Difficult to know where to start with this one. The Jake Humphrey Podcast claims to offer “…an intimate glimpse into the lives of high-achieving, world-class performers who have all excelled in their field“. I’ll give Jake the intimate bit – there’s a warmth to the conversation and it’s clear that Mauricio feels happy to unload.
What I’d dispute is that Pochettino either a high achiever or one that has excelled. Some may feel that to be harsh – but for the umpteenth time, Poch won nothing so far, during his spell in English football.
However, Mauricio talks like a winner, and for any fans still obsessing over the 47-year-old, the podcast is bound to warm their cockles.
There are numerous moments in this tape that was all too cringe-inducing. For example, Poch recounting in some detail, his arrival at Hotspur Way and shaking hands with everyone in the building – and the thinking behind this action. What it would tell him and his team about the staff and the chairman, and the message it would send about him and his team.
Make no mistake, much of this tape this is left-field territory for a football coach and IF, IF this was a coach that had won a wheelbarrow of silverware, it might be tolerable, but he hasn’t and it just sounds like a load of old toffee.
As for Poch’s thoughts on Champions League final, these remarks are essentially delusional. Spurs were not better than Liverpool. Spurs had plenty of possession but it is difficult to believe that anyone might misconstrue possession with domination. As for any decisions made by officials, I think these were the least of Tottenham’s worries on the night.
Indeed, looking for more meaningful observations on that evening, one cannot help but question Pochettino’s decision to drop Lucas Moura who was bang in form and to play Harry Kane instead, who was clearly not in form.
What concerns me most about Pochettino, is that he would appear to have learned little from his considerable time at Spurs and is still talking with an air of authority, which is ultimately undermined by his honours record.
Poch did well, but ultimately, he did not win, and that in professional sports is the metric. That is why he is yet to be credibly placed in the same bracket as great managers.
I wish Mauricio well, but with the caveat that he talks less and does more. I’d suggest his personal rebuild begins at a modest side prepared to embrace the good he brings, on the understanding that once he’d actually won something tangible, his ambitions would probably need to be matched somewhere higher up the footballing food chain.
Right now, our old gaffer is sounding just a teensy bit ridiculous.