Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is the real deal. The mask doesn’t slip.
Each scratch beneath the surface brings more to be impressed with, and the Tottenham manager is something of a model of how being brave and doing things differently can help build a person both professionally and personally.
Pochettino has granted a lengthy interview to Argentina’s La Nacion, something which the newspaper explain was hard to arrange. Whilst the manager was happy to speak to La Nacion, it was difficult to find a time when he was available for a 2 hour slot, given that he arrives at Tottenham early in the morning and leaves late at night.
Aside from all the expected questions about managing Argentina, and the pressure on Lionel Messi, La Nacion pushed for some more revealing answers.
The newspaper wanted to know why, since Christmas 2012, Pochettino hasn’t returned to his hometown of Murphy, or Argentine at all, to visit the place, and his family. The Tottenham manager was very honest in his reply: “What’s strange…? What a difficult question… because I do not want to sound like I do not miss anything, but… What happens is that I came to Europe with my two months pregnant lady in 1994 and we really formed a family here. We are quite special, we made Barcelona our place in the world, with people who welcomed us and helped us a lot.”
Whilst Pochettino obviously has an extended family in Argentina, he explained he started a new family in Barcelona, eventually comprising of him, his wife, and two sons: “It made us mature and understand that this was our real family. Our parents, brothers and nephews too, of course, but the real family started in Barcelona. That’s how we set our minds. It doesn’t mean that we are cold, only that we are different in that: when we say the family, we are four. We have been more than 20 years alone in many places, in difficult and joyful moments. And then, when you ask me about my family, I look at my wife and my two children.”
Pochettino hasn’t left behind all of Argentina, with La Nacion saying the manager buys products like yerba mate and dulce de leche online. Yerba mate is a herbal drink popular in Argentina, Uruguay and beyond.
Pochettino’s other Argentine weakness isn’t healthy at all. Dulce de leche is a paste made from heating milk and sugar to form a caramel sauce. Now 44 years of age, La Nacion say Tottenham’s manager is trying to ration the treat, to avoid an expanding waistline.
Asked how he’d have like to manage himself as a player, Pochettino explained: “I do not know. I was not complicated… in some things yes. He was a respectful guy, and he valued a difficult job. Already at that time I realised that training and making decisions is very difficult, managing a group of 25 people who only think about themselves and their interests, where you have to manage egos, is not easy. The decision to choose only 11 in a squad of 24 is hard, I think it is the most difficult, because there is learning to live with that.
“Football is a game where you have to make a mistake, and who isn’t wrong doesn’t try. I always tell my players that I do not mind the mistake, I care if they do not try again. And you can go wrong 20 times, but try again. The error does not affect me at all.”
Arriving at Southampton, Pochettino couldn’t speak a word of English, so his wife and sons gave him a list of translated words like goal, referee, ball and pass. As he was getting used to the language, Pochettino also had to learn that the big money in the Premier League didn’t necessarily apply to his transfer budget.
“The wallet solves problems because it allows you to buy quality. Scenarios like Tottenham make you more creative. We have to evaluate the projects. I would love to work with Cristiano, with Messi, with Modric, Pique, Sergio Ramos, Lahm, Neymar, Suarez. With that kind of player much of your work would already be done.
“But if you are in Espanyol, where every six months you have to sell your best players and your only resources are in the academy, it is clear that I will adapt to that. If I go to Southampton and we have young people with great talent, and we can only sign one or two a year, I will take those young people forward.
“And if I come to Tottenham and I find a team that has to give a different character, and there are big players who are not going to adapt to the profile of what we want to create for the future, and yes we have kids from the quarry like Harry Winks or Joshua Onomah, or as they once were Harry Kane or Delle Ali, I also believe that it is the moment in which I live. It is the club, its project and the circumstances. Do I love working with young people? Of course. With experienced players? Yes, but as long as they are correct for the ongoing project.”
When Pochettino retired as a footballer, he didn’t take the route straight into management, educating himself and building a wealth of knowledge which is now helping Tottenham succeed.
A degree in business management not only allowed the Argentine to learn academically, but it surrounded him with non football people and a different perspective: “When the players are in the bubble we think we know everything. That pride makes us ignorant, and I say it with respect because I felt that way.
“When you play you think you can be a better coach than your coach… there is no limit to your pride. But then comes the harsh reality. When I finished playing, I was curious to see the real world and decided to go to a business school and behave like a fellow student, like those who came from Brazil, Mexico or were from Catalonia. I lived a wonderful year. The relationship with people different from the ones I had known in the last 20 years helped me to better understand society.”
La Nacion are clearly impressed with Pochettino, and it’s hard not to agree with them… Tottenham may just need to hide the dulche de leche though.
