Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that working with big names like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar has not proved to be particularly challenging for him due to his experience of working with the likes of Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane at Spurs.
Just as Tottenham did last season, Paris Saint-Germain have also allowed the Amazon cameras inside their club’s premises this term as a part of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
The Argentine’s role in the final cut of ‘All or Nothing’ proved minimal, with the documentary quickly turning into the Jose Mourinho show.
When asked about being part of these behind-the-scenes documentaries, he told The Daily Mail: “I am not going to change. I am not an actor, I am a football coach. I am like what I am.
“We were in the first episode for 25 minutes (of the Spurs documentary).
“Yes, yes, we are doing Amazon and I was acting a little bit because the club asked me to do something but I am spontaneous with the players, the relationship is natural and that is the key.”
There were question marks raised about whether Pochettino could have trouble managing the big names in the PSG dressing room but on the evidence of what we have seen so far, the likes of Neymar and Mbappe certainly seem to have bought into the former Tottenham boss’ methods.
MORE SPURS STORIES
When the question was posed to him, Pochettino responded: “It’s normal that people need to find things to doubt you. To find something that is maybe wrong in our way of coaching, of working or managing people.
“But we worked with superstars at Tottenham. We were dealing every day with the captain of France who lifted the World Cup. We were dealing every day with Harry Kane, Heung-min Son.
“Now, we’re here at Paris Saint-Germain with players like Neymar, Mbappe, Marco Verratti, Keylor Navas, plenty of talented players, big characters.
“The most important thing is to be natural, genuine and spontaneous in the way we manage them.”
Pochettino knows PSG’s Champions League semi-final opponents Manchester City quite well, having even masterminded a quarter-final win over Pep Guardiola’s men with Spurs back in 2019.
When asked about his memories of that game, the 49-year-old said: “Amazing, two years ago. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We miss the fans a lot.
“You can’t believe it when you watch all the things that happened in the second leg… 3-2, 4-2, 4-3 and at the end the disallowed goal with VAR.
“You need to play well and you need to fight but sometimes in this type of competition you need a little bit of luck to go through.
“For me, this game and the semi-final against Ajax were amazing, very emotional. Always in the Champions League it will be there and all the people in football are going to remember.”
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
