Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Poch needs to win the BIG games if he wants to win the BIG prizes
... and the stark stats don’t lie
APPARENTLY, Mauricio Pochettino’s priorities lie in the Premier League and the Champions League – proper competitions. Well, if you want to win proper competitions, proper trophies, it’s an idea to win proper matches.
Proper matches are in your proper rivals’ homes – the Emirates, Old Trafford, the Etihad, Stamford Bridge and Anfield.
In a combined 17 matches at those venues, Pochettino, as Spurs manager, has won just once.
Won one, drawn six, lost 10. It is a shocking record, one that never looked likely to be improved once you saw Harry Kane’s first gallop.
A jockey would have pulled him up.
Pochettino took a punt on Kane and Dele Alli – and it failed miserably.
When he hooked them (right), it was an admission of culpability. Kane and Alli are good, but not good enough to be able to make a difference at 80 per cent capacity.
If Pochettino does not trust Son Heungmin and Fernando Llorente to deputise for two guys clearly not match-fit, there is an issue with Tottenham’s squad depth.
It is an issue that will mean Pochettino’s priority targets will prove to be beyond his reach.
For Tottenham supporters, this was as negatively significant a performance and result as the Wembley win over Real Madrid was positively significant.
Pochettino was ruffled by hairline decisions that helped facilitate both Arsenal goals and, of course, he had a point.
Short of going on the tannoy and explaining he gave it for the use of a Davinson Sanchez hand on Alexis Sanchez, Mike Dean could not have explained his decision to award the free-kick that led to Arsenal’s first goal any better. But Shkodran Mustafi might have been a shirt layer offside when he deftly headed home Mesut Ozil’s delivery, just as Alexandre Lacazette might have been when he collected Hector Bellerin’s pass before assisting Sanchez for the second. Arsenal, though, were better by some distance. The air was rich with combined North London XIs ahead of this game. Everyone had a stab and most had no more than three Arsenal players in the ranks. Let’s do one for this game. Here goes. Cech - Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac - Ozil, Lacazette, Sanchez. Maybe the dominance was not that total, but, in the multi-blocking Mustafi, Arsene Wenger could boast the best defender, while his attacking triumvirate was outstanding. I have said it before and will say it again, if you ever tire of watching Ozil play, you will be tired of football. He might still tackle as if toe-testing the temperature of his night-time bath, but his game flows like water. The only pain for anyone connected with Arsenal is that the performances of Ozil and Sanchez showed just why there WILL be big-name suitors for their free summer signature. If they do walk out, Arsenal could yet find themselves losing ground to Tottenham, but talk of a growing disparity was proved to be some way off the mark here.
Pochettino has a couple of problems looming, one being the Danny Rose situation.
That his grasp of English regressed about two years, when asked why Rose was training with the kids yesterday, was significant. He may be the sophisticated super-coach some believe, but to not even have Rose on the bench made no sense. Tottenham’s wing-backs barely had an attacking impact, Rose is a month into his comeback and appeared twice as a sub for England in the last fortnight.
It is hard to believe many will swallow the line that it is all a scheduled part of Rose’s full, physical recuperation.
It is not hard to believe there’s been some sort of ruck, a suggestion refuted by Spurs.
Either way, many believe Rose will be a goner in January.
Which would be fine, if Spurs had a depth of squad that could cope with losing decent options. They don’t.
Nor, clearly, do they quite have the mentality and quality to triumph on the most demanding stages.
That is why those proper trophies will probably remain elusive.
That his grasp of English regressed about two years, when asked why Rose was training with the kids yesterday, was significant