Pochettino still missing tools to finish job
TOTTENHAM, with their tails up, could open a can of beans with their tireless running and instinctive passing. But here is a question: why not use a tin opener instead?
Mauricio Pochettino explained after Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League defeat by Juventus that, without the financial clout of their rivals, Tottenham have to go down the route of using “different tools” to get the job done.
But how much easier it is when you arrive with a toolbox bristling with precisely the correct implements for the task at hand. Just ask Juventus.
While Spurs set about the Serie A giants like eager cub scouts attacking a cateringsized tin of beans over a camp fire armed only with penknives, Juventus simply popped Tottenham open. Twice.
Their substitute goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, enjoyed the demise of Pochettino’s side more than most, after eight years at Arsenal.
He was caught on camera miming a “chin-up” gesture to Tottenham fans as he left the pitch and later posted a celebratory message describing Spurs as “one of the best teams in north London”, adding the hashtag, “northLondonisred”.
“I enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “There were a couple of vocal fans next to my bench who went missing after the 80th minute, so yes I enjoyed it.”
But it is not the banter so much as the analysis fans must listen to as they reflect on another night of glorious failure. Not least because Szczesny pinpoints precisely what it is that is still missing from that Pochettino toolbox.
“We’ve got players who have won the World Cup, they’ve won six championships in a row and you see that makes a difference,” said the Poland keeper. “Where others crumble, we manage to get out on top. You need to believe in yourself. We’re not here by accident, this club has won so much, it didn’t just happen overnight, they’ve shown it for years.”
Giorgio Chiellini had highlighted the negatives when he described Spurs’ capitulation as “the history of Tottenham”.
“They always create many chances and score so much but, in the end, they are missing always something to get them to the end,” he said.
Quite simply, Spurs are not a team of proven winners. Put together the medals their players have collected from all over Europe – from Ben Davies’ League Cup win with Swansea to Mousa Dembele’s 2009 Johan Cruyff Shield success with AZ Alkmaar – and the total boasted by the line-up against Juventus is 14. Chiellini has 13 winners’ medals of his own. That is partly why, having struggled against Harry Kane for the best part of an hour, he was still able to have the last laugh.
He said: “We believe in history, it’s important, and the experience is important. We believe until the end. We earned our luck. Tottenham had their chances and are a fine team but they’re on the verge of being able to win this type of game. We had our experience and we made the most of it.”
Juventus were a team who knew they could win; Spurs players know they are expected to lose. When the first Juve goal went in, the confidence was drained. Davies lost faith in the high defensive line Spurs have played so well all season, retreated five yards, and that gave Paulo Dybala the space he needed to knock them out of the Champions League.
Spurs had 23 shots, Juventus needed seven. But there is hope at the bottom of Chiellini’s box. “Four years ago, we didn’t have this experience but have grown up year by year,” he said.
And Tottenham learn fast. One year they could not crack the top four; the next they made it. One year they could not finish above Arsenal; the next they did. Last year they could not win Champions League games at Wembley; this year they beat Real Madrid.
They may not be the expensive tools Manchester City can buy but are getting sharper, honed by Pochettino’s meticulous nurturing.
That takes patience, though. Like trying to open beans with a penknife, Tottenham should still get there eventually.
You need to believe in yourself