Tottenham Hotspur are not fully convinced about potentially bringing Mauricio Pochettino back to the club if they are to part ways with Antonio Conte.
What’s the latest?
Results – and performances – are failing to improve on a consistent basis in north London under the Italian with the latest defeat showing the difference between Spurs and their local rivals who finished below them last season.
And this is putting the future of Conte under the spotlight with reports suggesting his future in N17 is becoming increasingly uncertain.
Next up for Spurs is an away trip to the title-chasing Manchester City and a defeat coupled with results elsewhere could see a real gap begin to emerge between them and the top four.
Amid the speculation over Conte’s future, journalist Alasdair Gold has spoken on his YouTube channel about there being some inside the club who are not convinced about potentially bringing back Pochettino:
“I think bringing Pochettino back in would be admitting a huge mistake. And I know that there’s mixed views within that club, about certain people that would like Poch back and there’s certain people that really wouldn’t like him back.”
Deep-lying issues
A number of managers – top-class ones at that – have come and gone from Spurs in recent years but one thing which has remained as the constant factor among those is ENIC and Daniel Levy.
Conte pulled off a stunning second half of the 2021/22 campaign to clinch the Lilywhites a spot in this season’s Champions League.
Close to £150m was then spent in the summer across a number of signings and now it appears as if the Italian is resigned to lowering the expectations of the fans.
Fans are free to determine how good the think the signings over the summer were, however, the reality is pundits were discussing whether these were additions that could even propel Spurs into a title charge.
Now, there could be an argument made that more could have been done but the reality is Spurs are unlikely to spend as much as the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City in a transfer window.
Should Spurs sack Conte if they lose on Thursday?
Yes
No
And in the likes of Yves Bissouma and Ivan Perisic, Conte was receiving a midfielder who was dubbed as perfect for Conte and a wing-back who has proven quality over the years.
And yet Bissouma has struggled enormously under Conte and Perisic did not start in the game against Arsenal in which Ryan Sessegnon dropped a 4/10 display.
So yes, there may be more that can be done in the windows but Conte is seemingly not extracting everything he can from the players he has available.
And that is something which Pochettino was able to do during his time in north London as he operated on a shoestring budget.
Would you want Pochettino back?
Yes
No
Despite not being backed for two transfer windows in a row, Pochettino was able to deliver consistently with Spurs with just one finish outside of the top four to his name.
Does this mean a change in manager would suddenly solve Tottenham’s long-term problems? Probably not as we have seen with the likes of Jose Mourinho and Conte.
However, if Conte is not willing to commit to a future at Spurs and results don’t improve alongside the performances, then we think someone like Pochettino could possibly come in and get more from the current crop of players.
