Andros Townsend worked under Mauricio Pochettino during his early years at Tottenham Hotspur.
Andros Townsend has lauded Mauricio Pochettino for the ‘incredible’ work he did at Tottenham and claimed he doesn’t get ‘the credit he deserves’ despite the North London club being a ‘laughing stock’ prior to his arrival.
The now Crystal Palace player also claimed that he has ‘never worked as hard’ as he has done during Pochettino’s training sessions and his pitch sessions were an ‘eye-opener’ and ‘revolutionary’.
Whilst Townsend didn’t work with Pochettino during the entirety of his tenure at Spurs, he was there during the early years when the changes were happening.
Speaking to White and Sawyer on TalkSport (26/02/20 at 12:00 pm), Townsend heaped praise on his former manager and made a claim about training under the Argentine.
“People are so hung up on what trophies he has or hasn’t won,” Townsend told TalkSport. “But if you see, the day he joined Tottenham to the day he left, it’s incredible.
“The season before he joined, Spurs were a laughing stock. They were losing 5-0 to Liverpool, 4-0 to City, 4-0 to Chelsea. We were pretty much a laughing stock. And then five years later in the final of the Champions League.
“For some reason, he is still not getting the credit he deserves because he hasn’t won this trophy. For him, it was about the project and, for me, he completed that project
“I remember I had the same feeling [about thinking who Pochettino was at first]. But, the minute I worked with him, I knew he was the real deal. His training methods. I have never worked as hard as I have done under Pochettino. The Gym sessions are hard and the pitch sessions are definitely an eye-opener for me. It was revolutionary.”
Whilst that one trophy always eluded Pochettino, and what ended up being quite a magnificent Tottenham team, the job he did at the club was very impressive.
From the style of play, improving players who were previously struggling at the club like Danny Rose, bringing the best out of highly-rated talents at the time such as Dele Alli, and even having to work with a limited budget compared to their rivals.
In the end, a Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in Madrid was the game that started the road to Pochettino’s sacking.
Jose Mourinho will now be hoping to use that platform built to add trophies to Tottenham’s cabinet.
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