Mauricio Pochettino has been taking part in a UEFA meeting of coaches held in Spain, which partly explains his reasons for travelling to the country at the weekend.
He didn’t need to go as early as he did, of course, and watching Atletico Madrid against Real Betis will have purely been a separate choice for Pochettino and the Spurs coaches who accompanied him.
At Monday’s meeting, Pochettino was happy to share his thoughts on football and knowledge of the game, and made it clear he doesn’t feel there’s only one way to play.
In an age that anything not deemed to be good football is somewhat ridiculed, the Spurs boss made his own thoughts clear, as quoted by Marca: “Nobody is the owner of the truth, nobody has created anything in this modern time. The trend of possession is very now. It seems that if you do not play from the back with the goalkeeper, then you do not play football.
“And in football everything must be worthy! I also love football with long balls, pressure, counter-attack, without forgetting the squad you have, and the ability to transfer our 
ideas as coaches to the team. For that you need good players.”
Pochettino will certainly feel he has good players at Tottenham right now, but, whatever he may say publicly, a frustration from a lack of business in the summer must exist.
That may change in January, and maybe had something to do with him watching Atletico against Betis.
