Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham became the first team to inflict defeat on Pep Guardiola’s Man City this season and he has worked tirelessly to build the team that could make his rival green with envy.
Maybe it is high time Guardiola learnt from the Tottenham boss. Well one may think that how could that be possible. For a coach that has won a combined 21 trophies with his former clubs, Barcelona and Bayern Munich to learn from a coach that has no record of trophies won at his former clubs – Espanyol and Southampton.
It is due to the fact Pochettino is in the process of making Spurs the most formidable team in the Premier League, a technique that could serve as a template for Guardiola.
Guardiola seems to be battling with adapting his football to the peculiarities of the British game and if he needs who to learn from on how to integrate better then he should turn to the Argentinean coach.
Tottenham have gradually but continuously improved in all ramifications since Pochettino took over from Tim Sherwood when they were sixth in 2013/2014 season. Since then they become a team with a backbone, a team that can initiates and get results from their rivals while that could not be said about City at the moment.
Eight of the current squad were all at the club before the arrival of Pochettino from Southampton – Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Jan Ventonghen, Mousa Dembele, and Harry Kane – and that is remarkable especially for a team like Spurs who have lost their best players to top clubs in the past. And interestingly City have been linked with moves for Spurs’ full-backs Walker and Rose.
Those eight have remained Pochettino core members of the squad while Guardiola is struggling with imparting his own tactics to some of City players who doesn’t seem to have a future at the club. Or perhaps his coaching abilities seem to have been overrated for thinking he could get the same kind of football he got from Philip Lahm and Messi Lionel from Pablo Zabaleta and Jesus Navas.
Pochettino seems to have recognized the players he needs while it is still a surprise to many as to why Guardiola keeps retaining players that are not productive. Though there have been some transfer blunders by Tottenham too but the signings of Toby Alderweireid, Eric Dier and Dele Alli have been masterstrokes. Pochettino is certain of players who would move the club forward while Guardiola will need to change like nine or ten of his players.