Grading Mauricio Pochettino on Tottenham's 2015/16 Season

The appointment of a relatively little-known Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham's new head coach in 2013 was greeted with apprehension by the majority of the club's supporters. 

The more strongly felt emotion at that time was disappointment at missing out on Louis van Gaal who had instead opted to take charge at Manchester United. 

Other candidates like Roberto Martinez and Ajax boss Frank de Boer also seemed preferential to the Argentinian who had, to be fair to him, won plaudits for securing Southampton's place in the Premier League. 

Of Van Gaal, De Boer, Martinez and Pochettino, only the Argentinian remains in his job two years later. 

When Pochettino replaced the hugely popular Nigel Adkins on England's south coast, he was viewed with suspicion. 

Lifting Saints' aspirations from survival to the European places won him the attention of Daniel Levy, and he was handed a five-year contract to move to north London. 

That the notoriously trigger-happy Levy was willing to commit to Pochettino's vision over the long term suggested he had finally found a manager he truly believed in. 

Pochettino's predecessors like Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas and Martin Jol were all kept on relatively short leashes. 

The club have been rewarded with genuine, observable progress that has, ahead of schedule, delivered Champions League qualification and the highest finish in decades. 

He has recently been rewarded with an enhanced contract through 2021, reportedly worth over £27 million. 

If he remains at the club until the end of this new contract, Pochettino will become Spurs' fourth-longest serving manager—second only to Bill Nicholson in the post-war era. 

It can be difficult to quantify a manager's influence on their team's successes or failures. Fortune can play a hugely influential role.

Despite that, Pochettino's team have evidently evolved under his guidance and come to embody many of his personal qualities. 

They are now a reflection of their shrewd, energetic, aggressive and occasionally cynical manager. 

In an era where few Premier League teams genuinely have a personality, Spurs inarguably do, and that has carried them to great heights. 

The simplest metric by which we measure managers is matches won and lost.

Rui Vieira/Associated Press

By that yardstick, Pochettino enjoyed a fine season and now sits fifth on the club's all-time managerial win- percentage list.  

On the other side of the scale, Spurs exited the three cup competitions in rather disappointing fashion. 

The home reverse to Arsenal in the third round of the League Cup was galling but probably featured Federico Fazio's final appearance in a Spurs shirt. There are silver linings to even the darkest of clouds. 

Their FA Cup run also ended meekly with defeat to eventual finalists Crystal Palace in the fifth round. 

Alan Pardew's side met meagre opposition in the next two rounds before facing Van Gaal's Manchester United at Wembley. So Spurs' exit seems like a missed opportunity to end what is becoming a long trophy drought. 

Those two slips and the deliberate surrender to Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League must count against Pochettino despite his obvious successes. 

To be fair to Pochettino, the Premier League title pursuit was the primary focus this season. 

While Spurs did fall short, they went closer than 18 other teams in hunting Leicester City. 

To even be involved in a title race represents an immense step forward for Tottenham, and that progress must obscure any other shortcomings of their 2015-16 campaign. 

Pochettino took a teenager who had never played in the Premier League—an out-of-position centre-back and a striker without any genuine back-up and built a title contender. 

Dele Alli, Eric Dier and Harry Kane, respectively, are significant talents in their own right, but Pochettino got the best out of them in a fashion that heavily underscores his qualities as a manager.  

Tottenham's excellent season was capped off with an unpleasant collapse when they collected just two points from four games and let second place slip. 

The final-day disaster against Newcastle was the result of a scarcely recognisable team performance. It suggested the team's mentality, so crucial to their mostly impressive season, had abated. 

Rui Vieira/Associated Press

Whether a result of the failure to match Leicester in the title race or a natural relaxation at the end of the season with nothing of great significance on the line, it was a troubling final note to sound. 

Three times in the final four games, Spurs surrendered a lead that contributed to an overall narrative that they were especially vulnerable in that situation.

Across the season, Tottenham dropped more points than any other team in the division, according to ESPN FC's Dale Johnson. 

This and a perceived inability to regularly influence games from the substitute's bench do scuff Pochettino's record to an extent but leave no lasting marks. 

Ultimately, Pochettino would have assuredly won the Premier League Manager of the Year award if not for Leicester's improbable emergence. 

He took the youngest team in England's top flight to within touching distance of the title. So to award him with anything but the highest grade would be madness. 

Memories are short among football fans and often equally so among pundits. 

It is easy to forget Pochettino's position was considered to be under threat after a winless start to the season. 

The Guardian described his team as "lacking in heart" after a 2-2 draw with Stoke City in August. 

The fact Tottenham were widely derided for failing to win the league title after so underwhelming a start to the season must prove just how quickly they rose under Pochettino's guidance. 

The list of managers to which Spurs could upgrade from Pochettino is short and getting shorter. 

The man deserves a top grade and could soon deserve a statue.