Pochettino: Lifting Cup would not change us

Mauricio Pochettino believes that only winning the Premier League or the Champions League will take Tottenham Hotspur to a “different level” as he prepares for tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

The Spurs manager reiterated his long-held belief that success in a domestic cup competition is secondary to the overall work he has done at the club in pursuit of the bigger prizes.

“It would be fantastic to win the FA Cup,” Pochettino said. “But is it going to change our life? I don’t believe so. I promise you the club is not going to change if you win or don’t win the FA Cup or the League Cup.

“It would be fantastic to add that trophy to the club, but what would put us to a different level would be to win the Premier League or Champions League. That is going to put you in a different level.”

Although Pochettino is yet to win a major trophy in his managerial career, he is dismissive of the notion that he needs to do so, believing it is too simplistic. Instead, he prefers to look at the overall body of work he has accomplished, not least at Spurs.

“The problem is the short memory that people sometimes have,” the 46-year-old said. “When we arrived here four years ago, all that people were talking about was to reduce the gap to the top four and the challenge was to play Champions League. Remember your questions? It was if we are not capable to play Champions League or in Europe – first of all, it was in Europe – ‘how can we retain our best players?’ And then, ‘How can we attract good players?’”

Facing Pochettino at Wembley tomorrow is United manager Jose Mourinho, who has built his reputation on being the ultimate trophyhunter, driven by the desire for more silverware.

While Pochettino said he puts himself and his players under “massive” pressure to win, he also wants to look at the bigger picture. Nevertheless, Spurs are acutely aware that they have lost their previous seven FA Cup semi-finals – most recently against Chelsea last season.