Speaking on Sky Sports Monday Night Football, Mauricio Pochettino revealed that one thing ‘upset’ his Tottenham squad ‘every time’ it happened.
The Argentine told Jamie Carragher and David Jones: ‘It was a little bit of a shame. We were so upset every time we listened to some people say bad things about the Spurs mentality.’
It seems that comments about the north Londoners’ mentality really got under Pochettino and the players’ skin during his time at Spurs.
Tottenham unfairly picked up something of a ‘bottlers’ tag during the Argentine’s stint at the club.
Under his guidance, they lost the League Cup final to Chelsea and the Champions League final to Liverpool, while also losing out on the Premier League title to Leicester.
However, that doesn’t mean they were weak-minded – not by any stretch of the imagination.
In truth, some might argue that Pochettino’s early Tottenham team overachieved.
Youngsters at the time, such as Harry Kane and Dele Alli, helped lead an unlikely title charge for a squad possessing few household names.
The likes of Kyle Walker and Danny Rose – arguably two of the league’s best full-backs in that 2015/16 campaign – were developed by the club having arrived as youngsters.
Other lowkey names when arriving at Tottenham, such as Mousa Dembele, helped Pochettino nearly achieve history for Spurs.
Additionally, how can a side who defied the odds to reach the Champions League final in such extraordinary fashion be labelled as bottlers?
There is simply no way that anybody can say that Pochettino’s Tottenham side bottled anything.
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