners
Mauricio Pochettino
A majestic performance, probably the best this season by any team not called Manchester City. You don’t need me to tell you that Tottenham are operating on a different financial plane to Pep Guardiola’s side. But when Tottenham click, only City have a higher ceiling of single-game performance. You can
read 16 Conclusions here.
With apologies to both the Tottenham supporters who shudder to think of the prospect and Manchester United fans who must feel awfully glum, it is impossible not to point out the contrasts between Pochettino and Jose Mourinho, not least because one is the apparent favourite to replace the other.
Tottenham and Manchester United both had difficult summers, and both managers must feel slightly let down by their superiors. But after a total lack of investment, with the stadium issue rumbling on longer than he was promised and with a squad already running on empty in August, Pochettino has produced the best start to a season in Tottenham’s Premier League history.
Spurs look well-drilled in training, and approach every game with a distinct plan. Pochettino has improved the players he inherited. Tottenham’s key attacking players (Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen) have suffered from injuries and fatigue but continue to make the best of the situation and produce moments of brilliance even when backs are against the wall. They also enter games against top-four rivals and attempt to impose their own system onto their opponents rather than passively waiting to see what happens. Right now, Pochettino is everything that Mourinho isn’t. It is his and Tottenham’s performance level that paints Mourinho in the worst light.
There were significant doubts as to whether Pochettino could keep Tottenham in the top four at a time when overcoming financial disparity has never been harder. Three months into the season, those doubts are decreasing even though the new stadium is still under construction and may well not be ready until next season.
And therein lies the difference between Mourinho and Pochettino in 2018. One is a manager who upsells problems as a method of self-preservation, but is only succeeding in isolating himself in the process. The other understands and unhappily accepts the roadblocks, but understands the need too to ignore them in pursuit of the greater good. On Saturday, we saw Pochettino at his peak and Mourinho at his miserable worst.
Moussa Sissoko
On Sunday morning, excellent Tottenham blogger Chris Miller tweeted the similarities between Sissoko and Gareth Bale. It was intended to be taken with tongue slightly inserted in cheek, but he’s absolutely right. Both were bought with the intention to play in one position, and struggled badly in that position to the extent that supporters would have accepted their sale with a shrug. Then both players were moved to a new position, and immediately thrived.
I’m not saying that Sissoko is going to move to Real Madrid for a whacking great transfer fee (I’m really not saying that), but he deserves massive credit for his reinvention as a central midfield destroyer. There was a moment in the second half on Saturday when he charged 40 yards back towards his own goal to slide into a meaty, magnificent tackle. In the roars that greeted his challenge, you could sense 10,000 minds changing in unison.
Sissoko may not be the counter-attacking winger that Tottenham paid £30m for, but if he can adapt to the demands of a new role at the age of 29 then he can still offer plenty to this Pochettino project. Joke figure is slowly becoming cult hero.
ochbye:
