The league table might not entirely agree, but there are plenty of people who believe
that for the last two seasons, Tottenham have been
the best team in the Premier League.
They might not have the trophies to show for it,
but while their thrilling squad has plenty to do
with their excellence, their manager is the man behind their success.
The son of a farm labourer, Mauricio Pochettino was born in a small town called Murphy in
central Argentina, around two hours outside Rosario.
The story of how he came to join Newell's Old Boys is well-told: Marcelo Bielsa,
who would go on to be Pochettino's mentor but was then a youth scout with the club,
drove for hours to see the young central defender.
He arrived at 2am, and the Pochettinos were reluctant to wake Mauricio up, so Bielsa simply
asked to see his legs.
“They're footballers' legs,” he declared, and signed Pochettino there
and then.
After making his debut in 1988, Pochettino stayed at Newell's for six years, in which
time they won two titles and reached the final
of the Copa Libertadores.
In 1994 he moved to Espanyol, where he made over 300 appearances
in two spells, and established himself as a
club hero.
In 1998 Bielsa arrived at Espanyol, and asked Pochettino what mark out of ten
he'd give himself for the previous campaign.
Pochettino considered awarding himself a nine or ten, but modesty overcame him and instead
said eight.
Bielsa disagreed.
“You've been shit, and if you play like that again you'll
never play for me and never play for Argenina.”
Pochettino drove home in tears, but the “tough love” inspired him.
His time with Espanyol sandwiched four years in France, playing for PSG and Bordeaux, and
it was in Paris that he first decided to be a coach, watching then-PSG manager Luis
Fernandez and thinking about why he had made certain decisions, used formations, picked
players.
He was only in his late 20s at this point, but it might be the reason why, when the
time came to actually be a coach, he was prepared.
In January 2009, Espanyol were heading towards relegation and had already got through two
managers that season.
Pochettino was drafted in despite having minimal coaching
experience, and after only two training sessions took charge of his first ever game, which
just happened to be the derby against Barcelona
and Pep Guardiola.
They managed a creditable 0-0 draw, but the real task was saving the
team from the drop.
For this, he enlisted a little extra help.
With ten games of the season remaining Espanyol were eight points shy of safety and things
were looking bleak, so Pochettino went on a
30mile pilgrimage to the Benedictine abbey at Monserrat to pray to the Virgin Mary.
Partly to say thanks for his mother's recovery from
illness, but partly to ask for divine intervention in their relegation battle.
The prayers worked, Espanyol won eight of their last ten games
and survived.
He stayed at Espanyol for three more seasons, helping in the development of, among others,
players like Philippe Coutinho, and transforming the team from relegation battlers into a
prototype of the hard-running, relentless teams he would later manage.
“He works you like dogs,” said one player.
His final season started horribly, and he left with Espanyol in the
relegation zone, but the job he had done to that point ensured his reputation remained.
​ In January 2013, Southampton shocked many
by sacking Nigel Adkins, who had brought them up into the Premier League, and replaced
him with Pochettino.
Much like at Espanyol, the initial early scepticism was dispelled
with fine results and performances, as he took them
to eighth place in his first full season, managing their highest top flight points tally
in 20 years.
Attention from higher up the food chain was piqued, and after Tottenham decided to halt
the Tim Sherwood experiment, Pochettino moved to White Hart Lane in May 2014.
The three subsequent seasons have seen consistent
improvement, as Pochettino has moulded a brilliant collection of young players into
the most exciting team in England.
Third and second place finishes reflected their excellence,
so who knows how far he will take them in the
seasons to come...