Is Mauricio Pochettino the right man for Tottenham?

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is seemingly already under-pressure at White Hart Lane

Every day there seems to be somebody coming out with their opinion, defence, or criticism of Tottenham, so today is my turn.

Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris has revealed that he does not believe that boss Mauricio Pochettino is to blame for the team’s poor campaign so far.

Boss

Lloris told L’Equipe: “I do not blame him (Pochettino). I trust the coaching staff and the current head coach.

“When it’s the third coach in a year and there are problems, the coach is not necessarily the problem. Nevertheless, we are working and trying to find answers.”

Mauricio Pochettino was a major hit in his time at Southampton and won seemingly universal acclaim from experts. His style was typical of the one played in La Liga by a host of teams with Barcelona under Pep Guardiola being the perfect example of that style.

Pochettino’s way was passing, attacking possession football. He likes his teams to control their games by keeping hold of the ball. He transformed Southampton from a team struggling at the bottom of the league to a midtable team.

The Saints style of play attracted interest from elsewhere in their top players and of inevitably the boss. The Argentinian decided to move to White Hart Lane, a club who were viewed as bigger than Southampton.

It was regarded as a step up for the former-Espanyol boss, but at the moment it is his former-club who have experienced a flying start to their campaign, with the Saints currently sitting second in the Premier League table under Pochettino’s replacement Ronald Koeman.

Struggling

Spurs have made a poor start to their Premier League campaign and are currently sitting 12^th in the Premier League table. The men from north London have been woefully inconsistent and have suffered some very poor defeats this season, especially at home.

There seems to be something seriously wrong with Spurs at the moment and as Lloris says the blame cannot be laid at the door of Pochettino.

Players

In truth Tottenham have gone through a lot of bosses in recent years, who have been criticised for their performances. However, it seems that a lot of people ignore the fact that it is the players who have produced such tame displays this season.

There seems to be some sort of mental block amongst the current group of highly-rated and paid individuals within the Spurs squad.

When Gareth Bale left for Real Madrid for a world-record fee of £85million Tottenham had the chance to heavily strengthen their squad, to bring in real quality, but instead director of football Franco Baldini reportedly recruited quantity not quality.

Not many of the signings of summer 2013 have proved to be successful at White Hart Lane. Only Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen has shown any consistency and quality on a regular basis. The likes of Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela have proved to be major let downs, despite being stars at their former-clubs.

Lamela was regarded as one of the brightest young players in world football when at Roma in Serie A. He was yet another attacking player off the Argentinian attacking midfield production line.

Despite a few promising displays in the Europa League, he has struggled to adapt his game to the Premier League. Whether the £30million spent on Lamela was wisely invested has to be questioned at the moment.

Pochettino did not bring in many players when he arrived during the summer. In fact the only senior players who arrived at the club in the summer were keeper Michel Vorm and full-back Ben Davies, both from Swansea.

The Argentine is basically working with the same squad of players that finished sixth in the Premier League under Tim Sherwood.

Stability

Tottenham have had hardly any consistency stability in recent years when it has come to bosses. Already some Spurs fans are asking whether Pochettino is the right man for the job at White Hart Lane.

However, Spurs are never going to be successful if they do not find stability and that means putting faith in a manager. Pochettino proved at Southampton that he could produce a team that played good football and he did not spend a fortune.

Pochettino should be allowed some time to turn things around at White Hart Lane, but as we all know time is usually in short supply for Premier League bosses.

Is Mauricio Pochettino the right man for Tottenham?