Former Tottenham midfielder Gus Poyet has said that he would be “very surprised” if Jose Mourinho doesn’t deliver a trophy as manager.
This comes from a big advocate of Mauricio Pochettino, as Poyet told PowerSportsTV in Turkey this week that his fellow South American will have the pick of his next job from across the biggest clubs in the world.
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The Special One was brought in to do the one thing that the Argentine could not – get the club over the line for a major piece of silverware. Poch lost in two finals, two semi-finals, and finished second in the Premier League.
Four months into Mourinho’s reign, we look further away than ever from ending a drought which stretches back to our 2008 League Cup triumph, but Poyet is confident that the decorated Portuguese, a winner of 25 major trophies as a manager, will do the business once again, if afforded the time.
“What I say in the time he did the job is, if you give him three years at the club, I will be surprised if he doesn’t win a trophy. I will be very surprised,” Poyet told Stats Platform, via the London Evening Standard.
“Maybe he’s unlucky and next year we don’t have the League Cup and there will be one trophy less to play for, but he knows how to get players to play for important games.
It is lazy to think that trophies are now going to fall into our laps with ease, just because Mourinho has won everywhere else he has managed.
I have faith in Jose that, if we were ever in a position to challenge for a trophy again; in a semi-final, a final, or a title run-in, that his nous and experience could make the difference where Pochettino couldn’t.
But I’m not sure I have faith in him to rebuild us to ever reach that point.