Winning the league is truest test, says Poch
THE FA CUP is not what will define Tottenham Hotspur as winners — only the Premier League will.
That is the message from manager Mauricio Pochettino as his team travel to Swansea in the quarter-finals today, aiming to take another step towards securing his first silverware with Spurs.
Pochettino feels luck can play a significant part in winning cup competitions and has told his players to use the Premier League as the real measuring stick.
‘The Premier League — not only you need luck, you need to deserve to win this type of title,’ said Pochettino.
‘Then there are short competitions like in the World Cup. When Argentina arrived in Japan, I think we were first in the FIFA classifications but we didn’t arrive in the best form and were out in the group stage. You need luck.
‘The Premier League is the true test because you need the whole squad to be involved and the competition is 38 games, 10 months.
‘When you win a real tournament, when you play under pressure and perform at your best over 10 months, in that moment is when you start to learn about winning.
‘What it means to be winners, what it means to be professional.’
Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal tried to pile some pressure on the visitors by saying: ‘A club like Tottenham have high expectations and want to win trophies. If they lose this game it is like the end of the world. They are out of the Champions League now, so this is the trophy they can win.’