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Tottenham are not 'Spursy' anymore, says Mauricio Pochettino
Would it not be just perfectly “Spursy” for Tottenham to follow a euphoric win over Real Madrid by dropping points against Crystal Palace on Sunday?
Mauricio Pochettino looked a touch nonplussed when he heard the expression on Friday, twice asking his interpreter to translate. “I am familiar with the term,” he said, eventually, with a smile, “because we are no longer that way.”
Recent history is hardly stacked in his team’s favour when they confront Roy Hodgson’s Palace at Wembley, a mere four days after a glittering result against the 12-time champions of Europe. All four sides that previously vanquished Real Madrid in the Champions League, from Atlético Madrid to Juventus, Wolfsburg to Schalke, failed to win their next domestic match.
But Pochettino is determined, under his stewardship, to buck a time-honoured pattern of peaks and troughs. “Spursy” is included in many a dictionary of colloquialisms, describing soon-shattered delusions of grandeur – think of Tottenham’s two final league losses to Southampton and Newcastle in 2016, to gift Arsenal second place – but this Argentinian manager is wired differently.
Already, Tottenham are displaying signs of a step change from last season.
From European group-stage defeats 12 months ago, against Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, Pochettino’s players have shrugged off talk of a “Wembley curse” by humbling Real, the defending champions. It was all part, he claimed, of a continuous upward curve.
“In my mind, for the last 3½ seasons, we have been winners for different reasons,” said Pochettino, who was appointed in May 2014. “We have a fantastic training ground, we are building a fantastic stadium. In my first season, we were fifth. In my second? Third. Then last season, we were fighting for the league, finishing second, above Arsenal for the first time in 23 years. There are many areas where we are winning and where we are starting to change.”
Sharp fluctuations in form, regarded as so typical of Tottenham, were a thing of the past, he argued. “At Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson spent six years building, then in year No7 won the title. Here, we have a project and a philosophy. We are working on changing the perception.”
Pochettino has long enjoyed a mutually respectful relationship with Hodgson – the Palace manager praised his youth policy when in charge with England – and he did not downplay the challenge of refocusing his players after their midweek glories. “It’s not only physical effort, it’s mental effort, too,” he said. “The effort against Real was massive. It’s difficult to recover from such an emotional day.”
He offered generous praise for Kieran Trippier, once a perpetual understudy but one of the stars of the victory over Real, after the right-back was called up to Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad, alongside teammates Dele Alli and Harry Winks. “When he came from Burnley, he was very humble in trying to fight for his place on the team,” Pochettino said. “After two years, he is playing against Real Madrid in the Champions League. We are so proud.”