With gloom threatening to take hold of Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino came out fighting ahead Saturday’s must-win visit of his former club Southampton, lifting the mood with a masterclass in messaging.
The embarrassing mid-week defeat to Colchester has left Spurs on the cusp of crisis, but Pochettino used yesterday’s pre-match briefing to offer a passionate and defiant explanation for his side’s shaky start to the campaign.
The manager insisted that performances have not been as poor as results and welcomed criticism of himself and his side.
“I am convinced that we are going to perform well and we are going to be fine,” Pochettino said. “In the end, we’re not guilty of [doing] anything wrong...the team is doing similar or better than last season in performances, but the results are different. I do not escape my responsibility. We have quality players who are going to perform.”
He added: “The critics can make you realise that we maybe need to wake up, to evolve. The fans are always right to criticise. The fans are the only ones who you have to accept the criticism from and you cannot complain about that. The fans love the club.”
In an appearance totalling more than 50 minutes and 4,500 words, Pochettino switched between English and Spanish as he preached unity - within his squad and between himself and chairman Daniel Levy - and promised results would come. “We are united, we are talking, trying to work harder, being strong,” he said.
Pochettino also urged his players to work harder off the ball, calling on them to show more aggression and toughness without possession, but dismissing suggestions they have gone soft after reaching the Champions League Final.
More than any other Premier League manager since Jose Mourinho, Pochettino uses press conferences strategically and they are often a fine barometer of his own mood.
So emotive are his best performances, including yesterday’s, they have the ability to change the mood around the entire club. Too often of late, Pochettino’s messages have been cryptic and contradictory, hinting at unease behind the scenes and a power struggle with Levy. On the cusp of the new season, for example, he said Spurs should change his job title from manager to coach because he has no influence over the club’s transfer policy. Thursday was a return of form for the Argentine and you wonder if it could prove a turning point in Tottenham’s season.
Pochettino has looked a shadow of himself since Spurs’ Champions League Final defeat in June — coming across as tetchy, combative and morose.
It looked like Pochettino’s fires had been extinguished on that sweltering night in Madrid, at least as far as Spurs are concerned, and he admitted that he felt “depressed” in the aftermath of the loss to Liverpool.
On Thursday, it was as if Pochettino had woken from a slumber, as the fires returned and he vowed he was the man to get stuttering Spurs back on track and take the club to the next level. His ability to diffuse the most tense situations with these passionate public displays is perhaps the most underrated quality of his management. With Levy reluctant to speak publicly, it has often fallen on the manager to relay the club’s message and he is at his best under the most pressure.
When Danny Rose slammed the club’s transfer strategy and lack of ambition in a newspaper interview of the eve of the 2017-18 season, Pochettino masterfully diffused the situation the following day in one of the most high-anticipated press conferences of his tenure.
A year later, he was a picture of affable good humour when addressing the media on deadline day, with Spurs about to become the first club in Premier League history not to make a single summer signing since the introduction of the transfer windows.
And when Spurs’ new stadium hit indefinite delays last season, Pochettino again diffused the situation with a pitch-perfect message of calm defiance.
Yesterday’s showing was another hit for Pochettino’s archive, but it will count for little if it does not help spark his side into life in tomorrow’s must-win game.
