April’s manager of the month Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should be cut some slack amidst criticisms that his Spurs team are ‘bottlers’. Poch instead believes they deserve credit for making Chelsea wait to be crowned for much longer than expected.
Chelsea celebrated officially winning the title on Friday after narrowly defeating West Brom at the Hawthorns thanks to a late goal from Summer signing Michy Batshuayi, but Spurs were the only side to have kept pace with the Blues while other supposed title rivals faded away much quicker into the campaign.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United have all suffered from inconsistency this season, and are consequently locked in a battle for the last two Champions League spots, whereas Tottenham are currently second in the league and can confirm themselves as runners-up with just a point on Sunday.
Pochettino believes his team’s position in the table should be measured in the context of the club’s inferior spending power to their rivals’ greater financial muscle.
Spurs’ net spend last summer was approximately £30 million, while Arsenal and Chelsea forked out close to £100 million. However splashing most the cash were both Manchester clubs, who spent more than £150 million each.
“Sure the season so far was good and it’s true when you don’t win you feel disappointed because that is our ambition,” Pochettino said.
“But when we start the season, to be honest we don’t analyse the budget and the investment of the other clubs but when you finish the season you must put it all in the same place to analyse and to say if it was good or if you feel disappointed for the season.”
Pochettino has already hinted that Spurs are likely to blood to their blossoming young talents this Summer while the spending pot is restricted by the club’s new £800 million stadium project. He also admitted Tottenham need to strengthen their squad in order to challenge for trophies again, but implied that the same issue could crop up once more, as Spurs will still not be able to match their rivals in the transfer market.
“It’s true maybe that we need some help to try to add always, to improve the squad, and help in that way,” Pochettino said.
“Of course, that is difficult because we are in a completely different project to our opponents, the clubs that play for the same things as us. Maybe we are a little bit at a disadvantage.
“But the good thing is that we are very focused in trying to develop different things, to try to be in the same level as them without investing the same money as them.”
Who would be the bargain buys you’d look towards this Summer? And which of the youth players are you looking forward to seeing in action?
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