Mauricio Pochettino is not the right man to take Arsenal forward.
I know for some my opinion on this will be contentious. However, it is based on sound reasoning and not purely tribalism.
Pochettino has won nothing despite having the tools to do so. The claims that Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal without winning anything is simply wrong.
Wenger won Ligue one and the Coupe de France with Monaco before he went to Japan and won silverware there. I have no idea why some claim that Wenger won nothing.
Pochettino reached multiple semi-finals and finals and lost them all. When it came to the crunch he was founding wanting.
Foundations laid by Harry Redknapp
It is correct that he made Spurs a regular top-four side but the foundations had been laid prior to his employment by no less than Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp took over the Tottenham role in 2008 when they had collected just two points from their opening eight games. They finished that season just out of a Europa League place. His second season he got Tottenham to fourth in the standings and a Champions League spot. His next season saw Spurs finish fifth and the season after that fourth again. However, they did not qualify for the Champions League due to Chelsea winning the trophy and taking Tottenham’s place as was the rules then.
The next season Redknapp got fired, mainly because of the England job speculation which resulted in a dip in form from that point onwards.
Pochettino then came in, he did not take over a team in trouble or struggling, he took over a team that reached the Champions League quarter-finals, that finished 4th, 5th, 4th in three of the four previous seasons.
The foundations had been laid and not enough credit is given to Redknapp for that.
This fallacy that Pochettino gives the youngsters a break is disingenuous at best. He was forced to play Harry Kane because of the awful form of Roberto Salado. It was not done by choice.
I could go on about his record of achievement but the brutal truth is that he won nothing and his team bottled it time and time again.
Yes, he played 48 games at Wembley, did not spend a penny in two seasons and maintained Tottenham as top-four contenders but not one of those excuses could be used this season, or for that matter, the end of last season.
No excuses this season
Spurs had their new stadium. They did bring in new players and yet with all that talent at his disposal, he could not arrest the decline. His first real big test and he flopped.
His ending at Tottenham is no better than that of Jose Mourinho at the end of his time at Man Utd. A team Mourinho won trophies with and yet to a lot of fans he is past it. Yet, Pochettino is the future. How does that make sense?
Both were unable to halt a slump, both lost the dressing room or at least fell out with senior players, both were sacked but only one of them actually won trophies. But Arsenal fans scream for the one that won nothing.
Then there is the petty reason given by some of the fans that it will annoy Tottenham fans. Well, how the hell is that enough of a reason but let’s stay with that for a minute. I have spoken with some Spurs fans and they simply do not care if he joins Arsenal, they see it as Arsenal taking a Spurs reject. Someone fired for not being good enough. Their attitude is that Arsenal is welcome to him. They have moved on and seem to be happy with the winner they now have in charge. That is what they tell me anyway.
And yes, there is some tribalism, I personally do not want a manger I believe is overrated and that was fired by Spurs. For me, there is far better out there.
A Benitez, Allegri, Simeone or Ten Hag would be a far more solid choice for me. But as I said right at the beginning, this is purely my own opinion.
That’s enough I think, however, please be polite with your responses.