The best way to get through this is to set out a couple of salient quotes, give them some thought, and then hope that he eventually either gets the help he clearly needs or at least stops giving interviews.
What is extraordinary here is that Pochettino appears completely devoid of not just basic humility, but even the barest cognizance when it comes to football not just in England, but the entire world.
“We found a group of players who wanted to learn from the experiences we brought from Spanish football, and with the quality to play a different style of football to that which everyone in English football was used to.“
“Football in England changed with that Southampton team of 2013-14, there is no other team that had as big an impact in changing the mindset.”
The quotes here from Pochettino are via Dermot Corrigan‘s piece this morning for the Athletic.
“Everyone talks of Barcelona, Madrid, Milan. No, no, it was Espanyol, with Ernesto Galan, Jordi Amat, Raul Rodriguez, David Lopez, Didac Vila, Victor Ruiz, Raul Baena, Juan Forlin, Javi Marquez. Many of those players grew up with a style of play and philosophy different from modern football played today.”
According to Pochettino, a kernel of footballing wisdom was born in Argentina and while nobody was looking, it changed the way the game was to be played across the globe. Which is a curious pronouncement?
For gits and shizzles I just grabbed 3 rock-solid football books from a nearby shelf in my home.
Soccernomics by Simon Kuper, Tor! The Story Of German Football by Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger, and Inverting The Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson.
This may prove absolutely nothing, but not one of these books mention ANY of those listed in that last Poch quote in their indexes. Not one. So Mauricio’s belief about a conspiracy rings true at least. Espagnol must have been elbowed from history, by the nasty, bigger boys.
Just to recap, Mauricio Pochettino won nothing at Southampton and won nothing at Tottenham.
I dispair.
Guillem Balague’s Talking Football interview with Mauricio Pochettino airs Monday at 8pm BST on La Liga TV.
