Pochettino warns Spurs: You must now be brave

CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER Mauricio Pochettino had just seen his team engage in some glorious end-of-season nonsense over the course of nine goals in their last home game at Wembley when the Tottenham Hotspur manager decided that it was time to deliver some home truths to his club.

The Argentine coach has achieved three consecutive topthree finishes for Spurs, and Champions League football in their new stadium, but his mind was already racing on to the challenge of doing it again next season. His appeal was designed to carry direct to chairman Daniel Levy that the club “needs to be brave and take risks” if they are to compete.

It sounded very much like Pochettino feared that without investment in players Spurs would struggle to compete with the two Manchester clubs who have finished above his, as well as all those trying to make up ground.

Pochettino urged the club to “tell the truth” to fans about what is possible given the investment in a £780million stadium and to “create dreams that are possible to achieve”.

“We cannot think we are the cleverest people in the world winning trophies on small money,” he said. “We need to think the reality is different. We cannot invest crazy money. We need to feel we are a special club. When you create that feeling, anything can happen in football. We need to deliver the best way to try and win.

“I think Daniel is going to listen. You need to be brave and take risks. It is the moment the club need to take risks. We need to work harder than the previous season to be competitive again.

“Today the Premier League is a tough competition, you can see not only the big clubs but the clubs behind us. West Ham, Leicester, Everton are working so hard to be close to the top six clubs.”

Asked about his own future, Pochettino was not prepared to commit himself unequivocally to being at Spurs next season, and offered up the usual caveats about a manager being a few results from the sack.

But he was unquestionably laying out his own position in public as Spurs enter a period of uncertainty in which opportunities may yet open up for their talented manager.

“You never know,” Pochettino said. “Today, 100 per cent, I feel like I’m here, but tomorrow all can change. It is not in my hands. It is not my decision, it depends on my boss.” Thus far, he said it has been “difficult” to speak to Levy about next season, but he appeared to anticipate that those discussions would begin soon.

There was a need, he said, to “create a different idea to move on and to be closer to win titles”. By the end, he needed to check himself when he was asked what might happen if he and Levy did not see eye to eye on the future of the club.

“I can’t say,” Pochettino said. “Maybe I’m talking too much. Maybe I should breathe. This always happens at the end of the season, the manager speaks to owners and CEOS to analyse the season and thinking how to improve.”

It was a strange end to a day that had seen Paul Gascoigne dancing in the stands and Harry Kane finishing with more league goals in a single season than before, but losing out on the Golden Boot.

The England striker curled in a right-foot shot for the winner, but elsewhere Mohamed Salah was adding to his total, too. The Liverpool man finished with 32 while Kane’s two goals took him to 30, better than his previous two seasons of 25 and 29 goals respectively, which were both enough to win him the marksman’s award.

Pochettino and his players were warmly received by the supporters at the end although the booing at half-time, when they trailed 2-1, was a reminder that expectations at this club have climbed.

Jamie Vardy also caught the eye with two goals to take his season’s total to 20 and fourth place for the Golden Boot. He had a fine game against a Spurs defence that always looked shaky. Eric Dier’s move into the back four because of an injury to Jan Vertonghen in the warm-up did not make for a particularly happy afternoon.

Claude Puel was also obliged to answer questions about his future, pointing out that Leicester’s ninthplace finish was only the second top-half place for the club in 18 years. “You need experience, stability to improve this club,” he said. “It is an honest squad. We need stability The hosts took the lead on the hour mark, with Lamela scoring his second of the afternoon as he again swept home a Walkerpeters cross.

and I will try and make this work. Speculation is not my area.”

Vardy flicked a header perfectly beyond the glove of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and into the far corner for the first goal on three minutes. Spurs’ equaliser came when Danny Simpson’s pass was struck straight at Lucas Moura and the rebound fell nicely into Kane’s stride to beat Leicester weren’t finished, though, and Vardy made it 4-4 with a rasping drive into the roof of Lloris’ net after Mahrez had played him through.

Eldin Jakupovic at his near post. Leicester were back in the lead in the 16th minute, when Kelechi Iheanacho muscled his way into the box and from Adrien Silva it de-