what to expect from Pochettino at Paris Saint-Germain

Almost two decades ago, on January 26, 2001, Argentine central defender Mauricio Pochettino went from Spanish Espanyol to French Paris Saint-Germain, where there were no sheikhs and multi-million dollar salaries, but there were already great ambitions. For two and a half years in Paris, Pochettino won only one Intertoto Cup in 2001, and in the summer of 2003 he went to Bordeaux for a new challenge in his career.

More than 17 years have passed since then. Much has changed: Pochettino has been working as a coach since 2009, and Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020 reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in history, where they lost minimally to Bayern Munich and now reasonably feels a surge of strength to fight for the trophy again.

The removal of German Thomas Tuchel from the PSG coach position is seen as a rather controversial decision by the Parisian leadership, but this has already happened and therefore there is no point in discussing what cannot be corrected. But Pochettino’s upcoming appointment to the vacant position is cause for a much more interesting conversation. It seems that the ambitions of Mauricio and Paris Saint-Germain coincide again, and therefore together they will try to achieve a great success, which the coach, for various reasons, could not win at Tottenham, and the Parisian club did not receive from Tuchel.

More than 13 months have passed since Pochettino lost his job at Tottenham. That decision by the spurs bosses seemed ruthless, but the current desire of the PSG leadership to part ways with Tuchel probably even overshadowed the Argentine’s controversial departure from London. Tottenham fans for the most part adored Pochettino, so now they and many other fans of Mauricio’s coaching talent should be satisfied, because their favorite is to return to active work. Furthermore, in the capital of France, Pochettino will have the opportunity to work with star footballers of our time such as Kilian Mbappé, Neymar, Mauro Icardi, Angel Di Maria …

And the first thing that will be very interesting to see is how Pochettino will get all these elite footballers to play the kind of football that the Argentine mentor preaches. Mauricio loves it when all the players on his team put energetic pressure on the opponent, giving themselves as much as possible on the field. In addition, the Argentine coach was very satisfied with the way Dele Alli played for him at Tottenham, whose main positive quality Pochettino called charisma. There will be even more such players at Paris Saint-Germain, and first of all, Mauricio will have to find a common language with the proud Neymar and the incredibly talented Kilian Mbappé, who, being the stars of the first magnitude, probably already have their own opinions about football and, more importantly, about it. situations, your role in the current team.

Pochettino’s predecessor, Thomas Tuchel, managed to establish good contact with at least Mbappé. It is not surprising that after the news of the German coach’s departure, he wrote the following on his social network page: “Unfortunately, this is the law of football, but the time you spent here will not be forgotten. You have written a wonderful line in the history of the club, and I thank you, coach. “

But with Paris Saint-Germain officials, especially with Brazilian sports director Leonardo, Tuchel did not get along, and that is what Pochettino must take into account. Already in October, information appeared about the discontent of the German coach over the fact that in the summer transfer window the Parisians did not sign Luis Suárez and Antonio Rudiger, whom the coach was eager to see among their positions. The position of PSG was motivated by the decision of Leonardo, who did not consider these players necessary to strengthen the current squad.

Tuchel, who had previously paid with his job at Borussia Dortmund for accidentally texting the club’s sporting director, Michael Zork, to Zork himself, it is rumored that he did not even write Leonardo’s number in the phone book for something Similar does not happen again in Paris. But the Brazilian official himself publicly criticized Tuchel’s work, launching a countdown of the coach’s stay at the club: “I and the PSG management did not like Thomas Tuchel’s statements about our work in the transfer market. We want to work with people who are happy to be at PSG. If you decide to stay, respect the club’s decision. Given the current context, this is more than strange on Tuchel’s part. “

Obviously, in the event of a Champions League victory, things could have been different for Tuchel. In the eyes of the club’s owners, he might as well have turned out to be a more valuable figure than Leonardo, but in the end, the bosses trusted the Brazilian, and the German was sent home. And Pochettino will have to immediately become actively involved in building connections in the club and the team, acting as a conduit of leadership ideas between the players and trying to convey the opinion of the players themselves to the minds of the bosses.

You must understand that Pochettino’s legacy is very restless. There is constant uncertainty in the club about the future of the main protagonists Neymar and Mbappé, whom the “powerful of this world” constantly want to get into their ranks. Furthermore, Paris Saint-Germain have already lost 4 games this season, which is more than in the entire previous championship. In addition, the players of the Parisian team managed to receive 36 yellow and 5 red cards after the results of the initial 17 matches, while for the 38 rounds of the last championship they had 50 mustard plasters and only 1 red card.

Discipline is exactly what Pochettino will likely start to build his team on in Paris. Their intense training at Southampton and Tottenham was the talk of the town in the English press, but it was they who allowed Pochettino’s teams to act more cohesively on the pitch and physically maintain the pace dictated by their opponents. Putting things in order at Paris Saint-Germain in the shortest possible time will be a completely solvable task for Pochettino, and Mauricio is also ideal for a “long game”.

Obviously, the Qatari owners of Paris Saint-Germain will be able to provide Pochettino with the necessary funds to sign at least the basic players that will be necessary for the Argentine’s conceptual model. Also, Pochettino is not famous for such a difficult character as Tuchel, so it should also be much easier for him to get along with Leonardo. In the end, at Tottenham, the Argentine coach worked several transfer windows without signing the newcomers, constantly managing to solve the tasks assigned to him.

It is true that in order to make a qualitative leap, and not the gradual progress that Pochettino can provide Paris Saint-Germain over long distances, the Parisian club will have to shell out very expensive recruits. Who would Mauricio want to sign in the next two transfer windows? It seems we can safely highlight the following four names:

– Dele Alli: The 24-year-old midfielder is now at the bottom of Tottenham because of a bad relationship with José Mourinho. Another thing is that with Pochettino, this footballer was always very important for Spurs, and that is why it is not surprising that rumors are now being sent, along with Mauricio, to the capital of France and Dele Alli;

– Christian Eriksen: The Dane spent the best years of his career at Tottenham under the leadership of Pochettino. In the Spurs field, Eriksen managed to reach the highest level, but now at Inter he is in the same situation as Dele Alli at Tottenham. We can say that Eriksen is incredibly toxic to the “Nerazzurri” and therefore they won’t mind getting rid of the troublesome asset. On the other hand, for Pochettino, Eriksen can be the one who effectively connects the midline with the attack, and helps in the shortest possible time to implement the principles of the Argentine coach in the rest of the team;

– Jan Oblak: Already now the PSG bosses must decide the successor to Keylor Navas, 34, who has not shown his best football in recent years. Not surprisingly, there have already been rumors about the willingness of the Parisians to sign the Slovenian goalkeeper from Atlético, Jan Oblak, who has a very “fat” contract in Madrid, which has a burdensome effect on the budget of the “mattress” club ”. The same clouds at PSG are waiting to be seduced by the opportunity to regularly lift various trophies over their heads;

– Lionel Messi: The star of the current “PSG” Neymar, with his recent post, moved the public by the possible transfer of Lionel Messi to the field of Parisians. Considering the summer burofax and the Argentine’s desire to prove himself at another club, it is quite possible to imagine that next summer PSG will seriously compete for the right to sign Messi, and it is unlikely that Pochettino will leave the opportunity to work with a star compatriot, finding a common language with which he is not. it should be a big problem.

Be that as it may, but Mauricio Pochettino’s return to active work looks promising not only for Paris Saint-Germain, but for all of European football. The Argentine is really one of those coaches of our time who are capable of building a clear system that can then work and give results for several years. And this is exactly what the rich owners of Paris Saint-Germain are fighting for, and for the absence of which Pochettino wanted to leave Paris 17 and a half years ago …

Alexey SHATILOV