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So with pochettino joining united looking more likely than ever, here’s an analysis of what he’s done, what he could do with us & how it could play out https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-united-news-pochettino-manager-19223901
Poch’s Southampton team were very good pressers & were able to beat bigger sides at home (city, Chelsea & Liverpool) within his first 5 months. He turned a side new to the PL into a team with future foundations for a EL campaign. He would often use a 433 or a 4231
One of Poch’s biggests strengths here was player development. He got a lot out of players many hadn’t seen as having a high ceiling, with Rodriguez, Lallana & Lambert getting England call-ups under him. Shaw was also named in the PFA TOTY in 13/14 before joining United.
However, a big criticism was that they were tactically inflexible, being dependent on a small group of players left them vulnerable to injuries despite having a good system. It could be argued that not being in Europe & their finances meant a ‘plan B’ may not have been needed
Pochettino gained a lot of his praise at spurs, with their style of play needing little introduction. His side became even more aggressive in the opposition half allowing them to inflict bigger scorelines on the opposition whilst retaining their defensive solidity.
Again, it could be argued that inflexibility make have cost Pochettino at times but his 343 during 16-17 meant they pushed Chelsea right to the end. However their big win v Madrid came with a 352. It’s also widely known Levy is recognised for low spending.
One argument I’d like to squash is about Poch is his big 6 away record one. Yes, it makes for poor reading but he has beaten city, Chelsea & united away in his time at spurs, with the club as a whole having 1 win at both anfield and the emirates since 2000 regardless (1/2)
It is very hard to win away to big teams regularly & they make up a small fraction of a 38 game season. This is 8 days old but we can still argue the importance of such wins, with Palace having more wins than us but never doing more than us in the league.
To conclude, Poch does have his flaws but many managers do & I feel his positives outweigh his negatives. He enabled spurs to even put themselves in conversation for trophies so now with more depth & money he should be able to win them. We could look like this under him
