Moving Target – Mauricio Pochettino

Tottenham appointed their third manager in just five months back in late May, after announcing Mauricio Pochettino as the new man in charge at White Hart Lane. In a statement of intent, the Argentine has been handed a five-year contract and will bring backroom staff Jesús Pérez, Miguel D’Agostino Toni Jiménez – with whom he previously worked at both Southampton and Espanyol – with him to the London club:

Having parted company with Tim Sherwood at the end of the previous campaign, Spurs sought out the South American, who steered Southampton to a couple of mid-table finishes on a limited budget over the past 18 months. Chairman Daniel Levy is optimistic that Pochettino will finally afford Spurs some stability at the helm:

“In Mauricio I believe we have a Head Coach who, with his high energy, attacking football, will embrace the style of play we associate with our club. He has a proven ability to develop each player as an individual, whilst building great team spirit and a winning mentality. We have a talented squad that Mauricio is excited to be coaching next season.”

The History

The 42-year-old started his career with Newell’s Old Boys in his native country back in 1989. Over the course of six seasons, Pochettino notched eight times from 153 league appearances before making his way to Spanish club Espanyol in 1994.

During his time in La Liga, he scored 11 goals in 216 appearances over seven seasons prior to a move to Paris Saint Germain. Pochettino’s time in the French capital harvested four goals from 70 appearances before he switched to Bordeaux, where he played 11 Ligue 1 matches and scored a single goal. He returned to Espanyol to see out his career, making a further 59 appearances for the Spanish outfit and finding the net on a couple of occasions. On the international stage, Pochettino played 20 times for Argentina and scored two goals.

Pochettino’s managerial career began midway through the 2008-09 campaign with former club Espanyol. Appointed head coach with his side sitting third from bottom, he helped secure safety with a 10th placed finish and subsequently steered the club to 11th spot the following season before being dismissed in November 2012, with Espanyol sitting bottom of the Spanish top-flight after 13 league matches.

Taking the reins from Nigel Adkins at Southampton in January 2013, the Argentine helped his new club to 14th spot in his first few months and, in his only full season at St Mary’s, clinched an eighth place finish in 2013/14.

The Previous Regime

Despite splashing the cash on a number of new signings, Spurs failed to recover from the departure of Gareth Bale last summer. Under Andre Villas-Boas, they struggled for goals and netted just 15 times in the first 16 fixtures before a 5-0 home defeat in December led to the Portuguese manager’s dismissal. With Tim Sherwood in charge, a more adventurous approach saw them score 40 goals in the subsequent 22 games but despite securing a sixth place finish, the former Blackburn man was shown the door last month.

The Season Ahead

A renowned task-master, Pochettino’s penchant for double training sessions every day were key to Southampton’s progress. The same regime can be expected at the Lane as the new man in charge looks to boost his players’ fitness levels in order to facilitate a high pressing style of play. Discussing his methods with the media, the 42-year-old explained:

“The players don’t have to be afraid. Our style is demanding – sometimes too much – but we use common sense. We demand a lot from them because that is our style. Our philosophy is ‘suffer in training so you don’t suffer in the game’. But the players don’t have to be afraid because we work with common sense all the time. We can only expect full commitment and a positive attitude.”

Pochettino arrives at the Lane with a reputation for improving a number of young players’ performances, with the likes of Adam Lallana, Jay Rodriguez and Luke Shaw all making significant strides under his guidance. Potentially, this bodes well for the likes of Nabil Bentaleb, Harry Kane and Tom Carroll as they look to establish themselves as first-choice options in the season ahead.

The 42-year-old inherits a bloated first-team squad that struggled for any real cohesiveness last term – in tactics and team selection – due to the differing approaches of Villas-Boas and Sherwood. Whittling down the candidates may take some time, though there’s no doubt Spurs have potential Fantasy targets already in place right throughout the side – Christian Eriksen will surely be earmarked by many after his strong end of the season, whilst Spurs will be hoping Pocchetino’s arrival can allow big-money buy Erik Lamela the chance to flourish after a debut season to forget. It remains to be seen whether the laid-back Emmanuel Adebayor will be comfortable with the more industrious approach – if, as expected, Pochettino retains his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, Kane could well be in with a shout of nailing down a starting berth, with Roberto Soldado linked with a move away.

At the back, Pochettino has numerous options available. Certainly, Jan Vertonghen should continue as one of the first-choice centre-backs, with Vlad Chiriches, Younes Kaboul and Michael Dawson battling it out for the remaining berth, though the new manager’s penchant for raiding full-backs could boost the attacking potential of Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, should both maintain their roles as first-choice options.

There’s also the prospect of new additions to consider, too. Whilst the Argentine has remained tight-lipped on any potential targets, Levy’s wheeling and dealing in the transfer market may come into play again – it’s widely believed that a handful of last season’s acquisitions were made against the wishes of Villas-Boas. For now, then, Eriksen seems the standout candidate to consider for 2014/15, though there’s every reason for optimism that Pochettino’s arrival will strengthen Tottenham’s prospects as a Fantasy force – providing, of course, Levy affords the Argentine time to implement his ideas over the upcoming campaign.

As mentioned in last week’s Frisking the Fixtures, the opening schedule has been relatively kind to the London club and with home games against QPR and West Brom, allied with trips to West Ham and Sunderland in the first five Gameweeks of 2014/15, Pochettino is afforded a platform to get his new side quick out of the blocks.