Mauricio Pochettino was keen to play down his own contribution to Tottenham’s impressive 3-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night.
Goals from Son Heung-min, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente saw the hosts put one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals.
During his pre-match interview, the Spurs boss refused to take credit for selecting Serge Aurier and Vertonghen as wing-backs, a tactic that worked perfectly on the night.
Instead, Pochettino praised his players and explained the “only problem” Tottenham have – that they can only select 11 players in a game, not 22.
Watch the full interview below.
Nice thought, and I wish it were our only ‘problem’, having too many good players to choose from! The fact is that there IS another problem. Although I wholeheartedly support the way Poch, Levy and Lewis are running Tottenham, I do feel that when it comes to world class players at our club (and there are probably five, with others not far off that) we should pay all of them circa £150pw, or possibly a bit more.
They’ve developed into great players AT our club, so let’s ensure no other club benefits. It’s not as though Spurs go out and BUY ‘world class’ players (or merely high profile players) at vastly inflated prices, and then pay them fortunes! I wouldn’t want that and it would be horribly divisive at Spurs anyway, affecting the whole squad togetherness. But, when players that we’ve either developed within and/or bought relatively cheaply (eg Kane, Eriksen, Alli, Lloris, Toby, Verts, Son, Rose, Tripps) begin to stand out as hugely important players (and fast becoming coveted by our rivals) it’s vital that we give them contracts which recognise their importance and contribution to Spurs’ growth over the past 4 seasons. So please, Mr Levy, don’t mess around with Eriksen and Toby, or latterly, Son. Put them on or near a par with Kane, Llorente and Alli. Because if Eriksen, in particular, left, we would regret it badly. At least we have 3 or 4 other centre halves (plus Dier can play there too) and some other quick skilful forwards ..but we only have ONE attack minded playmaker (Alli being a different sort of player)! If we want to be one of the greatest clubs in the world again soon, we need TWO playmakers of Eriksen’s ilk ..not none at all ..and we need to retain the services of all others who are flirting with greatness in this Tottenham side!
I completley agree, but I’m sad to say I think we’ve missed the boat with Eriksen and Verts, as they will probably both go this summer for half price or free next year. We haven’t really made the step up to ‘Not’ being a selling club to the elite clubs since selling Mods and Bale. Liverpool, albeit being a sleeping giant, have made that step in two years whereas we have been treading water while our shiny new WHL was being made. Tbh I do not seeing us getting to the elite level for at least five years, and that would be with a massive influx of some of the best young talent in the world, which, judging by our buys while Poch has been here, is very unlikely. But we’ve got to keep the faith I guess, so I’ll just put those lillywhite tinted spectacles back on and enjoy! COYS 🙂
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Some good points, but we should note with Kane, Ali and Son re upping last year we must be doing something right at the club. It appears while we might not pay the highest salaries we have good incentives in place for players to earn above salary . I also agree Erickson is more important than Toby as you correctly point out that we are already short of a quality play maker ( better than Sissoko, Winks and Lamela ). Next year we could probably get by without Toby but I would prefer if we could keep him one more year so that Sanchez and Foyth have another year of experience. Something is keeping players at Spurs ( facilities, team spirit and Poch I think ) and lets hope hope its enough for Erickison . If Son gets 150K so should Erickson although I have to say up until this point Son has out performed Erickson this season. Little note ( I hate Dier as a center back as he has one big mistake in him every game and they are costly )
I would suggest that Spurs are in the best position to buy Toby’s contract when it runs down, good strategy for dealing with over 30 players.
Large signing on fee and suitable wages for a 2 year contract.
Spurs can offer him more than any other team, as we don’t have to pay the buy out …. so basically we pay him an undisclosed (5 mil) signing fee and xxx salary to stay.
I am quietly confident that Poch and Levy 100% know what they want to do and have a strategy in place.
Though at the end of the day it will come down to what the player wants and if he wants a new adventure … good luck to them.
COYS