Emile Heskey believes Roberto Martinez may be a poor fit for the Tottenham Hotspur job despite an attractive style of football that would make him a popular choice among supporters, speaking exclusively to HITC.
Talk about night and day.
After 18 months withering under the Sith Lord gaze of Portugal’s answer to Emperor Palpatine, you’d imagine that the affable, friendly-faced Roberto Martinez would be welcomed with open arms by some members of the Spurs squad.
Martinez and Jose Mourinho are hardly peas in a managerial pod.
A thoroughly likeable man, the former Wigan Athletic and Everton manager is one of football’s good guys.
He is no pushover though; you don’t command a dressing room containing the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard without boasting your fair share of tactical acumen and canny man-management skills.
Martinez is due to lead Belgium out at this summer’s European Championships but, according to the Mail, the 47-year-old is pining for the day-to-day hustle-and-bustle of club football with Tottenham potentially set to offer him a third spell in the Premier League.
Jose Mourinho out, Roberto Martinez in?
But while Martinez’s free-flowing approach would be well-received on the terraces after the tooth-pulling pragmatism of the Mourinho era, not everyone is convinced.
“From a technical side of it, yeah, he plays the sort of expansive football Tottenham fans want to see,” says Heskey, the former Liverpool and England striker.
“Will he win stuff? Well, he won the FA Cup with Wigan so he’s got that pedigree, as such. But I’m not sure if he’s the right guy to take such a big squad with big names etc and really push them and make them better.
“He’s done it with the national team but that’s once a month! You’re not working with them week-in, week-out, day-in, day-out. You don’t know your traits like you would do if you were working with them all the time.
“Football-wise, it’s a good fit because of the expansive football that he plays. But I’m not sure about the other side of it, the off-field stuff as well.”
Graham Potter, like Martinez, has plenty of admirers in the Tottenham boardroom and beyond.
And, like Martinez, Potter has Brighton playing the sort of progressive, forward-thinking football that would, in theory at least, suit Tanguy Ndombele, Gio Lo Celso, Heung-Min Son and co down to the ground.
Heskey, however, believes that the concerns hanging over Martinez can also be applied to Potter.
“I like Potter, I like the way that he plays. The only concern I have is not so much the playing style, it’s dealing with those players. And who is going to have enough background to put them in their place and really get them onside?” Heskey adds.
“When you’re telling certain players who have been there a while and are playing international football regularly to start doing this and doing that… it can be tough.”
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