Tottenham have matured under Mauricio Pochettino but this cup run will tell fans what they really need to know
Pochettino says Spurs are now a side that have learned most of their lessons, that are reaching that key point of maturity
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Your support makes all the difference.Amid all the usual talk about the two managers and their lack of trophies going into tonight’s League Cup semi-final first leg, there is one direct quote from Mauricio Pochettino that has gone a little under the radar. It was in his book ‘Brave New World’, which is mostly about how he has achieved what he has in his career, but there is one surprising moment that he elevates above all others.
It was actually as a player, when he won the Copa del Rey with Espanyol in 2000.
“Enjoying success with Espanyol was particularly special,” Pochettino wrote, going on to describe it as “unique”. “We won the Copa del Rey in 2000, after 60 trophyless years, meaning two generations had not seen the club win anything … That victory has possibly greater significance than any of my other accomplishments.”
Pochettino, in other words, gets it. He gets the argument many Tottenham Hotspur fans make – ignoring the wider football world which looks to point at that gap in his CV – about the club’s long years without a trophy.
Why he has often taken the attitude he does to cup ties is thereby all the more relevant, but might further influence this tie.
The difference is that Espanyol are not Spurs, and didn’t have as much going for them in those seasons, let alone now. Some of those who know Pochettino from Argentina have made the argument that it is actually fairly alien to the country’s football culture to properly concentrate on more than two trophies at a time, which is why so many clubs drop off in the league when going for the Copa Libertadores.
This approach has been an extension of that, especially as Pochettino genuinely sees real opportunity in winning the most valuable silverware in the league and Champions League. It is an attitude that will also be further amplified by the way Spurs’ resources mean they need to push themselves to the limit, and manage their squad so hard in order to just compete.
This is perhaps why Pochettino made another coded comment in his pre-match press conference, when asked about how little Spurs have spent compared to major European clubs. “Of course we’re doing a fantastic job but if we want to be real contenders we need to operate in a different way in the future.”
The difference right now, however, is that it feels like this League Cup is really in reach. Hence another change in message from Pochettino on the eve of the first leg at Wembley, and a comment that his team need to be “tough” and “a bit naughty” to win trophies.
“Football is about talent, but it’s [mainly] about mentality,” he said.
Today’s opponents Chelsea probably know this better than anybody. They’ve won more trophies than any other club in England in the last decade, and that’s despite probably going through more ructions and changes than any other top club over that decade. “Mentality”, or nous, has so often carried them through.
And it has carried them through against Spurs more than most. Chelsea beat their London rivals in knock-out matches three times in that decade, with the nadir for Tottenham the 5-1 defeat in the 2011-12 FA Cup semi-final.
Spurs have only beaten Chelsea in cup ties once in the last 17 years, and it is all the more pointed that this won the club their last trophy, the 2008 League Cup. Other than that, they’ve so often found these games a lesson in what the top end is really about.
Except, this is also a different Chelsea to usual, under a different type of manager to usual. Almost as much has been made about Maurizio Sarri’s complete lack of trophies as Pochettino’s.
It is also something that will come to bear, and can have a real influence when clubs get close to the line.
It is also, however, another comment generally made without appreciation for context. Sarri obviously doesn’t have any major trophies because he’s spent the majority of his career impressively working his way through lower-league clubs. By the time he finally got to the big time, it was at a Napoli with similar recent history and economic challenges to Pochettino’s Spurs. They generally don’t win trophies, because they generally don’t spend as much as their country’s most successful clubs. And, like Pochettino, the reason Sarri hasn’t won trophies is not because of some inherent personality failings.
His lack of silverware thereby isn’t the reason why some around Stamford Bridge have been talking about the danger of this actually being a repeat of one of Spurs’ relevant last cup wins over Chelsea, that 5-1 in the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals back in 2002. No, they are saying that because Sarri has been charged with reshaping and redirecting a club in a greater state of flux than ever, who are now facing one of the tightest-run and most focused teams in Europe, and who were so superior in their last league meeting.
It is because, against a Chelsea team effectively in the process of learning a new way of playing, Pochettino says Spurs are now a side that have learned most of their lessons, that are reaching that key point of maturity. He made specific reference to another game that cost them a trophy, the 2-2 at Chelsea that mathematically secured the 2015-16 league title for Leicester City.
“I think we were very nice kids playing football and now we’re more mature and competitive. We grow a lot in the last few years and I think this game was important. We learned a lot.”
Pochettino is well known for talking about the necessary aggression in football – and displaying it when a defender at Espanyol – but Sarri less so. Even the tactical purist in the Italian, though, was playing up the necessity of greater nous for this game.
“We can speak about tactics only if we are at the same level of application and determination,” he said.
It may take that kind of emotional response here to finally experience the emotion of winning a trophy again for two individuals that have yet to do so as managers.
This is no longer about process. It’s about getting over the line.
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