Former Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov has urged the Londoners to forget about replacing Mauricio Pochettino with Jose Mourinho.
Earlier this week, reports emerged suggesting Mourinho is monitoring the situation at Spurs amid the scrutiny Pochettino is currently under after a run of poor results.
Mourinho has been out of work since being sacked by Manchester United last season. On Thursday, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas revealed Mourinho turned down talks with the French side because he has “already chosen another club”.
Whether Spurs would consider hiring Mourinho if Pochettino were to leave is up for debate, but Berbatov believes his ex-employers would be better off sticking than twisting.
“There has been a lot of talk about Jose Mourinho taking over at Spurs,” Berbatov wrote in his Betfair column. “As a coach that has been there at the top of his game for so long and has been in every kind of situation, I think he could have the answers for some of the difficulties Spurs are facing. But would he make them better?
“I don’t know because it is the same team, yes you can have a bit of a lift in the beginning, like Manchester United did when Solskjaer came in, but then you need to keep going, otherwise you are going to slip into a spiral.
“For me though, Pochettino needs to stay there, he’s been there for a long time.”
Berbatov went on to explain how Sir Alex Ferguson would refresh his Manchester United team every four years, a philosophy Tottenham should probably consider replicating.
He added: “I remember Sir Alex Ferguson telling us a team needs to be changed when four years passes, not the whole team, but some players. After four years, some players start to get complacent and they aren’t challenged anymore, they are in with the manager and they are comfortable, so a manager needs to shake things up and bring in new players.
“This could be the case with Spurs, a lot of the players have been there a long time and maybe they need to shake things up and try to push the players in a way.”
It’s good to hear the Bulgarian calling for patience when it comes to Pochettino’s future. Talk of his sacking is clearly premature, and it’s likely the Spurs boss will be given plenty of time to turn things around by chairman Daniel Levy.
I see him coming next summer. Why was he at the Palace game..I wonder.