David Ginola said the Champions League final raised expectations of Tottenham.
Tottenham legend David Ginola says the Champions League final was the beginning of the end for Mauricio Pochettino at the club.
As per the Daily Mail, Ginola says that getting to the final came too soon for Spurs and raised expectations which led to the Argentine’s sacking earlier this season.
He said: “The worst-case scenario for Tottenham was to play in the Champions League final. It put them on a stage when they weren’t really there yet. That makes you a team people are going to expect great things from. They were too quick in getting to the final. You have to win things in your home country first before going abroad and winning trophies there.’
“It’s all about expectation. In a few games last year, they were very lucky. They started this season thinking ‘this year we have to do better’. If you have one bad result, people start thinking ‘what’s going on? We’re not playing the same way. Are the players concerned in the same way they were last year?”
Pochettino raised the prospect that he could walk away from the club after the final in June if Tottenham won it, which raised a few eyebrows at the time.
But he clearly knew this team was coming towards the end of its cycle and that it would be tough to go again, especially if Spurs scaled the mountain in Madrid.
The real problem was that the squad had not been refreshed for such a long time and instead of funding that, Daniel Levy gave his manager the bullet.
Will Jose Mourinho end up doing any better than Pochettino? It seems doubtful on the early evidence but perhaps if he stuck around for five years, he’d oversee the necessary overhaul. That would be out of keeping with Mourinho’s career so far however.
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