Stop dumping cups, Pochettino: Neil Humphreys
Trophies demand respect, even lesser ones
Mauricio Pochettino seems stuck in an identity crisis.
He has a confused identity over his club, which is leaving Tottenham Hotspur in a crisis.
The restless manager makes no secret of his ambition to coach a bigger club, such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, but he seems to think he is already there.
Pochettino displays the arrogance of a manager at the helm of a big-time club while floundering with middling overachievers, confusing Spurs with the sort of team that throws away lesser trophies like plastic bottles at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Argentine's insistence on playing kids and reserves against Colchester City yesterday morning revealed either his lack of understanding of how English football works or his delusions of grandeur.
It can't be the former, not after five years at Tottenham.
He must be aware that beggars can't be choosers when it comes to silverware.
Spurs' last trophy was in 2008. It was the League Cup, ironically.
But Pochettino behaves like a dogmatic Jedi Knight remonstrating with naive punters, essentially saying, "You don't need to see a cup run to Wembley. This is not the cup you are looking for. You can go about your business of paying top dollar to win nothing. Move along."
Tottenham's manager made 10 changes to face a side 71 places below Spurs in the footballing pyramid and, yes, a team that ended the game with Christian Eriksen, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela and Son Heung Min on the pitch should have prevailed.
After the match ended goalless, Colchester won the lottery of penalties 4-3, despite failing to muster a shot on target in 90 minutes.
But the English Premier League outfit managed only four efforts on target against the minnows currently occupying 10th position in League Two.
With Harry Kane given the night off, Troy Parrott started up front.
FAILED TO FIRE
Apart from having a stunning name for a B-movie action star, Parrott flapped as a striker. He's barely 17.
What was Pochettino expecting?
The Tottenham manager must be aware of the emotional attraction of an afternoon at Wembley for a club desperate for recognition.
Trophies demand respect, even lesser ones, in a way that a glittering stadium never will.
The new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a credit to chairman Daniel Levy, but it's a cold, clinical place without a cup to show off. Stadiums can't be held aloft on parades.
And Pochettino knows this.
Of course he does. So it must be the delusions of grandeur, a stubborn streak that informs him that he's already managing at the highest level. Everyone else must get on board.
In his thinking, it's the EPL top three and the Champions League.
He leaves the scraps to the scavengers beneath him.
But Pochettino isn't dining at the top table. He's stuck at Spurs.
Real and Manchester United didn't sign him in the end.
Either team could conceivably come for him in the near future, begging him to fix the mess of their own making.
Both clubs put sentiment before pragmatism when selecting their current managers, whereas Pochettino could use a little sentiment in his team selections at Tottenham.
Cup runs are welcome, even among supporters currently swaggering around the summit in Liverpool and Manchester.
And Tottenham cannot win the Champions League.
Their dreamy run to the final last season had a whiff of overachievement. Which was arguably why most of them forgot to turn up for the showpiece.
Even Spurs' fourth-placed finish in the EPL may not be repeated, considering their loss to Leicester City was their ninth successive EPL away game without a victory.
Clearly, Pochettino is a man among unsettled men. Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose tried to leave in the summer.
But none of them moved on and their manager speaks of competing "agendas".
GROUCHINESS
Indeed, Pochettino's grouchiness over Spurs' indecisive transfer policies has made him sound increasingly like Jose Mourinho, but without the trophy swag to at least substantiate his complaints.
Tottenham are already 10 points behind Liverpool, with a wretched away record, unsettled superstars, a limited squad and an attack that still isn't sure how to make the most of Kane's particular set of skills.
The autumn leaves are yet to fall in north London, but the season seems almost done for Spurs, with the obvious exception of the FA Cup.
Pochettino really cannot throw that one away.
He still hopes to manage an elite club. To do that, he must remember that he is not in charge of one now.
OTHER RESULTS
- Arsenal 5 Nottingham Forest 0
- Crawley 1 Stoke 1
(Crawley won 5-3 on penalties) - Luton 0 Leicester 4
- Portsmouth 0 Southampton 4
- Preston 0 Man City 3
- Sheffield Wednesday 0 Everton 2
- Watford 2 Swansea 1
Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham Hotspur are 'unsettled'
Mauricio Pochettino claimed his struggling Tottenham Hotspur side are "unsettled" after they suffered an embarrassing League Cup third-round defeat at fourth-tier Colchester United yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Tottenham were beaten 4-3 on penalties after being held to a goalless draw by a club 71 places below them, with Christian Eriksen and Lucas Moura both missing their spot-kicks.
Eriksen is one of Spurs' unsettled players, having said he wants a new challenge.
Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama's futures are also uncertain and, even with the transfer window closed, it remains uncertain whether they have long-term prospects at the club, reported AFP.
Pochettino conceded there are still issues behind the scenes which have fuelled Spurs' lacklustre start to the season barely four months after their run to the Champions League final.
He said: "When you have an unsettled squad, always it's difficult and you lose time, and then you need time to recover the time you lose.
"That's where we are. Maybe our performances are good but you need this extra, which is mental, connection, it's energy to be all together, not to have different agendas in the squad.
"We need time again to build that togetherness...
"We are working so hard to try and put on the same page...
"January is going to be a good opportunity to try and fix this type of situation and sort it (out)."
Ex-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood said that Pochettino "certainly knows" Eriksen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen will leave when their contracts expire next summer.
He said on Sky Sports: By the looks of it, Eriksen, Alderweireld and Vertonghen are going for nothing, which will hurt the club. It's not good (for the dressing room)."
Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour, meanwhile, told talkSPORT: "They still had six internationals playing, so they should be well capable of beating a League Two side.
"Will they get to the Champions League final again? Probably not.
"Premier League? No chance.
"The FA Cup and League Cup are the only things they can realistically win."
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