Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IF I’D WON A COUPLE OF CUPS AND FINISHED MID-TABLE I’D HAVE BEEN KICKED OUT
Pochettino believes securing Champions League slot has kept him in a job
MAURICIO POCHETTINO believes he would have been sacked “a few years ago” if all he had to show for his time at Tottenham was domestic cup glory.
Spurs begin their FA Cup campaign at League Two Tranmere tonight and have a Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea next week, putting Pochettino’s well-documented views on the value of both competitions back on the agenda.
And while he insists he does not disrespect them, he is adamant lifting those trophies alone, even multiple times, would not have been enough to satisfy his boss Daniel Levy.
“To win the Carabao Cup and be in the middle of the table in the Premier League, I think today we wouldn’t be talking how we are talking here,” said the Argentinian.
“I think I was sacked a few years ago. With two or three Carabao Cups or FA Cups. If you don’t finish how we’ve finished in the last three seasons and win the FA Cup, I don’t know if Daniel would have too much patience with me or is very nice to say, ‘OK you’re 10th in the PL’ and give you a new contract.”
Pochettino has never hidden his belief that it is the bigger prizes that are game-changers, even though Spurs have not won silverware since their 2008 League Cup success.
He said: “We want to win a trophy but that doesn’t mean that it is going to be a successful thing or put Tottenham in a different level.
“Putting you in a different level is when you win the Premier League and are capable of challenging for it every season, or if you play Champions League and you really believe and you’re a real contender one day to win the Champions League.
“That is my objective with Tottenham.
“Because if my ambition in Tottenham is only win the Carabao Cup or FA Cup, with all the respect for that, I think my ambition doesn’t match the ambition of a club like Tottenham.
“Sometimes people take it wrong, my words. ‘Oh the manager doesn’t want to win the FA Cup or disrespects the competition, the Carabao Cup or FA Cup’. No, no, no, no, no.
“It is the opposite. I respect a lot.
“But my ambition is to win the Champions League one day or the Premier League with Tottenham.”