Pochettino tells Wenger to ‘talk for himself’ after Arsenal manager’s dig at Spurs
Mauricio Pochettino has told Arsene Wenger to keep quiet about Tottenham Hotspur and insists all the praise heaped on Spurs is deserved.
Before Arsenal’s League Cup semi-final win over Chelsea on Wednesday, Wenger said pundits “celebrate some teams who have not been in a final for 25 years”.
His comments were taken as a dig at Tottenham and Liverpool, who together have lifted only two trophies since 2008.
Pochettino took exception to Wenger’s analysis. “I’m so young and only five years in the Premier League, in two clubs Southampton and Tottenham, but there’s no point to talk about another team,” the Argentine said during a news conference yesterday.
“Praise? Of course we receive praise. Football is not only to win trophies, it’s the circumstances of different clubs.
“For me he is and will always be one of the best managers in the world, I respect him, but I think he needs to talk for himself and for Arsenal.”
Pochettino added: “For me he is a special manager, but everyone sometimes makes a mistake and for me he made a mistake to talk about us or a different team.”
Tottenham travel to League Two promotion-hopefuls Newport County tomorrow in the fourth round of the FA Cup, which realistically now represents Pochettino’s best chance of winning silverware this season.
“We have to be ready to fight and put ourselves in the same level as them,” Pochettino said.
“The same motivation, no complaints, no excuse-finding, we try to believe that we are going to play against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus in the Champions League.”
Arsenal, the FA Cup holders, are out of this year’s competition after losing 4-2 to Nottingham Forest in the third round earlier this month.
But they have a date at Wembley Stadium to look forward to next month in the League Cup final against Manchester City on February 25 after Grant Xhaka netted the winner to completed Arsenal’s rally past Chelsea to win 2-1.
A relieved Wenger said: “In the first half we gave Chelsea too much respect and distance. We were a bit scared to go for it.
“We were not playing in the right position but we amended that in the second half and took control of the game.”
“We have some time to prepare for [the final] but we’re happy to bring our fans to Wembley.”
The League Cup is the one domestic competition in England that Wenger has never won during his reign as manager of the London club.