Mauricio Pochettino has never been a man to shy away from sharing his opinions on subjects, regardless of the topic.
Ask the Argentine a question, and you will usually get a thorough and honest answer, regardless of the consequences.
It’s why, for example, he’s never had any issue standing up and debating whether his time at Tottenham has been a successful one thus far.
On the one hand, most would say it is, pointing out how the 47-year-old has turned the club from also-rans to title contenders and Champions League finalists.
On the other, the naysayers will regularly point out that his lack of trophies with the club means he cannot be considered a success.
Pochettino isn’t interested in all that, though, insisting he and his team are not working to earn the recognition of others.
“We don’t let the fire go out. We don’t work thinking about what they (outsiders) will say,” he told Enganche Suplemento.
“We don’t work thinking of having a million followers on our Instagram. We work looking for happiness in our people and in ourselves. We do not need external recognition to be happy.
Unfortunately for Pochettino, the modern game moves quickly, and that means trophies are needed for any period at a big club to be considered successful.
He is yet to experience a trophy win during his time at White Hart Lane, with last summer’s defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League final the closest they have come to ending that record.
There have also been title and domestic cup near misses during his five years in London, with Spurs very rarely going about things the easy way. Pochettino, however, knows that success is not earned easily anyway.
“Winning is a consequence of the work done. Success does not fall from the sky and find you,” he added.
“It’s understandable that you can’t always win because there is also an undetermined percentage with different types of situations that occur in fortune, luck, or whatever you want to call it.
“But when you put energy, ability, passion, effort and love, and apply the logic that football is a game, it will give you more chances of being close to victory.
“Of course, I am worried about the path to victory. There is always a percentage, one, five or ten, in which it does not happen, but in seventy, eighty or ninety percent of cases the one that deserves it wins. This is so.”
