Grading Mauricio Pochettino on Tottenham's 2014-15 Premier League Season

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino did not care to expand too much on the worst moment of his 2014-15 Premier League season. But speaking prior to his team's final match, he was clear what it was.

"On the touchline, I remember very good my worst moment was one-nil down against Aston Villa," Pochettino recalled of a November match his team would go on to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Nacer Chadli and Harry Kane. "My worst moment was this day, I remember my feeling."

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Tottenham had picked up just four points from their previous seven league games. The situation was not dire (they were mid-table and doing well in the cups), but the mood was not good either. Pochettino's unpleasant remembrance of his feelings suggests he understood the potential for things to take a turn for the worse if they lost.

Grading Pochettino's first season in charge, it is important to remember how the difficult reality of trying to win games so nearly impinged on his grand plans for the club. How his team's mostly below-par performances in early autumn were frustrating supporters and leading to questions over the tactical and strategical decisions informing them. At this point, the season's brighter efforts and results—wins over Queens Park Rangers and Southampton, a respectable point at Arsenal—seemed far removed.

"Always you need time to develop your philosophy and the right profile for improving your game," he said on reflection in the aforementioned press conference. That was a challenge given the circumstances surrounding his arrival last summer, as he went on to explain:

"You need to understand when we arrived here was after the World Cup in Brazil, some players arrived one week before the start of the season and it was very difficult to do the pre-season. After we start to play in the Europa League every three days and how you improve your game or settle your philosophy, for that it is never easy.

"It wasn't easy, but today the main group understands us and shares our philosophy and shares our management, and for the future this is very important."

Pochettino wisely did not cite this reasoning so explicitly last autumn when Spurs were losing winnable games to the likes of West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United.

But while these defeats—as well as the period's nadir, a particularly poor performance in the 2-1 loss to Stoke City later in November—saw the Argentinian get things wrong in the present, it was a process that ultimately benefited the team. Crucially, he was perceptive enough to understand where changes had to be made to facilitate the short-term improvement that would ensure time for implementing his long-term vision.

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Preferring the more experienced but inconsistent Emmanuel Adebayor in favour of Kane was not an option after the latter's winner at Villa. As his strong cup performances indicated he might, Kane got hold of that game in a way Adebayor just did not. Something both of their performances in the season's remainder would back up.

At the back, captain, and the side's only regular defensive starter, Younes Kaboul could no longer be persisted with after a run of ineffectual displays. He gave way to the deployment of a Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen centre-back partnership that would see Spurs successfully through to the end of January.

Left-back Danny Rose being temporarily dropped gave him a kick up the backside that motivated him to greater things later on. Young midfielders Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason responded to the responsibility presented to them with more desire and energy than several of their more experienced, arguably more talented team-mates had showed.

Of course, all this did not automatically lead to a happy ending.

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The earlier realities of Pochettino figuring his side out gave way to later-season actualities. Highlighted by the struggle to deliver winning performances twice a week during a particularly intense February leading up to the Capital One Cup at the beginning of March (which Spurs lost 2-0 to Chelsea). He had to find new ideas and methods of motivation to counter opposition teams who had sussed them out and found new momentum of their own in the spring (see the losses to Manchester United and Aston Villa).

Kane was not the answer to all Spurs' problems during this period. Neither was defensive consistency nor a youthful midfield. The run handed to Eric Dier in central defence and sticking with Bentaleb and Mason, despite some lacklustre outings, did not pay off so well in the way related choices had over the turn of the year. But they were decisions that may reap their rewards down the line.

Had Spurs not won their last two matches to secure fifth place and a more palatable Europa League schedule for next season, the year might be viewed more negatively. However, all things considered, it was a solid overall performance from which the biggest takeaway might well be the moments that also hinted at this team's potential.

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Those also happened to be what Pochettino regarded as the best moments of his season.

"One was the first of January, 5-3 we beat Chelsea, another when we beat Arsenal," Pochettino fondly remembered of derby contests in which Spurs played with aggression and verve, combining individual brilliance with good organisation and collective positive play.

"Two very good games—this is the example we need to do next season to improve our game and to be more consistent. Two good examples to follow."

Whether Tottenham will truly follow them remains to be seen. But for now, they were promising enough indications that the surrounding growing pains of Pochettino's first season in charge do not tarnish the following grade as they otherwise might have.

Grade: B-

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.