Pochettino is a massive gamble

Neil Warnock has waded into the debate about the merits of Mauricio Pochettino taking the Tottenham job.

Pochettino is a massive gamble


The 42 year-old Argentinian is the choice of owner Joe Lewis and Tottenham have been discussing a potential deal with his agent Jonathan Barnett. In most online polls Frank de Boer leads Pochettino or Benitez 2 to 1 with fans concerned over his inexperience.

Andre Villas-Boas was a similar young inexperienced manager but with a Portuguese double and a Europa League to his name. However he couldn't handle the expectation at Spurs and ended up losing the dressing room and alienating the staff.

Mauricio Pochettino is not Andre Villas-Boas,by all accounts he is a very nice but determined man who expects total commitment to his philosophy. If appointed he would first have to win over the players and accept that the expectation of club and fans is Champions League football.

How he handles that pressure is an unknown, AVB started making excuses and blaming everyone else even the fans, a sure sign that pressure was getting to him.

Neil Warnock knows all about pressure, be it getting teams out of the Championship, play-offs or fighting relegation. He has worked with no money and trigger happy owners so when he talks about management it is from hard experience.

"I don't think Pochettino is the answer because he's inexperienced.

"To go to a club like Southampton, and I'm not being disrespectful to Southampton, there's no expectation. They've got young lads and they're going to sell one here or there whereas at Spurs there's so much expectation.

"Harry got them fourth and they've been trying to get fourth ever since and they've been thinking they were doing the right thing sacking all these managers.

"I don't think Pochettino's got enough about him. It's too big a club for him to warrant getting that job. It's a massive gamble if Levy does it but he might be the only one available."

Well he might not be the only one available Neil, but this week will tell us if he is the only one Spurs are considering.