Tottenham dismantling of Borussia Dortmund was a reminder that it's no wonder that if/when he chooses to leave Spurs, he will be able to pick exactly where he wants to go next.
The Manchester United hierarchy are obviously already fully aware of Pochettino, talents and Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain have also been credited with interest , but after watching Ole Gunnar Solskjaer demonstrate his limitations Tuesday against PSG, then comparing that with what happened at Wembley on Wednesday, you can see why they're not rushing to give the Norwegian the permanent job.
When the Tottenham team to face Dortmund was announced, there was a degree of head-scratching, and questions were posed. Four centre-backs? Had Pochettino gone full Tony Pulis? Serge Aurier marking Christian Pulisic? Given six of the previous seven goals conceded by Dortmund were from crosses into the box, why wasn't Fernando Llorente starting"
This season alone he has conjured a match-winning player from the husk of Moussa Sissoko, made a gritty holding midfielder out of Harry Winks, lost about a third of his side goals through injuries to Harry Kane and Dele Alli and still found a way of winning games. There was even a moment there when it looked like he would try to reclaim the wreck of Georges-Kevin Nkoudou.
This time, the conjuring trick was to make a left wing-back out of Jan Vertonghen. The Belgian, a centre-back who's occasionally persuaded to play as a full-back, looked like a dog let off his leash as he merrily gambolled down the wing, loving a role he quite probably never knew he wanted to play. He provided the perfect cross for Son Heung-Min to open the scoring, then later arrived with impeccable timing from the same flank to force home the second goal. Job done.
After the game, Pochettino was keen to direct praise toward his players; not necessarily out of false modesty, but probably because he knows how transient these things are.
The, 3-0; maybe everyone says fantastic, he said. If a different result, maybe not. If we win I'm not a genius, but if we lose it's not a disaster. My players are heroes.
Pochettino is the real thing. A proper coach, a managerial grown-up one who might sometimes be dissatisfied with the tools available to him, but proactively thinks of the best way to use them rather than complaining excessively.
Football is a sport where everyone gives an opinion, Pochettino said. It's my job to prepare the strategy, pick the XI. Everyone can have their opinion, but in the end only we know, only we can measure the level of the player, what we want to do in every game. Our feelings, our intuition, our knowledge. We have all the information to take the decisions.
It's tempting to wonder what Pochettino could do at a club without Tottenham, financial constrictions. But for as long as he is the man making those decisions, those constraints barely seem important.
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