Former Tottenham striker Darren Bent spoke on talkSPORT about ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine took over Tottenham in the summer of 2014 and transformed the North Londoners. Pochettino made Spurs top-four regulars and even guided them to the final of the Champions League last year.
Daniel Levy sacked Pochettino after a terrible start to last season. Jose Mourinho replaced him, but the Argentine is still adored by Spurs supporters for everything he did for them during his time at the club.
Many Tottenham fans and even supporters of rival clubs think of Pochettino as a world-class manager. However, Darren Bent thinks otherwise, and the former Spurs forward has claimed that Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers are better than the Argentine.
Bent: Arsenal’s Arteta is better than Pochettino
When asked if Pochetino is a world-class manager, Bent said: “I don’t think he is. When I look at elite managers, I obviously look at people like Klopp, Guardiola and even [Carlo] Ancelotti from what he’s done. I can’t put Pochettino in that bracket, not yet.”
“I’d put Brendan Rodgers ahead of him. I think Brendan Rodgers as a coach and a manager is absolutely superb. For me, Arteta’s a better coach than Pochettino as well. You look at Spurs and what Pochettino did at Spurs and he took them to a level.”
“Arteta has gone in at Arsenal, it’s not even been a year, and look what he’s done there. He’s identified the players that he’s got, defensively they’ve not been great and he’s completely changed that around. [He’s] gone in there and won an FA Cup, won a Community Shield and beat some of the biggest teams out there. He’s managed to find a way of getting it done.”
Arteta was appointed as Arsenal boss in December last year and he has truly transformed the Gunners. He has won two trophies in about eight months, and has made the club more competitive than they have been for years now.
However, Pochettino did the exact same at Tottenham, but without the trophies. Lack of silverware is the Argentine’s biggest criticism, but he still is a fantastic football manager, and he will end up in a top job sooner rather than later.
Here’s how a few of them reacted on Twitter
Spurs fans, predictably, weren’t too happy with Bent claiming Arteta was better than Pochettino.
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