Pochettino a magnet for talent


As a coach I have always been amazed that managers don't do more to improve players, they always seem to be more concerned with how the team should play and fans have been conditioned to buying replacement parts, always aspiring to the expensive parts the club couldn't afford.

It always seemed to me that we needed a manager who took players and improved them, indeed a few years back I put before readers a 48 point check list to go through to improve each individual player. Each improvement a player makes adds to the overall improvement of the team.

Football in this country has been far too centred around adapting players to fit a system, you see the results hen players are taking out of a system and placed into another one, often they struggle to adapt, despite being experienced in that league. There is no culture shock to adapt to, just a new system.

Sir Alex Ferguson looked for intelligent players who could play different systems, the ability to take on something new. Such players can then be coached to improve their game, as Cristiano Ronaldo was.

Daniel Levy was searching for a coach who could do that, who could take players and improve them, alas each proved incapable, too ingrained in the traditional way of doing things. Coaching techniques were simply handed down and one average coach followed another. Finding one who could improve individuals in addition to creating a football style remained paramount.

Enter Mauricio Pochettino, a coach who improves players, a coach who embraces the advancements in sports science and give players individual programmes to improve aspects of their game, right from where to place your feet and at what angle and beyond.

the players now play with anticipation, where running off the ball is key. The unseen work a player does is more important than the seen work he does for if he is not doing the off-the-ball stiff he won't get the on-the-ball chances.

The more players he improves and the more youngsters he develops the more attractive the club becomes to th best young talent around.