Mauricio Pochettino has defended his track record at Tottenham, insisting that the North London club were successful during his time in charge even though they do not have any silverware to show for their efforts.
Pochettino arrived at Spurs at a time when the club had struggled to live up to expectations over the previous couple of years under Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 07: Chelsea Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino poses for the photographer after holding a Press Conference at Stamford Bridge on July 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
While the Argentine’s first season at White Hart Lane was nothing to write home about, the Lilywhites were a transformed outfit in his second and third seasons in charge, challenging for the Premier League title in both campaigns but eventually falling short to Leicester City and Chelsea respectively.
A couple of years later, the 51-year-old almost took Tottenham to European glory, with the side once again falling short at the final hurdle against Liverpool.
Pochettino thinks Spurs had a winning mentality
Pochettino is thus yet to break his trophy duck in English football but the Chelsea boss has insisted that the Spurs side that he built certainly had the mentality of winners.
He told The Sun: “When I was at Tottenham it was a different period, but I think the mentality to win was there. We won. Maybe we didn’t lift a trophy, but we won in many, many ways.”
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While I certainly think a ‘winning mentality’ counts for a lot at the highest level, I do believe that it is a phrase that is thrown around a lot, often in places where it does not necessarily apply.
The margins between winning and losing can often be very small and are not necessarily explained by a team’s mentality. Anyone who watched Pochettino’s Spurs side play during their pomp would agree that they were mentality monsters.
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