Former Liverpool full back Glen Johnson has claimed that he cannot see Mauricio Pochettino improving on what he has achieved already at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Argentine has come under a lot of pressure for the poor start that Spurs have made to the season and Johnson has insisted that the achievement of taking the club to the final of the Champions League is something that the manager will not better during his reign in North London.
He also discussed the importance of qualifying for the Champions League given the considerable investment Spurs have made into their brand new stadium.
Speaking to Betdaq the former England international said: “It’s really hard to see Spurs bettering how they got on last season.
“To reach the Champions League final was an incredible achievement, but for whatever reason, they’ve really struggled to live up to those heights so far this season.
“It’s a pretty similar side to what they had last year, so it’s hard to put a finger on the real issue, but they simply aren’t clicking in the way we know they can.
“The board have obviously spent huge sums of money on the new stadium and they’ll be expecting Champions League football every season.
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“Invariably they’d have hoped to budget on maintaining their place in the competition, so you’d think things will need to improve quickly. Based on their start to the new campaign, they seem some way off.
“I don’t see their slow start being down to a European hangover. Hardly anyone saw them getting to the final last season and the Tottenham players should see that as a positive.
“They’ve proved they’ve got the players to succeed in these big games and they need to start showing that, it’s simple as that.
“It’s the same case for Mauricio Pochettino. He’s got the club to a European final and it’s very hard to see him taking Spurs any further.”
Johnson also claimed that Pochettino might find any further approaches from the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid hard to turn down as he is unlikely to be able to bridge the gap with the top two while at Spurs.
He added, “He’s constantly linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United and if they do come calling, you’d wonder if he’d struggle to turn them down.
“I don’t see them getting any closer to the top than that final and they look a long way off winning the league.
“He’s shown what he can do, but he simply hasn’t got the squad to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool and unless he’s given massive amounts of money to spend in the transfer window, I don’t see them bridging the gap.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Mauricio Pochettino did warn us about the painful transitional period that the club needed to go through but I don’t think even he expected the team to play so poorly. I believe our best bet is to trust Pochettino to bring us through this spell and allow him to continue rebuilding the squad by backing him in the transfer market.
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