Report: Those close to Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino say he has one Tottenham regret

Those close to Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino say he has one Tottenham Hotspur regret

Mauricio Pochettino, manager of Chelsea, reportedly regrets not implementing Sir Alex Ferguson-style improvements at Tottenham Hotspur in 2017.

Poch left Southampton to manage Spurs in 2014, taking the position. Every season he was here, we battled for the top four slots thanks to the solid foundation he built in N17.

Trophies, though, never materialized. In the 2015–16 Premier League season, the team placed third, giving us a chance to capture the elusive league championship and break our trophy drought.

Three years later, Liverpool defeated us in the UEFA Champions League championship game. Returning to the idea that Pochettino hasn’t made any changes, a cursory glance at our team for the 2017–18 season would give the impression that not much is wrong with it.

Poch didn’t do much wrong

Sir Alex was renowned for making significant roster changes, bringing in and out high-profile players every few seasons to mix things up. Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris, and Son Heung-min weren’t doing much wrong throughout the relevant time period.

They might have been at the height of their abilities. But since Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld aren’t getting any younger, we had to make a decision on our defensive predicament.

Apart from that, it is difficult to imagine what else Pochettino could have done to prevent the team from becoming, as the report terms it, “stale.” A new, top-tier central midfielder may have been beneficial.

But in retrospect, won’t every management consider what they might have done differently at a certain phase? The Argentine tactician made few mistakes in this situation.

To ensure that we build on the Champions League final participation, 2019 was the period when we should have made significant changes to the team. During that period, Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele, and Steven Bergwijn all entered with the same issue: they lacked Premier League experience.

We should have, during that time, signed world-class defenders and central midfielders who we knew were going to be a success rather than being prospects. Right now, the situation seems to be perfect under Ange Postecoglou, but things could have been really different under Poch had he been backed in an even better manner by Daniel Levy and co.