Two Faced Pochettino
Two Faced Pochettino
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| Younis Kaboul accuses Pochettino of being two faced |
Former Tottenham captain Younis Kaboul led a revolt at Tottenham against Mauricio Pochettino and lost. For the rest of the season, he was taken away from media duties and left to rot until he could be sold the following summer.
Now at Watford, it comes as no surprise that he doesn't have kind words to say about the Argentinian, who incidentally has been proven right with the transformation in Tottenham's fortunes.
He spoke to French Football and but do the ITK stories that were floating about at the time demonstrate something else?.
“The one where things didn’t go well was Pochettino. On the field, nothing to say, very good manager, with a philosophy and a style of play that works.
“Personally, it’s the opposite. He’s two faced. He would say things to you and did the complete opposite behind your back. I didn’t like that, and I told him. That’s all”.
What was said at the time, back on 9 November 2014 after a 2-1 loss to Stoke City at home?Well, there was an argument in the dressing room and the youngsters, led by Harry Kane, accused the older players, Younis Kaboul, Emmanuel Adebayor of not putting the effort in.
Three senior players sided with Kaboul, Aaron Lennon, Etienne Capoue and Emmanuel Adebayor.
It is said Younis Kaboul went to Pochettino with the player's concerns and apparently told Pochettino ALL the players didn't like his training methods. The youngsters did, they had bought into the Pochettino way.
However, another version is that the dressing room argument got heated and Pochettino had to step in to break it up, taking the side of the younger players.
Now whichever version you want to believe, from that moment Younis Kaboul was frozen out. He wasn't picked and as club captain, he was relieved of his media duties.
Adebayor was frozen out too, Lennon apologised but hardly played and Capoue later revealed his mentality was the problem and he thought he had a divine right to a starting spot basically, as that is what he was used to in France.
Tottenham had to change the mentality within the club and players who were not 100% behind what Pochettino was trying to do simply had to go. It was the start of our rise.
This mentality issue is something I have spoken at length about and is where a psychologist, performance psychologist or sports psychologist come in.
If the players had to work with one as part of their training these issues would be known about. Aaron Lennon may not have had the mental health issues that he had, Danny Rose may not have had his mental health issues.
Players don't go to psychologists generally, most wouldn't go of their own accord I'm sure, yet from a club point of view, these players are assets and an asset should be protected and provided for.
Erik Lamela had mental health issues when he joined us, again, working with a psychologist may have prevented that.
Three instances in 4 years is too much. I repeat again, we should become world leaders in mentally assessing players BEFORE they join us and continue that work while they are with us.
It is part of developing a footballer, don't just develop his feet or footballing brain, develop the area which drives success and happiness as part and parcel of their training.
The brain controls everything, the feet do what the head tells it to do. If the head is confident the feet will talk. If the head is having issues a players performance suffers.
I wrote Danny Rose was not mentally right last season before he gave an interview to discuss his mental health problems, it was obvious from his body language on the field and how he conducted his game.
If a player isn't showing the right mental qualities on the field, then you have to resolve that and it isn't always resolved by picking them. You have to know what the player is thinking.
Josh Onomah went through the motions the last time he played for us. Did he mentally think he wasn't going to get a regular spot? That would affect his performance, it would hold him back.
Tradition dictates you just let the player handle the challenge and get rid of those who can't. But, if you have bought someone with ability, why not help him with the mental side of being part of a squad? Wouldn't we create more successful players that way?
If we achieved that, then we would be reducing the risk when we sign a player, thus we would have to buy fewer players (fewer flops) and thus be able to spend more on those we do buy.
We would surely attract all the players who want to be the next Bale, the next Ronaldo and were prepared to work for it.
It is the next step in sports science so why not lead the way?
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