LONDON — Of all the ways in which Mauricio Pochettino could have returned to Tottenham Hotspur, few would have predicted the circumstances that led to Monday night’s reunion.
Pochettino, the man who took Spurs to the brink of glory at home and abroad, the man still with a strong connection to multiple players and staff at the club today, and the man many supporters wanted back in the dugout as recently as this summer, will instead come back as the troubled head coach of Chelsea, one of their bitterest London rivals.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga & more (U.S.)
Tottenham fans typically revel in any Chelsea misfortune. They still will, of course, on Monday, but Pochettino’s presence in the opposing dugout may prompt a momentary pause for thought. The 51-year-old was sacked by Tottenham in November 2019, 171 days after their first-ever Champions League final ended in a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Chairman Daniel Levy’s accompanying statement spoke of his “extreme reluctance” to remove the Argentine from his post after five-and-a-half years in which the club became top-four regulars and almost won the Premier League title in 2017.
That inability to take the final step, coupled with an alarming slump in form which left Spurs 14th in the Premier League, prompted Levy to replace Pochettino with two individuals he felt were proven winners in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, either side of an ill-fated brief dalliance with Nuno Espirito Santo.
However, instead of taking the final short step to silverware, Spurs slipped back into mediocrity during a four-year spell where Pochettino’s influence continued to cast a shadow over the club.
When Spurs exited the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage to AC Milan in March following another insipid display, Pochettino was out of work having left Paris Saint-Germain the previous July. Tottenham fans sang Pochettino’s name loud and clear that night in a direct message to Levy that the soul of their club had been lost and only one man could revive it.
And so when those same supporters chanted “We’ve got our Tottenham back” during Ange Postecoglou’s second game in charge, they were recalling the halcyon days of Pochettino’s tenure, mixed as it was with a blend of exhilarating and winning football. This is a point not lost on Postecoglou himself.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
Speaking on Thursday, the Australian said: “His work is unquestioned. Everyone I speak to around here, there are still people who worked with him, they can’t speak highly enough of him as a person, as a manager. I doubt there would be anything but respect for Mauricio from anyone at this football club — supporters or people associated with it.
“That doesn’t mean he’s going to get a guard of honour on Monday night because we want to win. And I don’t think he would expect that. But his tenure and impact here is undeniable and will stand the test of time that whenever people think of Mauricio and his time as Spurs manager, will only look upon it with respect and fondness.”
Pochettino was unsure of the reception he would get but insisted on Friday that nothing could sour his memories of Tottenham.
“I’m not going to say anything at the moment because until Monday we cannot guess,” he said. “The most important is people know we cannot forget what we lived together. Amazing memories and then I’m going to respect the people, how they’re going to express. It won’t change my emotions, my view, my feelings about a club where we spent an unbelievable journey.
“Coming back after four years to a place we have amazing memories and create amazing memories together, I think it is special. I cannot lie.”
The timing of his first appearance back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — which, incidentally, Pochettino helped offset the development of by guiding the team so effectively through an almost two-season use of Wembley as their temporary home — is particularly awkward given the job Postecoglou has done in the same timeframe as his rival.
Both men started their current posts on July 1. Postecoglou had to cope with the loss of talismanic striker Harry Kane, a saga which dragged on through the entirety of preseason before he left for a €100m move to Bayern Munich. But privately, the Australian admitted defeat early on in staving off Bayern’s advances, allowing him to plan for life after Kane.
Spurs have exceeded all expectations without Kane — the club’s all-time record goal scorer — in topping the Premier League after 10 games.
Son Heung-Min has replaced his partnership with Kane by striking up an immediate understanding with James Maddison, a summer acquisition from Leicester City, while Postecoglou has rescued the stalling careers of Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr in a new-look midfield. Right-back Destiny Udogie has excelled after spending last season on loan at Udinese while another new boy, Micky van de Ven, has looked the sort of commanding centre-back Tottenham have lacked for years.
These are still formative days in the season but Spurs suddenly resemble the sort of animal that could gatecrash what many anticipated would be a two-horse race between Manchester City and Arsenal for the Premier League title.
Mauricio Pochettino returns to Tottenham Hotspur for the first time since he was sacked in 2019. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
By contrast, across London sits the camel, fabled as “a horse designed by a committee.” Sources have told ESPN that Postecoglou took a firm hand in Tottenham’s player recruitment, allowing a clarity of thought that has seemingly aided their transfer business. Pochettino has frequently suggested there were decisions taken on players prior to his arrival at Chelsea — Romelu Lukaku being a high-profile and obvious example — and although he was definitely consulted on both ins and outs, the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital model of signing young players on long-term contracts pre-dates him.
The knock-on effect of spending such money on potential, with deals running to the end of the decade, is it heightens the pressure on the manager because he is even more obviously the most dispensable element if things go wrong.
And things aren’t exactly going to plan. Chelsea have shown flashes of potential — there seems to be genuine promise in a midfield three of Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and Conor Gallagher, while Mykhailo Mudryk is stirring into life. But Chelsea will soon reach a point where they can start to reasonably expect more from the £1 billion spent by Boehly and Clearlake since their takeover in May 2022.
“We are in a different project to Tottenham,” said Pochettino. “All the history of Chelsea is to win big things. Maybe Chelsea are now with Manchester United and Liverpool are the biggest club in England. I think Chelsea in the last 15 years won too many titles, a lot of titles, now we are in a different situation where we are building something for the future.
“Maybe we struggle a little bit in the beginning, because of details we are not managing well. That is why we lose too many points, maybe we deserve more but because we are so young as a team, maybe we are not managing the situation.
“Ange and the other coaches, they are doing a fantastic job [at Tottenham]. Very good players, very good team and you can feel they can be a contender. It is early in the season but they are showing the quality to be a contender.”
One key difference between Postecoglou and Pochettino in their working conditions comes in injuries. Six players have started all 10 of Tottenham’s Premier League games: Guglielmo Vicario, Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Maddison, Son, and Dejan Kulusevski. Four more have started nine.
Chelsea have been able to rely upon Robert Sánchez, Thiago Silva, Levi Colwill, and Gallagher to start all 10 league matches but the injury list has always been longer with Christopher Nkunku sidelined in preseason and Romeo Lavia yet to kick a ball following a £58m move from Southampton in mid-August.
Wesley Fofana will miss the majority of the season following knee surgery, new captain Reece James hasn’t started a league game since the opening weekend of the season while Ben Chilwell is in Los Angeles recovering from a hamstring problem. Nkunku’s absence has compounded the lack of firepower in Chelsea’s squad, despite their lavish rebuild.
STREAM ESPN FC DAILY ON ESPN+
Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only).
In his absence, Pochettino, rightly, has pointed to a catalogue of missed chances in games. Despite Spurs scoring nine goals more (22 vs. 13), Chelsea actually have a higher expected goals figure to date: 18.54 to Tottenham’s 17.78.
But remember: it was Spurs who were supposed to struggle for goals this season without Kane, not the club spending eyewatering sums in overhauling their squad.
The sheer scale of change at Stamford Bridge was always going to require patience from the owners, but the immediate impact Postecoglou has made makes for an uncomfortable contrast to Pochettino, who has already overseen four league defeats. A fifth at his old home would raise further questions over the realistic limits of Chelsea’s aspirations this season.
A familiar ground will feel like an even lonelier place for Pochettino no matter the outcome given his right-hand man, assistant coach Jesus Perez, is banned after encroaching into the opposition’s technical area during last weekend’s 2-0 home defeat to Brentford.
If anything, it might add to the surreal feel for Pochettino, who in trying to beat Spurs on Monday is also challenging the notion they have left him behind once and for all.
