Roberto Mancini: Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino Would've Been Killed in Italy
Italy national team manager and former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has said Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino would have been "killed" if they coached in Serie A, rather than at Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively.
Mancini spoke to Tutto Convocati (h/t Football Italia) and said Italian football lacks the patience for the steady construction both men are famed for and their lack of silverware would have cost them their job a long time ago:
"We exaggerate things in Italy. Let’s take this example: Pochettino has been at Tottenham for five years, he has a very good team. Tottenham have spent a lot and, in five years, still haven’t won anything. In Italy, they’d have already killed the poor man. Instead he’s still there, trying to improve the team every year so they can win things.
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"The Champions League isn’t so simple, otherwise we’d have won it so many times. It’s never easy to win. Klopp is another, he has been at Liverpool for three years but risks not winning anything, despite them having an exciting season."
Both Klopp and Pochettino have done fine work in the Premier League the last few seasons, despite not winning any trophies between them.
The former guided the Reds to the UEFA Champions League final last year and has them in the running to do so again in the 2018-19 campaign. Liverpool are also battling for the Premier League title, where they chase City by one point with two matches to play.
They have amassed an impressive 91 points in the English top division. According to Planet Football, no team has ever scored 90 points and not won the league.
In Europe, they ran into an unleashed Lionel Messi on Wednesday, losing 3-0 in the first leg of their semi-final tie. Klopp thought it was their best away performance, despite the scoreline:
Pochettino became Spurs manager in 2014, at a time when they were the clear third-best club in London behind rivals Arsenal and Chelsea. He gradually transformed the club, infusing the squad with plenty of youth and turning them into regular top-four contenders.
They finished ahead of Arsenal for the first time in 21 years in the 2016-17 campaign, and haven't finished behind them since. They pushed Chelsea for the title in 2016-17 and have been the best of the pack behind City and Liverpool this season.
According to the Argentinian, silverware is the logical next step for Spurs, per the Premier League Show (h/t BBC Sport):
Mancini managed City from 2009 until 2013, winning a Premier League title in 2012. City hadn't won the English top division since 1968.
He then spent time at Galatasaray, Inter Milan and Zenit Saint Petersburg, with mixed results, but has done fine work with the Italy national team. The Azzurri have won their first two UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers by a combined score of 8-0.
