Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino facing biggest task yet... but will he be around to lead revival?

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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP2 October 2019

A night which briefly promised to be the definitive turning point in Tottenham’s season ended with Mauricio Pochettino at a crossroads.

The Spurs manager has spent five years turning water into wine but for the first time he must be seriously ­wondering if he has the energy, means and desire to continue performing miracles after the biggest ever home defeat by an English team in Europe, a 7-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich.

The inquest into the worst result of Pochettino’s tenure, certainly since the 5-1 at Newcastle on the final day of

the 15-16 season, began immediately, when the Tottenham players locked themselves in the dressing room while the Argentine conducted his post-match media duties.

Senior players Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and Danny Rose are sure to have had their say on an embarrassing collapse which leaves Tottenham’s Champions League hopes in the balance but could have far more searing implications for the future of the club.

Pochettino took charge of the post-mortem on Wednesday, addressing his squad at the training ground, and ultimately it is the manager, rather than his players, who must answer the searching questions and lead the recovery.

Pochettino was remarkably measured afterwards, highlighting the freak nature of the scoreline as Bayern fired shot after perfect shot past Lloris.

But this was Spurs’ 17th defeat in 36 matches and not an entirely unexpected consequence of facing a European superpower while in a state of decline.

For all of Bayern’s brilliance — particularly former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry who scored four times on a triumphant return to north London — the manner of Spurs’ humiliating capitulation, the way the players downed tools in the final 10 minutes, gave the conclusion of an ‘end of days’ feel. Pochettino cut a haunted figure on the touchline as the stadium emptied around him.

It is now abundantly clear that there are long-term, deep-rooted problems at the club that cannot be solved by the close of the transfer window, a stirring Pochettino speech or a backs-to-the-wall win over Southampton.

As the manager predicted in the summer, there is a ‘painful’ rebuild ahead and, in the meantime, this season may become a fractious year of transition.

Pochettino took charge of the post-mortem on Wednesday
AFP/Getty Images

“I told you many months ago it was going to be a tough season,” Pochettino said on Tuesday.

“After the Champions League Final, it was a chapter closed and now the club is in a period that it needs to open another chapter and design a project for the medium- and long-term.

“It’s like I always told you. This defeat is not going to change my opinion.”

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, impassive as ever at the final whistle on Tuesday, is unlikely to dismiss his most successful and longest-serving manager and the bigger question is to whether Pochettino has the appetite for the task ahead. He revealed he felt “like [I was] depressed” in the wake of the Champions League Final defeat by Liverpool in June and his public appearances since have continued to suggest a troubled psyche, with contradictory and often cryptic messages hinting at a power struggle with Levy and profound unease with the “different agendas” in his squad.

Pochettino’s post-match machismo did, however, suggest he wants to continue the fight — and the way Spurs played in the opening 35 minutes, all relentless pressing and incisive forward passing, suggests the manager can still coax brilliance from this group of players.

“After 30 minutes, it was my best feeling in managing this team this season,” he said. “The team in the end was like ‘the game is lost’ and we concede or they were very clinical. In this type of situation, you need to show your quality as a man first, before facing it like a professional.

“Now we need to be men and face this problem and stand all together and bounce back and change those feelings. We need to give the credit to them. For us, we need to move on.”

Pochettino’s tenure at Tottenham has been defined by constant and steady progress. Even last season, when their league form collapsed from February, the dreamlike run to Madrid was evidence of continued development.

It is this sense of constantly inching forward, step-by-step, that has seemed to bind Pochettino and his players together, keeping them committed to the project and his philosophy. A night which might have been another unforgettable Champions League occasion ended as memorable for all the wrong reasons and made it plain that Spurs cannot expect to continue moving forward until a catalogue of issues have been addressed.

It will be Pochettino’s toughest challenge yet, if he chooses to accept it.

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