Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Poch: This season my feeling is the worst
DISAPPOINTMENT: NEW STADIUM STILL NOT READY HUGE FRUSTRATION: WE’VE LESS IN EVERY ASPECT FAILING AT FINAL HURDLE: IT MAY NEVER CHANGE
MAURICIO POCHETTINO revealed his “massive frustration” at what he claims is the worst of his five seasons at Tottenham.
He was searingly honest about his side’s disastrous start to their Champions League campaign and the opening of their new stadium being put back until next year.
The Spurs boss does not feel they can compete with bigger-spending rivals and says the club has worried so much about offfield issues they have lost focus.
That is despite Tottenham making their best-ever start to a Premier League campaign and they could even overtake defending champions Manchester City by beating them at Wembley tonight.
But the Argentinian’s disappointment will worry fans as he admitted it hurts that he has not won a trophy since taking charge in 2014.
Pochettino said: “The season so far – it’s strange because my feeling is the worst feeling I’ve had in the five years that I have been here. It’s the worst.
“But it’s the best start ever for the club in the Premier League. It’s strange, no?
“I don’t know, it’s so difficult to explain because of the circumstances, because many things happen.
“I am disappointed that we are still waiting for the new stadium when the expectation was to be there at the beginning of the season.
“I don’t know, many things happened in the summer, many things that make myself not in my best mood or best humour.
“I know I always have a good relationship with the media, but my feeling right now is not the best, I had better feeling in previous seasons.
“As a team, we still haven’t won anything. We have failed, but we have achieved. And of course, like you ask at different press conferences, that always when we arrive at a final game, we always fail.
“It is about learning to compete. It is about learning to be better. It is about changing something we need to do differently.
“Or maybe we are never going to learn because we have some quality, but we cannot cross this level. I prefer to think we will learn more – and we need more time to improve as a team.”
His frustrations after drawing at PSV Eindhoven last week were obvious as Tottenham face going out at the group stage after taking just one point from their first three Champions League games.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy did not buy a single player in summer – the first time a club has ever failed to make a signing in that window in Premier League history – and Pochettino admits they are struggling to compete. He has led Spurs into the Champions League in each of the last three seasons, but says that is defying the odds.
Pochettino added: “The way we have been competing in the last few years, the frustration is massive because we have had less in every single aspect.
“The mentality is to win and to reach the last level and to compete.
“Still we need to improve to be a real contender. Still we are not showing that level to be a real contender. That is my opinion.
“We were talking about establishing a new stadium, so then we could just concentrate on winning games.
“But due to the circumstances over the last few years, the club is still not focused completely on winning titles or games.
“You know very well when you are competing with sides like we are in Champions League and Premier League, the most important thing is to fight in the same conditions as others.
“It is easy to see in the last few years how we act in the transfer market, and how the other teams were acting.
“That is the difference. Everything is not perfect, but we are in a circumstance and a project that is completely different to our direct rivals at the moment.
“But maybe when we arrive at the new stadium in the future, we will be in the same project or we are going to act the same as other teams like Liverpool, City, United, Chelsea and Arsenal,” added Pochettino.
“Today, we spend a lot of energy in many things.
“One is to win games. But the club needs to be focused on trying to win titles, too.
“Because today we need to fix other problems and different circumstances that don’t help the team or the club to only be focused on winning titles.
“Sometimes people expect us to be winning or we must win titles when the circumstances are not ideal.
“You will only really know if you are good enough or not when you fight with the same conditions as other teams.
“If not, it’s difficult to see if you are good enough.”
People expect us to win titles when the circumstances are just not ideal