Depressed? I’ve had worse times
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL LOSS HAUNTS HIM
MAURICIO Pochettino has revealed he will be haunted forever by the two biggest disappointments of his career.
The first was in the 2002 World Cup when he gave away the penalty for a foul on Michael Owen that led to England dumping Argentina out at the group stage.
The second was in June when Tottenham lost the Champions League final and the Spurs boss said just how deeply the Liverpool loss affected him. Pochettino confessed he was left “depressed” after losing on the biggest night of his managerial career but the challenge for Tottenham now is to help him win trophies to end his frustrations. When asked why he does not look happy this season, he said: “It’s not like this. I explain why – in football I suffered two big disappointments. One when I was a player and there was the penalty at the World Cup. It was always my dream to play in a World Cup. We went there unbeaten, a candidate to win the trophy and went home in the group stage. I stayed at home and didn’t go out for 10 days.
“Another day was with Tottenham to win a trophy and the closest to win a trophy was the Champions League and it was made even bigger because it was the Champions League.
“To achieve the final with Tottenham – no one expected that. It was more than a dream.
“In that moment I felt disappointed and then I took a train, after the train, to Barcelona and again you feel like you are depressed.
“In your mind, you expect to move on after a week and say, ‘I want to be there again’. You cannot be happy. Yes, we have some disagreements. But I am happy now because I am positive and this season is going to be another massive challenge. But we must have that energy to try to be contenders and try again to fight for big things and I’m going to try until the end.”
But Saturday’s league loss at Leicester was followed by a Carabao Cup exit at League Two Colchester. Incredibly, #pochout was even trending on Twitter on Tuesday night with unhappy fans suggesting Pochettino had taken Spurs as far as he could.
However, Pochettino said: “I still believe we can [take Spurs further]. It is hard [that next step]. I believe [they can do it with me] and I hope yes.
“The fans are always right to criticise.When you don’t win you need to accept you were wrong.
“The fans are the only ones who you have to accept the criticism from and you cannot complain about that. They are right to express their feelings and emotions.”