Mauricio Pochettino must cure Tottenham’s travel sickness against top-six clubs – visiting Arsenal is the ideal chance
NOT long before last April’s North London Derby, two opposing players — who are long-time friends — discussed their rival clubs over dinner.
The Arsenal player insisted to his Tottenham pal that his team still had, man for man, better players than their foes.
But he admitted being envious of the vastly-superior team spirit at Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs.
The Arsenal man said when he looked around at his hugely-talented team-mates, he wondered which of them might turn up for any given match.
When the sides met for the last time at the old White Hart Lane, there was nothing in Tottenham’s 2-0 victory to suggest the Arsenal man was being unrealistic about his colleagues.
And when Spurs finished the season above their sworn enemies for the first time in 22 years, few Arsenal people other than the delusional Arsene Wenger would have argued they hadn’t seen it coming a mile off.
The question, before Saturday’s resumption of hostilities at the Emirates, is whether we are seeing a blip or a long-term power shift in North London.
And after Spurs got over their Wembley woes by stuffing Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Real Madrid, you’d assume they will be in the ascendancy for at least as long as Pochettino and Wenger remain.
UP FOR THE (WORLD) CUP Only NINE teams have qualified for every World Cup since France 1998… but can you name each and every one of them?
Because where individual players improve markedly under Pochettino, they now go backwards under Wenger.
Just contrast the development of the young England internationals at the two clubs.
Look at Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Harry Winks and Kyle Walker, compared to Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson and Calum Chambers (remember him?).
And while Pochettino presides over a ‘no excuses’ environment, Wenger employs an ‘any excuses’ policy.
More than a week after Arsenal’s defeat at Manchester City, the Frenchman was still howling at the moon, ranting at ref Michael Oliver.
While earning extra Qatari oil cash from a deal with beIN Sports, the £8million-per-year Gunners boss was still venting about Raheem Sterling having the temerity to adhere to the laws of gravity and win a penalty after being shoved in the back.
The Arsenal boss also claimed City were only ahead by 0.7 to 0.6 on the new-fangled ‘expected goals’ formula.
This system is used by people on the internet who are convinced football’s actual scoring system isn’t complex enough.
Yet even this was completely made up (Wenger has a tendency for stating stats in a convincing manner, only for them to be disproved by a basic Google search once he’s left the room).
Because Opta actually had City ahead by 1.83 expected goals to 0.31 — suggesting a two-goal winning margin was about right.
Just as it had appeared to us dinosaurs watching with our eyes.
Next up, a defeat by Pochettino’s side would leave Arsenal seven points adrift of Spurs and marooned in mid-table.
Pochettino certainly knows the importance of this one — hence his uncharacteristic decision to issue Kane, Winks and Alli with sicknotes to avoid England duty.
Win this and Spurs can be crowned undisputed kings of North London for the first time since the mid-80s, when Keith Burkinshaw left the Lane and George Graham joined Arsenal.
And Pochettino has rightly said the final frontier for his squad is a question of increased self-belief.
Having played tentatively in defeat at Manchester United after the last international break, Spurs must prove they can win away at top-six rivals — after just one success in 16 attempts under their Argentine boss.
Pochettino has not lost to Arsenal in the league — two wins and four draws — although all three at the Emirates have been drawn.
And that away record against elite opposition must now change.
This is a critical time for Spurs, while a costly new stadium is being paid for — making it all the more remarkable that Pochettino has overhauled Wenger on approximately half of Arsenal’s wage bill.
The worry for Spurs is the possibility of their bitter rivals appointing a modern manager in touch with reality.
Because they still have the financial clout to out-do Spurs in signing blue-chip recruits — if only they had a boss capable of motivating them.
As even Arsenal players will admit over dinner.
Grubby deal
TOTTENHAM used the international break to announce two new signings.
Along with their official catering partner Levy UK (wait a minute?) they finalised their ‘unprecedented collection of internationally-acclaimed chefs as part of premium offering at the new stadium’ by recruiting Bryn Williams and Dipna Anand.
As we go deeper into this Premier League world of glass tunnels and corporate self-pleasuring, it’s worth remembering the pie and peas you used to get at Edgeley Park, Stockport or the legendary soup still served at Kidderminister.
Both are infinitely better than anything you’ll receive for ten times the price in executive boxes.
And if you steer clear of those places you won’t have to make small-talk with the kind of people who say ‘footie’ and ‘the Prem’ either.
Ed Cup tied
AFTER Eddie Jones was caught by a lip reader exclaiming, ‘F***, how f***ing stupid are we?’ when his side conceded a needless penalty against Argentina, we can only hope the England rugby boss will not adopt the modern sporting affectation of talking behind your hand as if you are some sort of FBI agent.
This fad reached ridiculous proportions during a doubles match at tennis’ ATP World Tour finals at the O2 Arena.
As Sky co-commentator Leif Shiras rightly asked: “Is it the most entertaining spectacle to watch one guy with his hand cupped over his mouth talking to another guy with his hand cupped over his mouth between every single point?”
Roo's move
WAYNE ROONEY’S move into coaching may not be far off.
And had David Unsworth passed his audition to become Everton manager, I’m told the former England skipper would have taken a player-coach’s role.
Rooney is no longer kidding himself about his waning powers as a player but both he and Everton are keen that he eventually becomes a key part of the club’s coaching staff.
Although if Rooney advises players on their lifestyle choices, there may have to be an element of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.
The Italian sob
WITNESSING the ‘apocalypse’ of Italy failing to qualify for a World Cup for the first time in 60 years, makes you realise that international fortunes can sometimes be cyclical — an accident of natural ability.
Because it’s not as if Italy boss Gian Piero Ventura was snubbing a host of better players.
England are currently in a trough but at least they have still qualified for Russia.
In five to ten years’ time, they may be enjoying another ‘golden generation’.
Let’s just hope it’s not squandered, as Sven-Goran Eriksson squandered the last one.
No alternative
IF you wondered how FA chairman Greg Clarke, chief executive Martin Glenn and technical director Dan Ashworth all managed to keep their jobs after their car-crash handling of the Mark Sampson racism scandal, there is one simple answer.
When Clarke succeeded Greg Dyke last year, there was literally ONE other applicant for the post.
The reality is that the three stooges survived because virtually nobody else wants their jobs.
Dam, that's strange
WELL done, FA, for ensuring there’ll be no pre-World Cup embarrassment from travelling fans by scheduling England’s final overseas friendly on a Friday night in Amsterdam.
What could possibly go wrong?
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