DON’T GO, MAURICIO
SOTON SPURS He’s irreplaceable, says Anderton KANE’S LETHAL MIX OF LINEKER & CO
TOTTENHAM boss Mauricio Pochettino holds the key to the club’s future – and could already be irreplaceable. That’s the view of Darren Anderton as the Argentine prepares to face former club Southampton this afternoon. Eyebrows were raised when Pochettino was brought in by Saints to replace Nigel Adkins, back in January 2013. Now, the former Espanyol boss is widely viewed as one of the hottest managerial properties in world football and has been strongly linked with a return to Spain and a move to Real Madrid this summer.
That could also see Harry Kane and Dele Alli heading the same way.
Which is why Anderton believes it’s essential that Spurs do all they can to keep hold of him.
“Getting him to stay at the club is massive – really massive for me,” he said.
“He’s t he key to everything. If he were to go, then he might well be irreplaceable.
“Also, if he left, then I think that certain players might start to look elsewhere. That’s exactly what Spurs don’t want.
“It’s so important to keep the manager and the top young English players he has brought through.
“With players like Harry DAVID HOWELLS shared Tottenham’s dressing room with some of the greatest frontmen in recent top-flight history in Gary Lineker, Teddy Sheringham and Jurgen Klinsmann. And the former Spurs star reckons Harry Kane (left) is a potent mix of those three. Kane is flying again this season with 32 goals in the same number
Influence
and Dele Alli, there are surely going to be huge offers on the table at some point. That will be the big test. The great clubs are able to build teams and keep their best players together.
“You look at Son Heung-min g and Christian Eriksen – they could go and play anywhere in the he world, they’re playing that t well at the moment.
“Someone asked me who Spurs needed to sign in the summer and I said it was far more important t who stayed. That goes es doubly for the manager.”
It’s not only Spurs rs and Southampton who have reason to be thankful for the influence of Pochettino.
A successful World Cup campaign for England this summer might also lead to Gareth Southgate penning him a letter of appreciation.
“Pochettino has proved himself to be one of the very best,” said Anderton (above). “He wants the of games for club and country. Twenty of them have come in 22 games in the Premier League and Southampton, another of Howells’ former clubs, are bracing themselves to face him today.
Howells, who won the FA Cup with Lineker at Spurs in 1991, said: “I played with great strikers in Gary, Teddy and Jurgen, and there are little bits of all of them in Harry.
“Teddy has likened him to Jurgen but I can see lots of Teddy in him as players to improve, he wants their mentality to be spot-on 100 per cent. “Look at the England squad and how many of those players have been under his wing, either at Spurs or Southampton. “A lot of credit has to be given to him. him He makes the players bett better, he makes the team be better and what he has done f or English football has been unbelievable. u “The Spurs contingent co is the core of the England team, you’ve you’ also got Kyle Walker, Walker who’s now at Manchester City and Adam Lallana, who he helped bring through at Southampton. You only have to ask them what they think of him to know how good he is. “Even though he works players very hard, if they can see an i mprovement i n their own performance, then they’re happy to put in the work.” well, the way he drops into little holes and pockets of space.
“When it’s getting really tight for him as a No.9 he drops in and plays as a No.10 because he’s that smart.
“I wouldn’t say he’s as lethal as Gary, but he’s getting there. He [Lineker] was the ultimate penalty box goalscorer and his movement in and around the penalty spot, into and around the goal, was as good as anybody I ever saw. And while Lineker was probably the best out- and-out goalscorer, Harry does so much more for the team as well.
“He scores every type of goal and the praise he is getting at the moment, all of it is rightly so.
“He is genuinely top, top drawer. World class isn’t overplaying it.”
Howells works as a Spurs ambassador on matchdays, and added: “Harry rubs off on everybody and that’s another reason why there is such a good feeling at the club.”