Pochettino Radio Interview Part 2 - Youth & Chelsea
Back in February Mauricio Pochettino was interviewed by Barcelona-based radio station RAC1, the main Catalan language private radio station, at our world class training facilities. In Part 2 he talks about Chelsea and how clubs need to trust their youth.
RMC1: At the start of the year in the match against Chelsea Tottenham won 5-3, in part thanks to players from the academy. The Tottenham fans felt really proud by that, didn’t they?
Pochettino: Yeah. The reality is that the same thing happens everywhere. The direction has to come from the top to implement the philosophy on the players coming through the academy. There are talented footballers in every academy and the only things they lack are to be believed in and the opportunity; the chance to demonstrate what they are capable of. And it’s true in the game against Chelsea, one of the best, most powerful sides in Europe, and playing with various lads born around Tottenham, or that have come through the academy here, we proved that the talent exists and that you should believe in them, they only need developing.
THBN: It is not just the hierarchy who have to trust in young players but the fans too. Many many fans could not see anything in Nabil Bentaleb, yet Gary Neville saw a Premier League player immediately. he'll make mistakes of course he will but he has to make those mistakes to learn and the season didn't matter from December onwards when we appointed Tim Sherwood as a stop gap.
His progress was accelerated by playing regularly and he progressed again last season to the point where Juventus, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Lazio, Roma and Barcelona were and are taking an interest in him.
Many fans were saying on forums that Harry Kane is nothing more than a Championship player, although I doubt any of them would admit it now. The benefits to Tottenham in the long run could be significant, this season should see players like Mason and Dier improve. Pochettino has only been here a year so Tottenham are not yet the finished article. It is a ride to enjoy at the moment.
RMC1: And scoring five goals past a Mourinho side deserves credit, right?
Pochettino: I think only (Pep) Guardiola’s Barcelona and Tottenham have been able to score five past a Mourinho side in all the years he has managed, so..
RMC1: Chelsea have signed Cuadrado from Fiorentina having let Schurle move to Wolfsburg to balance their books for FFP. Chelsea have reinforced their squad well, right?
Pochettino: Yes. It’s clear we are competing against sides that are financially very powerful. We haven’t reinforced our own side in this (January) window.
RMC1: But some have left.
Pochettino: Yes, we lost Kyle Naughton who went to Swansea and Aaron Lennon (to Everton). We believe in what we have, our base and we have a team that will compete, one that will fight. The most important thing is that we believe (in ourselves) and hope that we haven’t upset Chelsea too much for when we play them on the 1st March.
THBN: Once again he is talking about the club, the players having the right mental attitude, believing in themselves and what they are doing. It was unfortunate that Chelsea had a whole week to prepare for the Carling Cup Final on the training ground to counter our game while we had no time at all, given players take 48 hours to recover fully from a game.
If you total believe in what you are doing then you'll find a way to make it successful, but if you don't or as is the case with some in the Spurs squad, don't buy into the approach, then you are not going to achieve anything.
We saw early season playing with players who didn't believe in what Pochettino was doing and didn't like double training sessions, that they were not giving it everything. Subconsciously they wanted to prove it didn't work, they wanted failure to improve their position and get the changes they wanted. It is impossible to play your best in those circumstances or to improve as a player.
As soon as we dumped them we improved and this window we have been selling them. So far 18 first team players have left under Pochettino as he rebuilds a squad to play our system. It is crazy having bought players to suit a system that some fans and websites are suggesting we change the system. A different system requires a different skill set and different players might be better suited to it, it rather negates buying players to suit the system we have, which needs time.
This will be the first season for years where we will have a squad put together by a manager for a particular system instead of working with players we simply can't shift. We then need to improve how the squad play the system while improving the players and improving the squad. It's a good time to be a Spurs fan.
Further Tottenham Reading
Spurs could/should be doing more with the loan system
Europa League is important for Tottenham - a look at the commercial side
A further delve into the financial side of Tottenham
You can help support THBN by buying your sporting goods through the following links.
If you need football boots for the new season try the SALE NOW ON at Lovell Soccer
If you need a new Tottenham shirt or sportswear try Kitbag Ltd
If you want an authentic autographed shirt or memorabilia try Icons
RMC1: At the start of the year in the match against Chelsea Tottenham won 5-3, in part thanks to players from the academy. The Tottenham fans felt really proud by that, didn’t they?
Pochettino: Yeah. The reality is that the same thing happens everywhere. The direction has to come from the top to implement the philosophy on the players coming through the academy. There are talented footballers in every academy and the only things they lack are to be believed in and the opportunity; the chance to demonstrate what they are capable of. And it’s true in the game against Chelsea, one of the best, most powerful sides in Europe, and playing with various lads born around Tottenham, or that have come through the academy here, we proved that the talent exists and that you should believe in them, they only need developing.
THBN: It is not just the hierarchy who have to trust in young players but the fans too. Many many fans could not see anything in Nabil Bentaleb, yet Gary Neville saw a Premier League player immediately. he'll make mistakes of course he will but he has to make those mistakes to learn and the season didn't matter from December onwards when we appointed Tim Sherwood as a stop gap.
His progress was accelerated by playing regularly and he progressed again last season to the point where Juventus, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Lazio, Roma and Barcelona were and are taking an interest in him.
Many fans were saying on forums that Harry Kane is nothing more than a Championship player, although I doubt any of them would admit it now. The benefits to Tottenham in the long run could be significant, this season should see players like Mason and Dier improve. Pochettino has only been here a year so Tottenham are not yet the finished article. It is a ride to enjoy at the moment.
RMC1: And scoring five goals past a Mourinho side deserves credit, right?
Pochettino: I think only (Pep) Guardiola’s Barcelona and Tottenham have been able to score five past a Mourinho side in all the years he has managed, so..
RMC1: Chelsea have signed Cuadrado from Fiorentina having let Schurle move to Wolfsburg to balance their books for FFP. Chelsea have reinforced their squad well, right?
Pochettino: Yes. It’s clear we are competing against sides that are financially very powerful. We haven’t reinforced our own side in this (January) window.
RMC1: But some have left.
Pochettino: Yes, we lost Kyle Naughton who went to Swansea and Aaron Lennon (to Everton). We believe in what we have, our base and we have a team that will compete, one that will fight. The most important thing is that we believe (in ourselves) and hope that we haven’t upset Chelsea too much for when we play them on the 1st March.
THBN: Once again he is talking about the club, the players having the right mental attitude, believing in themselves and what they are doing. It was unfortunate that Chelsea had a whole week to prepare for the Carling Cup Final on the training ground to counter our game while we had no time at all, given players take 48 hours to recover fully from a game.
If you total believe in what you are doing then you'll find a way to make it successful, but if you don't or as is the case with some in the Spurs squad, don't buy into the approach, then you are not going to achieve anything.
We saw early season playing with players who didn't believe in what Pochettino was doing and didn't like double training sessions, that they were not giving it everything. Subconsciously they wanted to prove it didn't work, they wanted failure to improve their position and get the changes they wanted. It is impossible to play your best in those circumstances or to improve as a player.
As soon as we dumped them we improved and this window we have been selling them. So far 18 first team players have left under Pochettino as he rebuilds a squad to play our system. It is crazy having bought players to suit a system that some fans and websites are suggesting we change the system. A different system requires a different skill set and different players might be better suited to it, it rather negates buying players to suit the system we have, which needs time.
This will be the first season for years where we will have a squad put together by a manager for a particular system instead of working with players we simply can't shift. We then need to improve how the squad play the system while improving the players and improving the squad. It's a good time to be a Spurs fan.
Further Tottenham Reading
Spurs could/should be doing more with the loan system
Europa League is important for Tottenham - a look at the commercial side
A further delve into the financial side of Tottenham
You can help support THBN by buying your sporting goods through the following links.
If you need football boots for the new season try the SALE NOW ON at Lovell Soccer
If you need a new Tottenham shirt or sportswear try Kitbag Ltd
If you want an authentic autographed shirt or memorabilia try Icons
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