By Daily Sports on November 27, 2018

Just contrast the overriding feelings at two venerable stadia in England after about 90 minutes each of Premier League action last weekend.

At Old Trafford, the home of the great (or should I whisper “the once great”) Manchester United it was huge disappointment that was expressed in loud boos by United fans as they endured another dour damp squib of a performance from their team who were held to a 0-0 draw by struggling Crystal Palace.

A few hours later at Wembley Stadium it was heavy celebration ringing out after home side Tottenham Hotspurs outplayed and hammered visiting and then unbeaten Chelsea 3-1. 

Man United are struggling under Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho while Spurs are putting their off-field challenges behind them and have been tailored into a lethal entertaining machine under their Argentine boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Let’s cut to the chase. Man United should be seriously looking to poach Pochettino from Tottenham given the inability of Mourinho to seriously challenge for the title since he became manager of the Red Devil's and,  more damningly in my opinion, his failure thus far to unite the United team into a side focused wholy on winning games.

The baggage that always comes with a regularly moaning Mourinho is taking its toll on United and the players seem not to have the ability to fully concentrate on putting a steady winning performance that is befitting of the status of United.

Enter Pochettino. At Spurs he has simply become a legend already. A tactically astute manager that blends his tactical brilliance with a fantastic off-field managerial ability.

Look at the manner in which Spurs outfought Chelsea and how Pochettino got the better of Chelsea’s high and flying New manager Mauricio Sarri and you would get a picture of how good Poch is tactically.

Football writer Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph said of Spurs display against Chelsea: “I was very impressed with the way Pochettino set Tottenham up, he beat Sarri up on the day with his tactics.”

“Harry Winks on the bench, Juan Foyth instead of Jan Vertonghen – he could have brought Vertonghen straight back. He put Alli on to Jorginho and almost man marked him at times and that just worked amazingly.

“They let the ball go out to N'Golo Kante a lot when Chelsea were attacking and it just kept breaking down as his distribution is probably his weak point and they pinpointed that.

“And I just thought Pochettino got everything right and Sarri got everything wrong.”

Spurs have been, prior to Pochettino's arrival at North London, little more than a modest club with modest expectations. But Pochettino has got the club to a superb level, making them a super fit side, a solidly tactically flexible bunch of soldiers who are ready to give their all at all times for the manager and the club, and also largely humble group that know that there's still a lot of work to be done.

Manchester United would do well to go for a manager like Pochettino no doubt.

Of course there's this understandable concern regarding the fact that Pochettino has never won a major title as manager and there are some shades of doubts as to whether he could handle the pressure associated with handling a really big club the status of United. We may never know until he gets the opportunity.

But one thing is sure, there’s at best uncertainty about where this ride with Mourinho is headed and the less troubling uncertainty for United faithful could be to put their faith in a manager that has been a consistent achiever, making Spurs a regular now in the champions League.

Given Spurs low spending on players, it could have been easy to focus on that and allow it become a running theme in the season. But Pochettino commendably belongs to the dying breed of coaches who make good use of what they have instead of masking out millions of club owners cash on players who the club may end up not needing.

Man United hierarchy may have their faults in the considerable disarray that the club find themselves now, but I can imagine they must be drawing up plans for a possible move for a quality unifying manager and Pochettino could just be it.

United may have to act fast because another big club in world football are struggling badly and Pochettino may just be the man they will turn to soon.

•Photo shows Pochettino

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 27, 2018

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