Tottenham and Pochettino still in the wilderness
Ten years after Tottenham appointed Mauricio Pochettino, and five years after he was sacked, both club and manager are still looking for the right fit. Life has not turned out for the better. Will they ever get there without each other?
When Pochettino arrived in Tottenham in the summer of 2014, the club had not won a trophy in five years. They had sold their star assets Luka Modric and Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in successive summers. They had finished between fourth and sixth for some time but were not considered on par with Manchester United (remember the good times?) and the rest of the top, top clubs.
Did Pochettino change that? In his first season, they reached the League Cup final; then Tottenham finished third, second, and third again in the Premier League. But while Leicester had a miracle run, Tottenham could not piece it together. Maybe it was a case of right place, wrong time, as the core of Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min, and Harry Kane were all a few years from their prime.
Then Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola arrived on the scene, one to revive Liverpool and the other to build a dynasty at Manchester City, and it all got a lot harder. The 2019 Champions League final was the pinnacle of Pochettino’s tenure – they knocked out City, but Liverpool had lost the final in 2018 and were not to be denied again.
Six months later, Pochettino was sacked on the basis of poor league results. Tottenham have not finished in the top three since, while they lost another League Cup final in 2021. The squad had not changed much but Pochettino was long gone, and so was his successor Jose Mourinho, sacked just six days before the final. Would Tottenham have ended their trophy drought with either man at the helm? We will never know.
As for Pochettino, he soon landed the PSG job and won a few trophies, but will go down in history as the man who could not make the Messi, Neymar, Mbappe triumvirate work. A tumultuous season at Chelsea followed, and he now finds himself leading the United States national team to the 2026 World Cup.
Tottenham experimented with Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte before the Ange Postecoglou era started in 2023. The first step for any Tottenham manager is to win the North London derby; can Postecoglou celebrate for the first time (1D 1L in 2023/24) and which other games to enjoy over the weekend?
All times listed below are in Eastern European Summer Time (GMT+3).
Borussia Dortmund – Heidenheim
Friday 21:30
Dortmund have started the season strong defensively, with a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on MD1 followed by a 0-0 draw away to Werder Bremen. Incredibly, they are unbeaten in their last 36 Bundesliga home games on a Friday, a run dating back to 2004 (27W, 9D). But Heidenheim is also the only team in the Bundesliga that Dortmund have never beaten, as both games were drawn last season.
Heidenheim more than surpassed expectations on their Bundesliga debut, finishing eighth and reaching the Conference League. It is therefore time to get familiar with them as they currently also lead the Bundesliga (the 35th different team ever to do it), having won both games without conceding a goal this season. Furthermore, they have been fantastic away from home, with just one defeat in their last 11 games (4W 6D).
Tottenham – Arsenal
Sunday 16:00
Tottenham have not been up to scratch this season (1W 1D 1L), with their sole victory so far over an abysmal Everton side. But form books tend to go out the window when derby time rolls around, and last season, both head-to-heads featured plenty of scoring (2-2 and 2-3), penalties (one for both), and own goals (both conceded by Tottenham).
Looking at the larger picture, Tottenham has just one win from their last seven (1D 5L) vs Arsenal, a testament to the job Mikel Arteta has been doing since taking over at Arsenal. They have won nine of their last ten away league games (1D), keeping clean sheets in eight of them. But take note: Arteta could be missing up to six regulars, including Declan Rice (suspended) and Martin Odegaard (injured).
Atletico Madrid – Valencia
Sunday 22:00
Atletico are unbeaten in their last 13 home games vs Valencia (9W 4D), coincidentally aligning with the arrival of Diego Simeone at the helm. They have also kept a clean sheet in their last three La Liga matches as a strong start to the season sees them third, four points off a perfect Barcelona and on par with Real Madrid.
Valencia, amongst the frontrunners just 20 years ago, find themselves bottom of the table with just one point from four games. They are winless in their last 11 La Liga matches (3D 8L) dating back to last season, their worst run since 2016. They barely escaped relegation in 2022/23, finishing 16th – it could become their main goal for this season soon as well.
The Betis Babble
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Next game: Friday 22:00 vs Leganes
Things are not looking good for Betis either. A 0-2 loss to Real Madrid might not have shock value, but it leaves Betis with two points and just one goal scored from three games. They are now winless in their last six La Liga games (4D 2L), the seventh would equal their worst run since 2016.
They have generally been efficient against Leganes at home with six wins from their last seven meetings, but Leganes have notably upped their away game recently, going undefeated in their last five La Liga games (2W 3D).
