Tag Archives: Mauricio Pochettino

Mikel Arteta the unmoved manager whose job at Arsenal may rest on winning the Europa League

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For some it will feel ironic that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has survived two managers careers at the clubs biggest rivals Tottenham. Both Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho have been sacked under Arteta’s mindful watch over at the Emirates Stadium. Yet one would have to wonder has Arteta really been that much better than the two coaches to justify his stay at the Gunners?

Straight away of course we have to remind ourselves that Arteta won the FA Cup with Arsenal and it was an unexpected one. Having to beat Manchester City in the semi-finals and then Chelsea in the final was a brilliant achievement. Winning the FA Cup for clubs is still important but Arsenal had reached a level well before where finishing the season with just a cup win wasn’t good enough. Imagine for example Manchester City winning only the FA Cup in the season, to most clubs that would be glory beyond glories, for City it would gloss over that they had failed elsewhere.

At the same time no one was expecting Arteta to come into a team that had fallen out of the Champions League under Wenger in his final often lethargic years and win the title. But could one not have presumed Arsenal to be challenging for a top four place? In the past 18 months Arsenal have become a team who have flirted with 10th position. Tenth position? The Gunners are a proud team, a fantastic history, and they still have quality amongst their ranks. Three years ago you would have been laughed out of every football stadium in the country if you had suggested that Arsenal would become a mid-table team who would spend the majority of the season battling between 9th and 10th. This is no joke, but a reality.

Of course this season only marks Arteta’s first full one in charge. When he first came in it was already halfway through the season. It was never going to be easy to steer the club to instant victories, the Gunners had become shadows of their former brilliance under Unai Emery. Let’s not blame Emery for everything because in truth the rot had set in for Wenger’s final two years in charge. When Arsenal managed to finish in 8th place last season again after flirting with 10th it seemed like some sort of jaded victory, the FA Cup win propelled hopes way too high for the die hard Gunner but of course it was welcomed.

Arteta of course will be judged on results and week in and week out Arsenal are not justifying their grand name. With 5 games left to go for the Premier League season they are in 10th place. Newly promoted Leeds United are a point in front and West Ham for three decades well in the shadow of Arsenal are 9 points clear of them. Arteta’s former boss Pep Guardiola is enjoying a 31 point gap to Arsenal. On league terms alone Arteta is surely lucky to still be in a job, but he is and the pressure from the media hasn’t even begun yet, why is this?

The answer is quite simple, Arsenal have reached the Europa League semi-finals and they have looked assured and confident in the campaign. They will play Spanish side Villarreal this week in the 1st leg and will start as the favourites. Ironically Villarreal were the team the Gunners had to face in the Champions League semi-finals 15 years ago. If script goes to hand Arsenal could well reach the final, they could face Manchester United in it, and they could win it. If so a season has turned around within 3 games. Not only would Arteta have the prestige of winning Arsenal’s first European trophy in 27 years but the club would automatically qualify for next seasons Champions League, not bad for a business unit who wanted to jump ship to the Super League’s riches last week.

Of course that version of events is the glory one, the other version is Arsenal being knocked out to Villarreal who currently sit in seventh place in La Liga and have lost 3 of their last four games. Arteta should heed the warning signs if the Europa League dreams crashes down before the club just like it did with their rivals Tottenham, who were outplayed in a 2nd leg, chewed and spat out by Slavia Prague and Mourinho was out of a job less than a month later.

Let’s remember that Unai Emery was sacked after a win rate of 55% currently Arteta has 50% and that doesn’t look like rising anytime soon. Everything now is for the Europa League, and so much depends on it for Arsenal and Arteta going forward.

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Premier League Game of the Week: Tottenham 2-0 Manchester City

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These are the games that Tottenham must win if they are to achieve something great this season. A 2-0 win over a quality side such as Manchester City is huge for the London club. There was also the added spice of the great rivalry between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, and Mourinho yet again goes away from this weekend with the bragging rights.

After Heung-Min Son put Tottenham 1-0 win up as early as the 5th minute, one could tell how the game would play out. We’ve seen it before when Mourinho was manager of Inter Milan when they had to face Guardiola’s Barcelona in the Champions League. An early goal is great but from then on in its back to the walls.

While City dominated in possession that doesn’t mean that Tottenham didn’t have their chances to punish Guardiola’s team even more, but City could ill afford to lose this game and created most of the chances throughout the game.

In the first half alone City had 11 attempts on goal, Tottenham’s sole opportunity ended in a goal, which just underlined how the club seem transformed this season with more of a killer instinct. The second half was much like the first in that City controlled the ball and Tottenham defended well and looked for the counter attack.

Though he didn’t score at the weekend special mention should be given to Harry Kane who was all over the field, sprinting down the wings, looking to distribute the ball and even getting back, what a display the England international put in. But this was collective hard work from every player, Tottenham were that good and despite the riches on show from City the truth is that the club just ran out of ideas.

The game was effectively over just past the hour mark when Kane set up Giovani Lo Celso for Tottenham’s second. What was incredible is that Lo Celso had only been on the pitch for just over 30 seconds as a second half substitute.

City remained a threat but as the time went by it was clear that Tottenham had done their home work and the 2019 champions had become quite predictable in the process.

Tottenham are top of the league and unlike the last time they reached the summit, this counts more as the full weekend’s games have been completed.

It seems fitting that Tottenham reached 1st place by beating a great team in Manchester City, and it was a game that the home side bossed for the majority of the match. It also felt like a turning point. For Tottenham a new beginning filled with dreams under Jose Mourinho and for Manchester City perhaps the beginning of the end under Pep Guardiola.

Despite the many problems that Mourinho has faced in the last four years- failing at Chelsea in his 2nd season comeback with the club, then his nightmarish ending to his Manchester United managerial position, he seems to have come out the other end, and Tottenham could well be his last big hurrah before taking over on the international stage. Something special seems to be brewing at the club and one is reminded of Mourinho’s time a decade ago at Inter Milan. In Italy he took a well known club and turned them into serial winners.

At Tottenham the dream remains to be competitive and under former manager Mauricio Pochettino the club were heading in that direction, nobody can fault reaching the Champions League final. But something was just missing, a winning dynamic that for some reason couldn’t be achieved under Pochettino who left the club filling the hearts of many but not filling the trophy department.

This is why Mourinho was brought in to install that winning mentality. Forget Liverpool having to wait 30 years for a league title that ended last season and spare a thought for Tottenham who have had to wait since 1961. True it is early days and the Premier League is so hard to win, but there is hope at least, and Tottenham do have an uncanny ability to win trophies when the year ends in a 1. We will have to wait and see.

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Barcelona in crisis but may turn to the comfort zone of Ronald Koeman

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A season with no trophies topped off with losing 8-2 against Bayern Munich has made the 2019/20 season Barcelona’s worst in a generation. They also saw their rivals Real Madrid race to another La Liga title too. It’s been a bad 12 months for the club.

For now, somehow Quique Setien remains the coach of Barcelona. Many expected him to be sacked when it was was clear that Barca had conceded the league, but the board stuck with the former Real Betis coach. Then following the 8-2 loss to Bayern on Friday evening surely that was it? And yet 72 hours later he is still there. But surely the time is ticking.

Barcelona need change and the front runner to get the new job is Ronald Koeman, but is he the right choice? Koeman was of course a legend with the club in the early to mid 1990s winning lots of trophies and in that sense he would be welcomed by the hardcore fans.

As a coach though Koeman has been hit and miss, winning some titles with Ajax and although he has coached clubs like Benfica, Valencia and PSV that was over a decade ago. He has also recently failed at clubs like Southampton and Everton in the Premier League. However his reputation has been seen as better in the last 2 years as he took over the role of the Netherlands where he led the nation to the UEFA Nations League final. He also has a win rate of 55% and the nation who have struggled in recent years are enjoying an upturn.

With Euro 2021 to look forward to it and a World Cup in Qatar in 2022 it may seem doubtful that Koeman would want to give that up to coach a Barcelona side who look like they are heading for decline. Perhaps it depends on how much transfer budget they will have but at the same time everyone knows they will have to sell a lot of deadwood players like Ousmane Dembele and Phillipe Coutinho.

But Koeman seems like a comfort zone choice for Barcelona and one wonders if by not progressing with forward thoughts that the club could stay stale. Look around Europe and one can see that German coaches are dominating the game from Jurgen Klopp to Hans Flick. If they are unavailable why not go for a coach like Julian Nagelsmann at RB Lepizig? At just 33 Nagelsmann has become the youngest coach ever to have a team in the Champions League semi-finals, and his future looks bright.

A risk perhaps for Barcelona, but seems like an option rather than bringing in the beleaguered Koeman whose reputation may dry off quicker than a damp suit in Dubai.

Another manager who has been linked to Barcelona is the very likeable Mauricio Pochettino. Indeed it seemed that the ex Tottenham manager was close to signing a deal a few days ago. Now word has it that Barca have cooled their interest, or have they? Pochettino’s infamous words on the eve of the 2019 Champions League final that winning trophies isn’t important could haunt him for the rest of his career. That simply isn’t an option at clubs like Barca.

One thing is for sure if Real Madrid are not in crisis then Barcelona must be, and it really does seem to be going south very quick for the Catalan giants. A decision on who will be their new coach will surely be taken this week.

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Tottenham fall 12 points behind a Champions League position and will have to accept defeat this season

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This past weekend confirmed that Champions League football will not be present in Tottenham’s new stadium next season.

Tottenham lost 3-1 to Sheffield United whilst Leicester and Chelsea recorded wins and that means that the London club have now fallen 12 points behind. There is no way back considering still the teams between Tottenham and 4th place.

Jose Mourinho was brought in back in November to salvage a season where the club at that time were mixing with 11th place. But presently the club are in 10th and so on the face of it one could conclude not much has changed under Mourinho. Of course they do have a game in hand which they will play on Monday night against Everton at home. Win that and they would go 8th.

Should Tottenham fans be concerned though that Mourinho often touted as one of the best managers in the world has not been able to improve the side this season? Currently his win rate for the club stands at just 41% this is the lowest of his managerial career and it has been steadily declining since his days in charge of Real Madrid.

Mourinho himself would want to be cut some slack given a new set up, such a change of club and also he has been dealt quite a few injuries. Ideally a manager wants to start from the beginning of the season, but clearly there have been performances and results that have seemed underwhelming whilst he has been in charge.

It is interesting to see that in Mauricio Pochettino’s first 12 games of the season before he was sacked he earned 14 points with the club. Mourinho’s first 12 games brought back 17. It isn’t much of a difference.

Look at some of the points that have been dropped too? Did anyone expect losses against Southampton and Sheffield United? Or dropped points against the likes of Watford, Norwich and Burnley? Had those 3 draws been converted into wins Tottenham would have 51 points and be in 7th place hunting down Wolves and Manchester United.

It hasn’t been a disaster for Tottenham and Mourinho but maybe one was expecting a bit more magic in the dug out and with tactics. Mourinho will be more judged on what happens next season. For now confirmation that Tottenham won’t play in the Champions League and at least challenge for a top 4 spot has to be a blow for the fans.

In the end the club were simply not consistent enough either with Pochettino or Mourinho in charge.

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Away day blues continue for Tottenham and Mourinho has a real challenge on his hands

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It was thought that once Jose Mourinho had stepped in as manager of Tottenham that the club would improve on their appalling away game record but in essence the special one is yet to find the right balance in the squad and Tottenham are being put through their struggles.

This was underlined in the teams New Year’s Day match away to lowly but in form Southampton who beat Tottenham 1-0 in what was seen as a surprise result. It was another defeat for Mourinho too charged with the task of taking Spurs to the next level which seemingly former manager Mauricio Pochettino was not able to do.

But have Tottenham really improved since Pochettino was sacked? Tottenham had 14 points from 12 games, so 14 from a possible 36 points which works out that the club had a points win of 40%. Since Mourinho has come in he has presided over 9 games so from a possible points total of 27 Tottenham have earned 16 points that works out at 60%. So yes there has been an improvement since Mourinho has been in charge.

However saying that did anyone expect Tottenham to have already lost 3 times in those nine games? Also in Pochettino’s first 9 games of the season he had lost three too. Statistically a Tottenham team being managed by Mourinho is earning more points, just, and it is getting even more marginal as the games go on.

Pochettino had a win rate of 54.3% and Mourinho currently has 54.5% these take in all games. Again there is nothing in it and of course we are looking at Mourinho’s records where he has only just joined the club. What might be worrying for Mourinho though is that he is following a trend of hitting under a 60% win rate which has followed him ever since he returned to the Premier League in 2013. Before then it was normal to see him with 65-70% win rates a brilliant figure and even getting early to mid win rates of 50% is good, but it’s clearly not Mourinho level good.

Tottenham have lost 4 games with Mourinho in charge in all competitions from 11 games and that doesn’t seem to be a great record. Although one of those losses was against Bayern Munich in a Champions League match which was a dead rubber game anyway. But defeats in the league have occurred against Chelsea, Manchester United (two of his former clubs) and Southampton. On Boxing Day they found themselves a goal down against Norwich and drew that match in the end. The problem is when Mourinho arrived Tottenham could not win an away game, and they have hardly improved on the road.

They did of course beat West Ham in what was Mourinho’s first game in charge of Tottenham at London Stadium and that ended up being the clubs first away win since January. Since Mourinho joined the club have played 5 away games and won 2 of them and that second win came at Wolves in a match that was clearly heading for a 1-1 finish before Tottenham scored in the final minute of injury time. Still a win is a win but it did seem to paper over some of those away day blues.

In total Tottenham have earned 7 points from the 15 available on the road, that isn’t a terrible record by any means but for a club who need to finish in the top 4 it is.

The bottom line is that under Mourinho from what we have seen in a short space of time there has been minimal improvement. But with fairness to Pochettino his record is obviously over a longer period and from what we have seen this may not bode well for Spurs under Mourinho. A team under the Portuguese used to be much more disiplined at the back and simply more difficult to beat full stop.

In the summer Mourinho will inevitably be given funds but will they be used wisely? He has never been able to re build a team, partly because he leaves after 3 seasons usually. This has not been the start that Tottenham fans would have wished for and the club will need to find more consistency if they have any hopes for a 4th placed finish this season. The only good news actually lies away from Tottenham which is the team in 4th place, Chelsea, seemingly do not want it, and are dropping far too many points to warrant their current position.

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Is Mauricio Pochettino destined to be Real Madrid manager one day?

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One wonders how Florentino Perez reacted when he first heard the news of Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking as Tottenham Hotspur manager. After all, the Real Madrid president is known to be a big fan of the Argentine coach having twice tried, and failed, to lure him to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Just a few weeks ago, the news of Pochettino’s demise in North London would have sent speculation of a potential third attempt by Perez through the roof. Indeed, Real Madrid suffered a poor start to the season and after defeat to Real Mallorca a month ago it seemed that Zinedine Zidane was just more disappointing result away from being dismissed.

Since then, Real Madrid looked to have turned something of a corner. They have won four of their last five matches and have kept five consecutive clean sheets on the spin. Barcelona might still be top of La Liga, but there appears to be a greater sense of consistency around Zidane’s side at the moment.

For the time being, Zidane looks to be safe in his role, although there is no club more volatile than Real Madrid. Another poor run of results could see the Frenchman in trouble again and with Pochettino now free and available it might not take a lot to persuade Perez into making a managerial change.

Real Madrid could be pushed down this route through a heightened sense of FOMO (fear of missing out). Pochettino is so well regarded at the top of the European game that he has been tracked by a number of clubs over the past few years. Bayern Munich and Manchester United, for instance, are both known to be long-term fans of the Argentine.

Pochettino will now be looking for his next project. He is not a manager in the mould of someone like Jose Mourinho or even Pep Guardiola, both of whom have a limited expiry date of around three seasons at any given club. Instead, Pochettino will surely look for a club where he can make a long term impression.

The problem for Real Madrid is that if they miss out on Pochettino now they may have to wait another five years until he is available again. Do they see Zidane as a long term solution or just a short term fix? The answer to that could determine whether or not Perez uses Pochettino’s availability as a threat to his current manager.

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Tottenham will be Jose Mourinho’s biggest risk as a manager

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Jose Mourinho has more or less always managed one of the biggest teams in the world. Real Madrid of course comes to mind and then there was Manchester United. Chelsea was another at the time when Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich pumped a bottomless pit into the club. And so Mourinho going to Tottenham asks lots of questions and one of those is that he is about to take on his biggest risk but most exciting one of his career.

The Tottenham job reminds one of when the Portuguese joined Inter Milan over a decade ago. In that Inter are a big name in Italian football much like Tottenham remain a big name in English football. Though Mourinho went to Inter and completely changed their history by winning the Champions League and other titles the biggest difference is that he arrived at a club who were already champions. Tottenham have not lifted the league title since 1961.

This is what makes Mourinho being in the dug out at Tottenham so special. He is at a club that perhaps he wouldn’t have dreamed of managing say five years ago- and that of course is credit to Mauricio Pochettino.

Mourinho’s task for the rest of the season will simply be a top half finish. The first objective is not to be 14th come the end of the weekend. The second will be to move up to the top half of the season and the third will be European qualification. One can sense that owner Daniel Levy would just be happy at this stage for the club to finish in a Europa League position.

So how might Mourinho fare at Tottenham? Well the omens look good and bad. Firstly Mourinho has proven time and again that he is a serial winner. Everywhere he goes his clubs win trophies. Though Manchester United became the first club where he was unable to bring a league title and that seems very unlikely that he will do that at Tottenham. Liverpool and Manchester City simply seem to strong and Mourinho doesn’t stay at clubs too long. The contract that he has signed at Tottenham is to 2023.

But progress in the league and beating the big teams together with cup runs and wins is going to be the long term objective. At the end of the day for all the good football that came out of Pochettino’s side he won nothing with the club, the hope will be that Mourinho will bring countless trophies with him.

For now Daniel Levy is more than happy to have Mourinho as manager and likewise. They can be both ruthless, but at the same time when we look at the history of Mourinho’s spending and that Tottenham under Levy haven’t always spent the tens of millions that Mourinho will require there could well be friction between the two men.

For football fans though Mourinho joining Tottenham is massive news and fascinating at the same time, roll on Saturday afternoon when he will manage his first game away to West Ham who have their own problems.

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Jose Mourinho is back in the Premier League – and Tottenham job could define the rest of his career

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In the end, it was all over rather quickly. Following a day of rumours suggesting that his position was under threat, Mauricio Pochettino parted ways with Tottenham late on Tuesday night. Just eleven hours later the club had confirmed that Jose Mourinho would be the man replacing the Argentinian at the helm.

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Mauricio Pochettino is sacked as Tottenham manager- is it the right decision?

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Tottenham have sacked Mauricio Pochettino after a nightmare start to the season has seen the club down in 14th place.

Fans have been left gutted by the decision even though it was clear that frustrations were growing with the Argentine coach. But this is still the same man that changed the clubs fortunes around where they finally stood out of rivals Arsenal shadow and became a proper top 4 side. It was a time where the club found consistency and had found a natural flow to their game. Finally they were not doing things in a ‘spursy’ way but in a way which frightened their opponents and it was clear that the club were playing their best football in a generation.

This all came to ahead when Tottenham made the Champions League final and for many fans they couldn’t have imagined this would happen in their wildest dreams and there was dreamlike Roy of the Rovers style matches to get them to the final. Who can forget the epic 2nd leg matches against Manchester City and Ajax were Spurs looked dead and buried but somehow came back?

The utter joy and glory of seeing Pochettino on the pitch in Amsterdam with club owner Daniel Levy will remain in the memory as Tottenham confirmed their participation in the final. At that point it was about reaching their own personal Everest. The problem was that there were many problems behind the scenes.

It is clear that Levy and Pochettino did not get along and other stories are bound to come out in the next few weeks and months, it’s quite possible that Pochettino had also fallen out with some players by this point. He also had the body language over the last few weeks that suggested his future lay elsewhere.

It didn’t help when on the eve of the Champions League final Pochettino spoke about leaving the club if they were to win the trophy. In truth this would have made Levy livid given that who leaves a club on £8.5m a year? And in sacking Pochettino with 3 years left on his contract Levy will be paying him out just over £25m.

Ex-Tottenham players such as Gary Lineker have spoken out about the decision and condemned it saying that the club will not find anyone better- and he could be right. Though at the end of the day for all of their good wins and wonderful football Spurs did not win a trophy and surely at the end of the day for progression you need a trophy.

Trophies is the reason that Jose Mourinho has been installed as the favourite to take over the club. Mourinho always brings silverware but as we’ve seen in the past few years he can also bring a very negative effect to players and coaching staff. His burn outs at both Chelsea and Manchester United have sadly become the stuff of legend. One can already see a relationship of friction between Mourinho the chequebook and Levy. Still before it went wrong for Mourinho at those clubs he had won the league for Chelsea and the Europa League for United- he has a winning mentality and maybe that is what Tottenham need in this moment.

As for Pochettino in all honesty he needs some time away from the game to readjust and get his hunger back.He is a good manager but seemed a little burnt out and maybe this decision will make sense in the long term. In solely footballing terms Pochettino seems to have done very little wrong and the decision to sack him in that case is bizarre if we look at his whole record for the club. But apart from the amazing run in the Champions League Tottenham have not had a good 2019, indeed they have not won away from home since January- a top 4 side cannot have such a record.

The next few weeks will be fascinating to see how it turns out for the club and the world will be watching.

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After Tottenham’s nightmare start to the Premier League season what do they need to do to get better?

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In May Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was being hailed as a genius, by October his own fans wanted him out. What has gone wrong and how does Pochettino fix it?

Some will blame club owner Daniel Levy, after all he has been tight with his money in the past 18 months. Yes Tanguy Ndombele came for around £60m, and that was a big spend but Tottenham spent just over £70m net this summer. That sum just isn’t going to cut it when you have reached another level that Tottenham have excelled to. Champions League finalists last season and at the beginning of this one the club could be regarded as one of the favourites to win the league and yet they are languishing in the bottom half of the table. The least you expected of the club coming into November was to be 4th.

After a nightmare start where we have only witnessed very small examples of what made Tottenham such a force last season the temptation would be to sack Pochettino, but is this the right move? It would only be if he had lost the dressing room or simply lost the passion and desire with the club. He has in the past hinted to Levy to open up more funds, and it is unclear just how bad the friction is between them. But perhaps this could just be seen as a bad moment for the club, why should for example a manager be sacked for three bad months?

Tottenham already have enough quality to be a top 4 team but they may have to settle for less this season. The truth is that some players like Dele Alli might have to move on, he clearly needs a new challenge. Then there is Christian Eriksen who thought a big deal would come through but it never did- is his head with the club? It seems unlikely it is.

The club clearly need to spend and that means over £100m and it has to be wisely, that’s why Pochettino should stay. He knows the club inside out and just needs some more encouragement to go forward. No matter who the club bring in next it will be starting from the beginning again. The problem of course is that modern football doesn’t work like that, if you don’t win, you’re out. Only a handful of exceptions exist. Arsene Wenger before at Arsenal and Diego Simeone currently at Atletico Madrid.

Pochettino in the current football climate looks like he is on borrowed time, but Levy and co would do well to ride this stormy wave and come out the other end, time will tell.

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