Pochettino’s Tottenham return comes at a bad time for Chelsea

LONDON — Of all the ways Mauricio Pochettino could have returned to Tottenham Hotspur, few would have predicted the circumstances that led to Monday night’s reunion.

Pochettino, the man who took Spurs to the brink of glory at home and abroad, the man who still maintains close ties with several of the club’s players and staff to this day, and the man who many supporters wanted to return to the dugout as recently as this summer, instead returning as the troubled head coach of Chelsea, one of their biggest London rivals.

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Tottenham fans usually delight in any Chelsea misfortune. Of course, they will do it again on Monday, but Pochettino’s presence in the opposition dugout might prompt a momentary pause for reflection. The 51-year-old was sacked by Tottenham in November 2019, 171 days after their first ever Champions League final ended in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.

Chairman Daniel Levy’s accompanying statement notes his “extreme reluctance” to remove the Argentine from his post after five and a half years in which the club finished in the regular top four and almost won the title Premier League in 2017.

This failure to take the final step, coupled with an alarming decline in form that left Spurs 14th in the Premier League, prompted Levy to replace Pochettino with two individuals he considered proven winners, José Mourinho and Antonio Tale, on either side of a sick group. destined for a brief alliance with Nuno Espirito Santo.

However, instead of taking the final step towards silverware, Spurs slipped back into mediocrity during a four-year period where Pochettino’s influence continued to cast a shadow over the club.

When Spurs crashed out of the Champions League in the last 16 at the hands of AC Milan in March after another insipid display, Pochettino was unemployed after leaving Paris Saint-Germain the previous July. Tottenham fans sang Pochettino’s name loud and clear that evening in a direct message to Levy that the soul of their club had been lost and only one man could bring it back to life.

So when those same supporters chanted “We have our Tottenham back” during Ange Postecoglou’s second game, they were remembering the halcyon days of Pochettino’s tenure, mixed with a mix of exhilarating, winning football. This is a point that has not escaped Postecoglou himself.

Speaking on Thursday, the Australian said: “His work is unquestionable. Everyone I speak to here, there are still people who have worked with him, they can’t speak highly enough of him as a person, as a manager. I doubt it. would be anything but respect for Mauricio from anyone at this football club – fans or people associated with it.

That doesn’t mean he’ll get a guard of honor Monday night because we want to win. And I don’t think he would expect that. But his tenure and his impact here is undeniable and will stand up to scrutiny. test of time. Whenever people think of Mauricio and his time as Spurs manager, they will only regard him with respect and fondness.”

Pochettino was unsure of the reception he would receive but insisted on Friday that nothing could spoil his memories of Tottenham.

“I won’t say anything at the moment because until Monday we can’t guess,” he said. “The most important thing is that people know that we cannot forget what we experienced together. Incredible memories and then I will respect people, the way they will express themselves. It will not change my emotions , my point of view, my feelings about a club where we have experienced an incredible journey.

“To come back after four years to a place where we have incredible memories and create incredible memories together, I think it’s special. I can’t lie.”

The timing of his first appearance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – whose development, incidentally, Pochettino helped to offset by guiding the team so effectively through using Wembley as a temporary home for almost two seasons – is particularly delicate given the work. Postecoglou did it in the same time frame as his rival.

Both men took up their current positions on July 1. Postecoglou had to deal with the loss of talismanic striker Harry Kane, a saga that lasted all of pre-season before he left on a €100 million move to Bayern Munich. But privately, the Australian admitted defeat early on by repelling Bayern’s advances, allowing him to plan for life after Kane.

Spurs have exceeded all expectations without Kane – the club’s all-time top scorer – at the top of the Premier League after 10 games.

Son Heung-Min replaced his partnership with Kane by agreeing an immediate deal for James Maddison, a summer acquisition from Leicester City, while Postecoglou rescued the stagnant careers of Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr in a new midfield. Right-back Destiny Udogie excelled after spending last season on loan at Udinese while another new boy, Micky van de Ven, looked like the kind of commanding centre-back Tottenham have lacked for years.

It’s still formative days into the season, but Spurs suddenly look like the kind of animal who could crush what many predicted would be a two-horse race between Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.

In contrast, everywhere in London is the camel, legendary as “a horse designed by committee”. Sources have told ESPN that Postecoglou has taken a firm hand in recruiting Tottenham players, enabling a clarity of thought that has apparently helped their transfer business. Pochettino has often suggested that decisions were made about players before his arrival at Chelsea – Romelu Lukaku being an obvious and high-profile example – and while he was definitely consulted on the ins and outs, model Todd Boehly /Clearlake Capital’s signing of young players to long-term contracts predates him.

The ripple effect of spending so much money on potential, with deals going all the way to the end of the decade, is to increase the pressure on the manager as he is even more obviously the most superfluous element if things go wrong.

And things won’t go exactly as planned. Chelsea have shown flashes of potential – there appears to be real promise in a midfield of Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and Conor Gallagher, while Mykhailo Mudryk comes to life. But Chelsea will soon reach a point where they can reasonably start expecting more than the £1 billion spent by Boehly and Clearlake since their takeover in May 2022.

“We are in a different project from Tottenham,” Pochettino said. “Chelsea’s whole story is about winning big things. Maybe Chelsea are now with Manchester United and Liverpool are the biggest club in England. I think Chelsea have won too many titles in the last 15 years, a lot of titles, now we are in a different situation where we are building something for the future.

“Maybe we have a little trouble at the beginning, because of details that we don’t manage well. That’s why we lose too many points, maybe we deserve more, but because we are so young as a team maybe we are not handling the situation..

“Ange and the other coaches, they do a fantastic job [at Tottenham]. Very good players, a very good team and we feel they can be contenders. It’s early in the season but they are showing the qualities needed to be contenders. »

A key difference between Postecoglou and Pochettino in their working conditions is injuries. Six players have started all 10 of Tottenham’s Premier League games: Guglielmo Vicario, Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Maddison, Son and Dejan Kulusevski. Four others started nine.

Chelsea have been able to count on Robert Sánchez, Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill and Gallagher to start all 10 league matches, but the injury list has always been longer with Christopher Nkunku absent in pre-season and Romeo Lavia yet to kick the ball after a fee of £58 million. moving from Southampton in mid-August.

Wesley Fofana will miss most of the season following knee surgery, new captain Reece James has not started a league match since the opening weekend of the season while Ben Chilwell is in Los Angeles for recovering from a hamstring problem. Nkunku’s absence has compounded the Chelsea team’s lack of firepower, despite their lavish rebuild.

In his absence, Pochettino has rightly pointed to a catalog of missed chances in matches. Although Spurs have scored nine more goals (22 to 13), Chelsea actually have a higher expected goals figure to date: 18.54 to Tottenham’s 17.78.

But remember: it was Spurs who were supposed to be struggling to score goals this season without Kane, not the club spending huge sums to overhaul their squad.

The scale of change at Stamford Bridge was always going to require patience from the owners, but Postecoglou’s immediate impact creates an uncomfortable contrast with Pochettino, who has already overseen four league defeats. A fifth at his former home would raise further questions about the realistic limits of Chelsea’s aspirations this season.

Familiar ground will look even lonelier for Pochettino whatever the result given his right-hand man, assistant coach Jesus Perez, is banned after encroaching on the opposition’s technical area during the 2-0 home defeat at the weekend -last weekend against Brentford.

If anything, it could add to the surreal feeling of Pochettino, who, in trying to beat Spurs on Monday, also calls into question the idea that they have left him behind once and for all.