uricio Pochettino has been appointed Tottenham head coach, leaving Southampton to pen a five-year deal at White Hart Lane.

The former Argentina international's stock has risen markedly since his controversial appointment at St. Mary's in January 2013.

Having arrived in English football a relative unknown, former Espanyol boss Pochettino's possession-based, attacking game and focus on home-grown talent has impressed, as have his on-field results.

Saints managed their best-ever Barclays Premier League finish last season but, after months of speculation, will be now looking for a new manager after Pochettino signed a deal until 2019 to succeed Tim Sherwood in north London.

"This is a club with tremendous history and prestige and I am honoured to have been given this opportunity to be its head coach," Pochettino told Tottenham's official website. "There is an abundance of top-class talent at the club and I am looking forward to starting work with the squad."

Pochettino added: "Tottenham Hotspur has a huge following across the world and I have great admiration for the passion the fans show for this team. We are determined to give the supporters the kind of attacking football and success that we are all looking to achieve."

Pochettino had a year remaining on his deal at St. Mary's and has taken with him assistant manager Jesus Perez, first-team coach Miguel D'Agostino and goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez.

It is unclear what those appointments mean for Spurs' existing backroom team, while there have been reports questioning the future of technical director Franco Baldini.
What is certain, though, is that Pochettino will be charged with securing Spurs a top-four finish by ambitious chairman Daniel Levy after a disappointing campaign, in which a flurry of summer signings failed to gel.

"In Mauricio I believe we have a head coach who, with his high energy, attacking football, will embrace the style of play we associate with our club," Levy said. "He has a proven ability to develop each player as an individual, whilst building great team spirit and a winning mentality. We have a talented squad that Mauricio is excited to be coaching next season."

Pochettino's Southampton future has been in doubt since the January departure of divisive executive chairman Nicola Cortese, having last summer claimed he would follow the Italian out of the club should he leave.

The former defender did stay on at Saints after Cortese exited but only for a matter of months, with the club concluding negotiations with Spurs on Tuesday after accepting his resignation.

Malky Mackay, Steve McClaren, Murat Yakin and Michael Laudrup are amongst the early frontrunners to replace Pochettino, while the departure will see speculation intensify over the future of Southampton's players.

Highly-rated teenager Luke Shaw and playmaker Adam Lallana have attracted interest from Manchester United and Liverpool respectively, while Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Jay Rodriguez have also been linked with a move away.

Get the latest rumors as the biggest clubs try to bolster their rosters.
Last month executive director Les Reed said the club's intention was to keep their star players but Pochettino's exit will make that harder, while also heaping the pressure on the recently-formed board, headed by chairman Ralph Krueger, to make a statement.

"The club has been on a constant path of growth since the arrival of Markus Liebherr in 2009," Kruger said in a statement on www.saintsfc.co.uk.

"This growth took place before Mauricio came, it continued strongly under his leadership, and it will continue into the next season.

"The board's job is to find opportunity in this challenge and to continue to move the club forward.

"We have begun the search for a new high-calibre manager. We will be looking for a manager that shares our values, our principles and our philosophy.

"A manager who can continue to grow the first-team and build on our strong foundation - a foundation led by an ambitious vision and plan that continues to build on our world-class academy, our amazing 129-year heritage and our excellent staff, and rewards our loyal and passionate fan base."

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/mauricio-pochettino-named-as-the-new-tottenham-head-coach-052714

https://i.imgur.com/Jkr19dw.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mXp_UjuM4-4/U4Oxq7DCisI/AAAAAAAAAaM/znfvhCJxbLg/w504-h283-no/lamela_pochettino.gif

Yeah well, I don't think this is a good appointment.

Is it just me or is there a lack of convincing managers out there?

I think it was the right time to leave Southampton, because it looks like they're about to sell some of their important players, but is Spurs the right team for Pochettino? I'm not sure. I do think he is a good manager though.

This is actually great news for Spurs. Lamela and Eriksen should both flourish under Poch. Even Soldado has a chance ffs.

Art Morte wrote:Yeah well, I don't think this is a good appointment.

Is it just me or is there a lack of convincing managers out there?

Why? Elaborate please.

I think they couldn't take of better than him among managers linked to Tottenham , better than de boer or allegri

interested to see what he can do with the financial backing of Levy and the players they already have at spurs.

Top 4 could be very interesting with LVG and Pochettino in the picture now

jibers wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Yeah well, I don't think this is a good appointment.

Is it just me or is there a lack of convincing managers out there?

Why? Elaborate please.

What did he really do at Southampton? Came in in January 2013 when they were doing fine anyway and almost all the players who made the team great this season were already there. The record signing they made under Pochettino was Osvaldo who was a poor choice, already shipped out on loan and the club desperate to sell. Before his Southampton gig was sacked from his only previous managerial position at Espanyol with the club bottom of La Liga. This guy got lucky to be given the Soton job and didn't exactly have to pull off Tony Pulis kind of magic in that job.

Art Morte wrote:Is it just me or is there a lack of convincing managers daft enough to want to go to Spurs out there?

Now you're correct.

Art Morte wrote:

jibers wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Yeah well, I don't think this is a good appointment.

Is it just me or is there a lack of convincing managers out there?

Why? Elaborate please.

What did he really do at Southampton? Came in in January 2013 when they were doing fine anyway and almost all the players who made the team great this season were already there. The record signing they made under Pochettino was Osvaldo who was a poor choice, already shipped out on loan and the club desperate to sell. Before his Southampton gig was sacked from his only previous managerial position at Espanyol with the club bottom of La Liga. This guy got lucky to be given the Soton job and didn't exactly have to pull off Tony Pulis kind of magic in that job.

If it weren't for his "style" (i.e, out-pass the opposition then get beaten) there wouldn't be half the plaudits for the man as there seems to be. Some notable scalps here and there, but win % is nothing to write home about, big money blown on poor signings, results up-and-down and unpredictable, and faded quickly after a speciously encouraging start to the season.


Actually, maybe he won't be so out of place at Spurs after all...

Think he'll do great things.

I'm new #1 fan of Pochettino.

Shed wrote:If it weren't for his "style" (i.e, out-pass the opposition then get beaten) there wouldn't be half the plaudits for the man as there seems to be. Some notable scalps here and there, but win % is nothing to write home about, big money blown on poor signings, results up-and-down and unpredictable, and faded quickly after a speciously encouraging start to the season.

Says the biggest Michael Laudrup fanboy ever

Southampton's failings this season were largely due to a lack of depth, particularly in defence. When Jos lolwhatsdefending Hooiveld sees even a minute on the pitch, there's not much you can do. Soton were figured out to an extent when teams began to attempt to simply bypass their defensive press by going over the top of the high line, which proved particularly devastating when their first choice backline was not available, however 8th was hardly a disastrous campaign. Playing an energy intensive game with a very young and very thin squad is always going to lead to lapses and troughs in performance. This is not to say that he is guaranteed to be able to translate these positive moments into consistency with Spurs' squad, however he deserves this chance.

Given Tottenham's tendency to sabotage their own project it wouldn't surprise me to see him out of a job at the end of the next year, however he's a sensible choice and given the limited options available to Spurs, probably the best they could hope for.

P.S. Fitty

And the laundry list of managers at Spuds continues

Southampton are done.

Lambert and Lallana going to pool
Shaw and Clyne going somewhere else

It's over.

Betty La Fea wrote:Southampton are done.

Lambert and Lallana going to pool
Shaw and Clyne going somewhere else

It's over.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/016/574/kden.PNG

^ Lol.

As for Pocahontas, how's he playing any different to AVB?

He plays a high line and the only reason he's looked some what decent is because Eriksen and Lamela have settled more. lmao

Yeah, I haven't seen anything special about Tottenham, but Pochettino is doing OK. Kane has been a revelation.

Btw, Tottenham's last six wins the Prem have all been 2 - 1 wins.

fatman123 wrote:

Betty La Fea wrote:Southampton are done.

Lambert and Lallana going to pool
Shaw and Clyne going somewhere else

It's over.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/016/574/kden.PNG

Yeah, I was wrong.

They kept Clyne, and made some great signings around him.

Don't think Tottenham are doing much better under Poch than they have done with AVB/Sherwood, but he does bring a longer term plan in which I think Tottenham have been improving over the season, and hopefully that continues.

I think his success has mostly come out of using a consistent lineup of Striker (now it seems he will stay with Kane, which is good) with Chadli-Eriksen-Lamela underneath, in which all three are able to interchange and play more fluid, technical football, which didn't happen under AVB's rigid system and under Sherwood's tactical...ineptness.

Tottenham's passing has improved imo and I'm seeing more confidence from Spurs due to it, and I enjoy this. One touch passing and movement has improved.

At the same time I think defense has digressed ever since AVB left (tbf AVB did sacrifice offense for his defense), and Sherwood nor Poch have fixed it. I think this is partially because Rose and Walker suuuck, at least defensively, and Fazio and Vertonghen are merely good players.

One would think this weakness might be covered up by Poch's high press system but a high press system that legitimately works is yet to be put in place. It realistically only works in spurts in the game right now.

Overall I see some things that please me but defense hasn't improved and it's holding Tottenham back. He needs more time to address issues like the defense and central midfields with transfers. The team lacks consistency though. The biggest reason Tottenham hasn't really performed that much better is because part of the time they look good and the other part of the time they're absolute shite, and a disorganized mess.

Well looking back at my last post I can respond to some of my points a little less than a year later that should sum up my current thoughts on Poch

1) I feel a bit more vindicated in saying that Poch did bring a longer term plan, and I think we're really starting to see that right now. Dele Alli and Eric Dier are currently the starting CM and DM for Spurs and are 19 and 21, respectively. Bentaleb was getting minutes too before he got injured. Lamela is finally starting to look like the player Spurs bought from Roma, Eriksen is continuing to thrive, and Kane is now a bonafide superstar and one of the best talents in the league. Younger talents like Josh Onomah and Pritchard have seen some time (albeit very little, it says something) and even Ryan Mason is getting minutes in this Poch squad. Spurs is the youngest squad in the PL and they're shining under Poch's watch.

The passing has indeed improved and looks good at times. Never been Arsenal level but it's at an adequate level for Spurs and the possession system is working. Good to see this trend has continued.

The defense on the other hand has seen a complete revitalization. Rose looks like a much better player than he used to be, Walker is still...Walker, but Jan and Toby look like rocks at the heart of the defense and Dier's mopping up in midfield helps. Best defense in the EPL right now I think, Poch's improvements on defense since last year are fantastic.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this Spurs team is finally starting to look like that--a team. Not a couple game changers like Kane, Eriksen and Lloris and occasionally Lamela picking up the slack while the rest of the team attempts to be cohesive. Spurs look a lot different, a lot more cohesive, a lot more of a unit and while I don't think that they're good enough for fourth quite yet, it may happen. The team that's doing this is so incredibly young, too.

Really happy with Poch and Spurs current direction.

This should've been posted here:

In the end it all comes down to if Poc can win a trophy or two Or finish in top 4 for two seasons at least ! Otherwise whatever work he has done at the club, all be for nothing and we will say Spurs are where they were before.

Should he go to madrid if rafa gets sacked?