Pochettino - the unseen work
5 min read
Tottenham appointed André Villas-Boas with an objective. He was to transform the playing side of the club, change the mentality within the club and develop a conveyor belt of talent to slot into a set playing system.
That objective has not changed. We took a detour when Gareth Bale was sold and tried to short cut the process but a lack of focussing on the mental make-up of a player cost us dear. It shows when it comes to big money transfers we are light years behind the bigger clubs.
If you are embarking on such a radical overhaul and bearing in mind there is a new stadium to be built thus the team has to be settled, then if you realise, for whatever reason, that the guy you have appointed is not the man for the job then you must remove him before it's too late. That was done and an extensive analysis of candidates undertaken. Our first choice went to Manchester United and from a shortlist of three we selected Mauricio Pochettino.
The majority of fans only see the first XI and many do not look at the bigger picture or assess the incumbent against our strategy. Premier League results are just a part of it as the strategy prepared for the next few years and the future.
Pochettino has addressed certain issues but the jury is out on his transfer dealings so far. He is a difficult situation because he doesn't have the time to remove players than previous head coaches, by that I mean he has to do it and bed in replacements before the stadium is built, that clock was not on others. But he is also having to take a long term view, safe in the knowledge that he will be given the time to implement strategy.
I know many fans can't see that but if you look at the club strategy when he was appointed and the future of the club over the next few years with the stadium build then it is pretty obvious why he was appointed and that he'll be given the time.
Tottenham have a history of players hanging on just to pick up wages so isolating players and making sure they know they have no footballing future at the club was a step that the club hopes forces them out the door. It's only with player sales can we bring players in, there are only a set number of squad places available.
It;s easy to talk about the seen work, but it's the unseen work that Development Squad coach Ugo Ehiogu has been talking to talkSPORT about.
Tottenham have had, for a while now, players who perform to a set level, they are not improving, they simply churn out the same football season after season. That football is not good enough to get to the next level. What should happen is each player should be improving his game each season and thus the side improves. That is what a player with a winning mentality does, that is what took Gareth Bale to superstar status.
Not everyone can be a superstar but not everyone wants to be the best they can be, many are quite happy in their comfort zone picking up a nice fat wage. The key to success is finding the players with the right mentality and putting them together. If you want to play for one of the top clubs you have to keep improving, keep performing otherwise you don't play and leave.
Some of those will drop into a mental comfort zone, some will improve at another club, a second chance if you like. Producing youngster through the ranks is one way of building a squad with more players of the right mentality. Every season Tottenham finish badly, the excuse this season was tiredness, Arsenal finish strongly every season, that is a difference in the players mental strength.
There is a belief at Arsenal that Champions League is a minimum requirement, it's where Daniel Levy wants us to be, but there isn't that belief within the club, it's a hope rather than a belief. That is a mental shift the players and the club have to make, winning has to be an expectation, not a desire. That will grow out of being successful at all levels, from youth teams upwards.
If you bring a player through the youth system and he is used to winning things then he'll carry that into senior football. You have to be careful and blend that with player development, which comes first. You can not always pick your best XI at youth level and players have to make mistakes to learn as well as develop hunger.
A never say die attitude, a belief that any situation can be rectified is important and is one of the reasons I have reservations about Christian Benteke, who basically gave up in the cup final when things were not going his way. That attitude is no good at Spurs, you have to want to make a difference, even two goals down with a minute left, Everton beat us from that position a couple of years back.
It is not easy to build and would be easier if we were winning trophies but money wins trophies these days, 45 of 50 titles and cups going to teams with more money. There is no comparison between the mental approach of Harry Lane and that of Emmanuel Adebayor, no comparison between the mental approach of Nabil Bentaleb and Étienne Capoue, no comparison between the mental approach of Ryan Mason and Paulinho.
Three of them want it on a plate, guaranteed football so they can go through the motions, three want to improve every day, which camp would you put the rest of the squad in?
Further Tottenham Articles
Players should learn from Harry Kane - written April 2014, holds true now
That objective has not changed. We took a detour when Gareth Bale was sold and tried to short cut the process but a lack of focussing on the mental make-up of a player cost us dear. It shows when it comes to big money transfers we are light years behind the bigger clubs.
If you are embarking on such a radical overhaul and bearing in mind there is a new stadium to be built thus the team has to be settled, then if you realise, for whatever reason, that the guy you have appointed is not the man for the job then you must remove him before it's too late. That was done and an extensive analysis of candidates undertaken. Our first choice went to Manchester United and from a shortlist of three we selected Mauricio Pochettino.
The majority of fans only see the first XI and many do not look at the bigger picture or assess the incumbent against our strategy. Premier League results are just a part of it as the strategy prepared for the next few years and the future.
Pochettino has addressed certain issues but the jury is out on his transfer dealings so far. He is a difficult situation because he doesn't have the time to remove players than previous head coaches, by that I mean he has to do it and bed in replacements before the stadium is built, that clock was not on others. But he is also having to take a long term view, safe in the knowledge that he will be given the time to implement strategy.
I know many fans can't see that but if you look at the club strategy when he was appointed and the future of the club over the next few years with the stadium build then it is pretty obvious why he was appointed and that he'll be given the time.
Tottenham have a history of players hanging on just to pick up wages so isolating players and making sure they know they have no footballing future at the club was a step that the club hopes forces them out the door. It's only with player sales can we bring players in, there are only a set number of squad places available.
It;s easy to talk about the seen work, but it's the unseen work that Development Squad coach Ugo Ehiogu has been talking to talkSPORT about.
“There is work going on behind the scenes and there have been improvements which I don’t think you can always seem from outside the club, but there have been some definite improvements.
“The style of play and the mentality the manager wants, you can see with Harry Kane and Ryan Mason coming through, Nabil (Bentaleb) and Danny Rose especially – All of the boys that have come through at Spurs have benefited from this new style of thinking and new style of play.”
Tottenham have had, for a while now, players who perform to a set level, they are not improving, they simply churn out the same football season after season. That football is not good enough to get to the next level. What should happen is each player should be improving his game each season and thus the side improves. That is what a player with a winning mentality does, that is what took Gareth Bale to superstar status.
Not everyone can be a superstar but not everyone wants to be the best they can be, many are quite happy in their comfort zone picking up a nice fat wage. The key to success is finding the players with the right mentality and putting them together. If you want to play for one of the top clubs you have to keep improving, keep performing otherwise you don't play and leave.
Some of those will drop into a mental comfort zone, some will improve at another club, a second chance if you like. Producing youngster through the ranks is one way of building a squad with more players of the right mentality. Every season Tottenham finish badly, the excuse this season was tiredness, Arsenal finish strongly every season, that is a difference in the players mental strength.
There is a belief at Arsenal that Champions League is a minimum requirement, it's where Daniel Levy wants us to be, but there isn't that belief within the club, it's a hope rather than a belief. That is a mental shift the players and the club have to make, winning has to be an expectation, not a desire. That will grow out of being successful at all levels, from youth teams upwards.
If you bring a player through the youth system and he is used to winning things then he'll carry that into senior football. You have to be careful and blend that with player development, which comes first. You can not always pick your best XI at youth level and players have to make mistakes to learn as well as develop hunger.
A never say die attitude, a belief that any situation can be rectified is important and is one of the reasons I have reservations about Christian Benteke, who basically gave up in the cup final when things were not going his way. That attitude is no good at Spurs, you have to want to make a difference, even two goals down with a minute left, Everton beat us from that position a couple of years back.
It is not easy to build and would be easier if we were winning trophies but money wins trophies these days, 45 of 50 titles and cups going to teams with more money. There is no comparison between the mental approach of Harry Lane and that of Emmanuel Adebayor, no comparison between the mental approach of Nabil Bentaleb and Étienne Capoue, no comparison between the mental approach of Ryan Mason and Paulinho.
Three of them want it on a plate, guaranteed football so they can go through the motions, three want to improve every day, which camp would you put the rest of the squad in?
Further Tottenham Articles
Players should learn from Harry Kane - written April 2014, holds true now
8 comments
People keep crowing about Mason and Bentaleb both are only in the team because the senior players are so poor they are back up at best very average.
Stop kidding yourself its all wonderful and in the pipe line we scraped 5th more to Liverpool and Saints stuttering than us deserving it and until we cut losses with the shite weve bought and bring some desperately needed experience and quality we will be bobbing along doing nothing for a very long time
When we finally spend we buy a load of crap with absolutely no plan which has now put us backwards until we can shift these high earners at a loss.
The great buisness man obviously has not a clue and just repeatedly fails the club and fans, literally the only thing he does well is sell our best players after that the blokes a clown.