In this episode of Stick to Football, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jill Scott, and Ian Wright are joined by special guest and former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino. He begins by discussing his current role with the US men’s national team and his experiences around the World Cup, before reflecting on the challenges and rewards of managing at the highest level. From building squads and handling pressure to adapting across different leagues, the conversation offers a revealing look into the life of a modern-day manager.
00:00 – Intro
11:00 – Southampton
20:44 – USA Managerial Career/World Cup
56:13 – Tottenham
1:29:15 – Maradona vs Messi
1:32:27 – Chelsea
Key Quotes:
Pochettino on managing at national level with the USA…
‘It is completely different to what we’re used to. In football clubs, day by day you have your habit, and you have your plan. Now international football is great, you have a lot of free time, but you have to reschedule your life. You start living a life you never had as a player or even as a coach because you finally have time with your family and time with your friends. I think we are improving within the coaching staff. We are learning to optimise the time to be with the players and to try to translate all the concepts that can be very useful.’
Pochettino on the USA’s chances of winning the World Cup…
‘Why not, it is all about belief. Look at Morocco in Qatar. No one believes in the semi-finals or South Korea in Japan. I think anything is possible in football. Look what happened in 2019 in Amsterdam. It’s because the standard, the habit and the mentality was belief until the end.’
Pochettino on becoming a complete coach after his experiences at Paris Saint-Germain…
‘I think I became a complete coach after Paris. When you arrive at Paris and you have the characteristics that you find in the squad, you need to adapt. If you have Messi, you can expect Messi at 30 plus [years old]. To arrive at Paris and make him press like it was Son at 21 or Harry Kane at 20 years old. I said, you cannot say to Messi, go to press. We tried, but it’s difficult. Not easy. When you coach this type of player, it’s not only about the player or a man that you coach. You need to care not only about when you coach, but every single decision has a consequence from the outside. That is maybe more important than the consequence of your decision inside the dressing room or the field when you are training. That is when you learn that all your decisions are going to have a big effect.’
Pochettino on his experience managing Tottenham…
‘I really love Tottenham; it’s one of the most important parts of my life as a coach and in my personal life too. I can talk from my experience in Tottenham and what I can tell you for me it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world. I think when we were competing there, we were competing with big people.’
Pochettino on reaching the next level at Tottenham…
‘All was true we had money to spend, yes, but not the type of money to improve or to be close to win or challenge with. We missed this last step. I wanted to tell them if we wanted to be competitive, we need some time to make different decisions.’
Pochettino on players he wanted to sign at Tottenham…
‘We wanted to sign Mane and Wijnaldum and for different reasons we couldn’t achieve that. I remember that we were also interested in them, but they decided to move to Liverpool and after they both beat us in 2019 [in the Champions League final]. Not to blame the club it’s only that we were there to try to improve the squad in this moment but for different reasons we couldn’t achieve that … it’s not a problem, it’s part of the business.’
Pochettino on Harry Kane…
‘When Tim Sherwood left the club and we arrived I think Harry Kane was the third or the fourth striker. When we started to work with Harry, we saw that his mindset was determined to be successful. It’s true he didn’t have the best habits but after we had a talk with him, he was very intelligent and was quick to change those habits [training, food etc]. We feel proud but it’s him and the people that are next to him that made him successful.’
Pochettino on how he separates Maradona and Messi…
‘It’s not fair for me to judge because of my emotional relationship with Maradona. I was close with him. When I met Messi in my 50s and you see things in a different way. For me both are in the top five in history and it’s impossible to compare.’
Pochettino on what he believes went wrong at Chelsea…
‘The problem for me is about how to explain the plan and people need to accept. It’s different ideas to operate. When we arrived, the team was 12th in the Premier League. We didn’t play in Europe, no Conference League, no Europa League, no Champions League, and we were in the process to have all the changes from one ownership to another ownership. I am disappointed with the internal things because under our assessment and our vision it was a normal process to create something solid for the future.
Pochettino on coming back to the Premier League…
‘One day, yes because I really like England. I think my human profile and coach profile match very well with the Premier League and with the culture, the idea, the idiosyncrasy, and the philosophy.’
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