Mauricio Pochettino shows why he's No1 on Man Utd hitlist with classy Tottenham win over Arsenal

1/41
James Olley20 December 2018

It is Tottenham’s fate in the coming weeks and months that every major result like this will be viewed to some extent in the context of Manchester United’s interest in their manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Speculation continued on Thursday over United’s desire to appoint the 46-year-old as Jose Mourinho’s permanent successor — even if it costs a world-record fee — and that opinion within Old Trafford will only be reinforced by what happened here.

The same is true, of course, for Spurs’ desire to keep him and whatever Pochettino’s honest feelings about the situation, he will find it difficult to walk away from the fruits of his labours when they continue to blossom like this.

Aside from a wobble at the start and end of the first half, Tottenham gradually asserted their authority to win a shade cosily, securing a degree of revenge for their Premier League defeat here earlier this month and advancing to the last four of the League Cup.

This competition is not a priority for either side but Pochettino is yet to have any silverware to show for Tottenham’s progress during his tenure. And so, a victory secured by beating Arsenal, Chelsea over two legs and then, in all probability, Manchester City in the final would be a pretty emphatic response.

Inevitably, such a success would be painted as both a stepping stone for Spurs to win the game’s biggest prizes or a removal of the final question mark over whether Pochettino is indeed up to the task at United, depending on your point of view.

But, for now, we are getting ahead of ourselves, as Pochettino pointed out when asked about what ending an 11-year trophy drought would mean.

“Sometimes it is so unfair to talk about winning titles in a very competitive country,” he began.

“It is so difficult when you play Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, City, United. The most important thing is to set the principle and create a competitive team. The last few seasons we have been very competitive and then you need some luck. Look how we arrive, if we arrive, at the final of the League Cup.

“We played against Watford at Milton Keynes, we played against West Ham in the London Stadium, we played against Arsenal at the Emirates and now we are going to play against Chelsea over two legs. Do you think it was easy, in case we arrive at the final it was a nice way to arrive?

“Maybe some team arrived playing against only one Premier League team in four rounds. It is different. And then when you compete in the Champions League, want to be in the top four of the Premier League and then you add the FA Cup. They are not machines, the players. It is going to be crazy January. We are now in a crazy period, but January… I don’t know, I don’t want to think too much.”

Pochettino was convinced the United talk would not distract his players and they proved him correct: Spurs righted many of the wrongs from their League defeat here, riding their luck early on as Henrikh Mkhitaryan wasted a glorious chance to open the scoring.

Pochettino came back out to applaud the Spurs faithful after victory over Arsenal 
Action Images via Reuters

The Gunners were below their best and defensively porous, allowing Heung-Min Son in the first half and Dele Alli in the second to scamper clear and beat Petr Cech. Unai Emery’s centre-back problems are beginning to prove a considerable issue — Granit Xhaka as a makeshift defender does not look a viable solution — while Mesut Ozil was left out altogether, casting further doubt over his role in Emery’s plans.

Regardless, Spurs picked them apart impressively as Pochettino elicits further improvement from a squad bereft of summer investment.

As unpalatable as it is for anyone associated with Tottenham, the United link is set to continue and while the dynamic is different given a national team job is not involved, it evokes comparisons with Harry Redknapp’s position as Spurs boss in 2012.

When Fabio Capello resigned as England manager and Redknapp stood on the steps of Southwark Crown Court a free man, the footballing world put two-and-two together to make him the next England manager.

Next time out, Spurs beat Newcastle 5-0 in what many interpreted as a performance to utterly eradicate any doubt. Yet the call from the FA never came and, as speculation persisted, Spurs began to suffer, winning just one of the next nine League games and losing 5-1 to Chelsea in their FA Cup semi-final.

Pochettino’s success is in part founded on unbreakable unity and Tottenham cannot afford any internal division to creep in as they aim to stay on the heels of Liverpool and City in the League while pursuing progress in three cups.

They look more together than ever on this evidence. Pochettino returned to the pitch a few minutes after the final whistle to applaud Tottenham’s support, who sung his name in unison.

With that affection still ringing in his ears, he returned to the dressing room as newspaper reports began to circulate that United have made him their No1 target. It is a situation that will run and run.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in