Path's Not Been Smooth, but Tottenham Must Stay Patient with Mauricio Pochettino
There was a story stateside last week about a 100-year-old fan of the Oregon Ducks college (American) football team.
Ann Danby has been watching the university side for 70 years and has seen the good and plenty more bad of the programme. Speaking to ESPN's Chantel Jennings, she encouraged patience when evaluating the coaching and performance of a side who had just gone 4-8 (win-loss), two seasons removed from competing for the sport's national championship.
Goodness knows what 70 years and that kind of perspective in sports must feel like. The eventful almost seven months between Tottenham Hotspur's two matches with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2016 feels like it has been long enough.
The first of those games on May 1 saw Tottenham draw 2-2 with their London rivals, ending their Premier League title hopes. The second, this past weekend, saw Mauricio Pochettino's side lose 2-1, ending their unbeaten record and leaving them seven points behind the table-topping Blues.
Although obviously separated by a lengthy summer break, the period has been a reminder that hoped-for progression seldom stays on an upward trajectory. Achieving success does not run to a fixed, plannable schedule, certainly not anyway for a club lacking the financial clout to start from a more advanced position.
Despite their disappointing ending to last season, Spurs fans would be forgiven for thinking the only way was up under Pochettino's management.
The Argentinian was appointed boss in May 2014 and in his first season improved their final league position from sixth to fifth (albeit they accrued five fewer points than the previous year).
The team recorded some notable victories along the way against north London rivals Arsenal and eventual champions Chelsea, losing to the latter in the League Cup final after an enjoyable run. As Pochettino shaped and trimmed his squad, hints of the aggressive style he had implemented at Southampton were increasingly emerging in their play.
Earning that fifth place ahead of both a still-competitive Saints and a Liverpool team who had finished runners-up the season before was a nice confidence boost here. The added bonus of automatic qualification for the Europa League group stage allowed them a less complicated start to 2015-16, too.
They needed it given they began the campaign slowly. Things improved heading into autumn with a calculated, assertive 4-1 handling of title favourites Manchester City the first sign Pochettino might really be on to something.
From there, they pushed on into a two-way title race with Leicester City no-one anticipated.
The mix of experienced campaigners like Mousa Dembele and Hugo Lloris with hungry, young performers including Dele Alli and Harry Kane worked terrifically. Ultimately the team fell short—even dropping into third behind Arsenal after their spirit collapsed post-Chelsea—but there was a lot to be proud of and encouraged by.
It was on the combination of experience and youth that hopes for this season were, and still are, founded. That the same quality would still be there, just improved by the already talented youngsters developing even further (the aforementioned Ms. Danby would approve—she told Jennings the key for longevity is "don't think you're old. Think young.").
How does that old saying go? The one about if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.
Impinging realities have conspired to hurt Tottenham's good intentions.
Many of their key players, Dembele and Kane included, have missed matches through suspensions and injury. Meanwhile, Pochettino is still figuring out how to best incorporate his new signings—notably Vincent Janssen, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Moussa Sissoko—on a consistent basis.
Others in the Premier League and Champions League are not waiting for them to work things out.
In the former, Chelsea have adjusted impressively to their new boss Antonio Conte while Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all look revitalised, too. In the latter, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco proved better prepared for the tournament, eliminating their English group rival already.
After Chelsea, Pochettino was quick to try and ease the fears of any despairing fans. He told Tottenham's official website:
"We need to be calm. It's true we're out of the Champions League and that was tough. But the way we're competing, it's one defeat after 13 games and we're in a good position in the Premier League. Why be worried? I think we sometimes make problems bigger. We need to stay calm because the answer of the team was fantastic today.
"
He made some good points.
Despite the loss, there were indeed improved elements of the performance. The defence showed some heart after a dire display at Monaco, while the effort and coordination in Spurs' off-ball engagement of Chelsea was better than it had been in weeks.
As Pochettino also noted, his team remains in a healthy league position with the jam-packed Christmas and new year schedule offering them ample opportunity to improve it further. When they host Chelsea on January 4, it will be their seventh game of the festive fixture list (a Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow on December 7 the only interruption).
Yet even a good run of form heading into 2017 does not guarantee anything.
Right now Tottenham's rivals are looking stronger than last year. Keeping pace into the season's deciding weeks will likely require even better work than they produced last time.
What if they cannot?
The narrative of a club getting better and then winning something rarely plays out so simply (even if does in as startling a fashion as Leicester did in recent years, it can provoke others into a response).
Spurs could well finish below last season's third place, perhaps even out of the top four. Perhaps they finish third again but are never truly in contention for the championship. Would winning the FA Cup or Europa League (if they drop into that competition) be enough to compensate for a disappointing league campaign?
Last season has undoubtedly raised expectations. Pochettino has spoken in somewhat contradictory fashion about where he thinks they stand and what his ambitions are.
"Long term, yes—maybe we are a little bit in behind them now in the project," he said when asked if they could compete with Manchester City, a team they would beat 2-0 days later in the best performance of the season so far. "But I think that our expectation is long term to compete with all of the big clubs like City, United and Liverpool and different clubs."
Talking about the role of the redeveloped White Hart Lane in this project, the 44-year-old set his sights even higher.
"I think to build a new stadium and unbelievable training ground like we have is to set all the principles to be a big, big club. Our spirit and our ambition is to be one of the bigger clubs in the world, but for that you need time and a normal process."
His chairman Daniel Levy and the Tottenham hierarchy have notoriously allowed little leeway for ebb-and-flow in a team's position and status. Martin Jol is an example of that.
The first sign of trouble after two near-misses qualifying for the Champions League led to his dismissal in 2007. His successor, Juande Ramos, won the League Cup, but a dismal start to the following campaign cost him his job.
It is debatable whether Harry Redknapp could have taken the club further after his four seasons in charge. Andre Villas-Boas achieved a Premier League-era points high but lost trust soon after, while his replacement, Tim Sherwood, was always seemingly viewed as a place-holder.
It will be fascinating to see what any setbacks would mean for Pochettino.
This is a coach who has been linked with French and Spanish giants Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid during his time at Spurs, per Sky Sports and the Mirror's John Richardson, respectively. Getting rid of him after one below-par, not even disastrous year would be a mistake.
Given how well he has done so far, and the importance of a familiar, safe pair of hands guiding them through a year away at Wembley, a parting of ways seems very unlikely. He and his coaching staff agreed contract extensions in May so the intent to move forward as one is there.
But football can surprise you like that sometimes.
Rolling between highs and lows has the potential to impact players' happiness and form, too. Pochettino's reign has shown few, if any of his squad are guaranteed roles if they do not perform or live up to his standards (see the varying cases of the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason etc.).
Whatever is ahead, Pochettino and his Tottenham team are being given timely reminders they cannot afford to rest on their laurels. If they want to be great, they have to balance understanding what still works with striving to figure out what can make them better.
Realising this does not guarantee them anything. But even if it means taking some unplanned deviations, it should keep this still-talented group heading in the direction they want to go.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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