The Pressing Revolution: Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur

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Biography
Who am I: Mauricio Roberto Pochettino
Date of Birth: March 2, 1972 (44 years old)

Playing Experience: Newell's Old Boys (1989-1994), Espanyol (1994-2000, 2004-2006), PSG (2001-2003), Bordeaux (2003-2004)
National Team Experience: Argentina (1999-2002): 20 caps, 2 goals

Managerial Experience: Espanyol (2009-2012), Southampton (2013-2014), Tottenham Hotspur (2014-Present)

Background: The pressing revolution in football is reaching its peak. With younger managers obtaining high profile posts more frequently, we are seeing a wide variety of new uses of technology on the training ground and during matches. These young coaches are now using this to push forward a tactical revolution of the game, with a high octane pressing style coming to the forefront. Managers such as Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino are leading this revolution. I will be playing this career as Mauricio Pochettino, hoping to play a high tempo game while leading Tottenham Hotspur to glory. **Note, at the start of this save there are no transfer budgets. I have already made my moves for the summer, and am working with what I have.

Objectives: The Board has given me the following objectives to complete for the upcoming season:

• Finish in the Top 6 in the Premier League
• Reach the Semi final in the FA Cup
• Reach the First Knockout Round in the Champions League

While those may be the objectives set for me by the club, I have higher ambitions. I am looking to win at least one trophy this season, and I am hoping to obtain a Top 4 place for my side. Much work is left to be done, but this will be the year where Tottenham begins its dynasty.

July, 2016
It is the opening month of preseason, and the lads are being put through the paces. The boys need to do the hard work now so the results can show later. We will be working on fitness and tactics for the next couple of weeks, and will have 2 or 3 sessions a day so that they will be fully prepared for the long season ahead.

Loans


There have been a couple of loan moves that we have made. Seven players have left in order to get some playing time, while only one has come in to offer some depth at keeper.

Friendlies


This year we are setting up training camp in Hong Kong for ten days. Our club has a strong fan base in the Asian-Pacific region of the world, and we are excited to see many of those fans during this tour. It will also be a great chance for some young players to impress me, and work their way into the Senior Squad.

One fixture that stands out during our preparations for the new season is a home match against Juventus. Juventus have won the last five Serie A titles, and it represents a great opportunity for us to face world class opposition. We have to start creating a winning culture here in North London. Lookout for updates on our friendly results.

Contract News and Backroom Staff Changes
The club can tell you that we have been making some changes behind the scenes and have also agreed to terms with a number of players regarding their futures. Lookout for updates on these in the hours to come.

New Contracts
July 5, 2016:

Today, five senior players and two youth academy members have signed new deals.

Toby Alderweireld
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I am happy to announce that Toby Alderweireld has signed a new contract through the year 2021. I am proud that our newly appointed captain has shown his commitment by signing this new deal. He will be extremely important for this club in the present and in the future.

Hugo Lloris
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Our vice-captain has signed a new deal through the year 2021. I am very happy with this. Hugo is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and I believe we can achieve great success together.

Eric Dier
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Eric is a great lad. He was one of my first signings at the club and he has my complete faith. He is still young and is a very talented boy. He can play center back, right back, or in the midfield. He is very capable and I am proud that he signed this new deal through 2021.

Christian Eriksen
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Christian has signed a new deal through 2021. He is a very talented player and is extremely important to the way that we play. He has adapted well and has become very influential in the final third. I am excited to continue working with him.

Harry Kane
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Harry has always had the hunger to achieve big things. He is like me, and I see him becoming a manager one day. He is a very talented goalscorer, and I am very happy that he stays here. The fans love him, I love him, he is one of our own. He will be staying through 2021, and he has shown fantastic commitment to this team.

Two younger players have signed deals through 2019. Marcus Edwards and Kazaiah Sterling signed their first professional contracts here and I am happy. I always try to emphasize youth development. Age does not matter, what matters is the hunger. These boys are both talented and could be brought in to train with the senior squad this year.

Monthly Recap: July, 2016
The lads have had a great preseason and are looking forward to the start of our competitive run.



One of the more eye-catching performances for me was the 3-1 victory over Juventus. We were experimenting with some new tactics and I am proud of the boys for adapting them and playing at high levels. Overall, very positive results from our tour, but now the hard work begins.

Player of the Month


Vincent Janssen has shown his ability this month. He scored 5 goals and had 4 assists. He was brought in as cover for Harry Kane, but if he continues with these kind of displays, he may earn himself a starting spot.

Backroom Staff Changes
Before the start of every season, I perform a staff-wide review and see if there are any changes that need to be made. This year, we had many changes, especially in the scouting department. Paul Mitchell left as Chief Scout, and Steffen Freund got promoted to Coach. Mick Brown took over as Chief Scout and Ian Broomfield became Director of Football. We added Claudio Bordon and Paul McGuinness as coaches, and Robert Duverne as a Fitness Coach. We also added a sports scientist department, with Francesco Vaccariello leading that field. In our physio department, we fired Head Physio Geoff Scott and had him replaced by our own Dave Appanah. The staff is now settled and we are excited to push our players to their highest potentials.

Monthly Recap: August, 2016
Let us start with the week before the Prem kickoff, the FA Community Shield. Leicester came out victorious, with a 2-1 victory over Manchester United. Jamie Vardy had bagged a brace. Now while this may not seem important, Chris Smalling had gotten hurt during this game. Our first game of the season was against Manchester United, and they lost Chris Smalling to injury and Paul Pogba to suspension.

Results


It has been a magnificent month for us. We knew it would be tough because Mousa Dembele has had to serve a four game suspension for his eye gouge on Diego Costa, but we have been able to push on with Tom Carroll playing in that position.

Our first game was a tight contest against Manchester United. Manchester United took the lead in the first half with a brilliant strike from Juan Mata. It seemed as though United would roll through us, as they were getting chance after chance, but with a combination of poor finishing and some good saves from Hugo Lloris, we were able to hold them to one goal. In the second half, we produced two chances and scored two chances. Harry Kane bagged the brace and was as clinical as ever. Of course, Kane also bagged the Man of the Match award. It was a great comeback, but I was worried by the amount of chances that we gave up, and I had to work with the lads in training the week after.

Match number two came against Hull away. We stuck with our new 3-4-3 formation, but came out of the gates slow. We lacked creativity, and the lads needed a talking to at the half, when it was scoreless. I was disappointed with that first half, because Hull were missing a number of players through injury, and we couldn't even muster a chance. The second half was a bit better, but we couldn't put away the few chances that we were creating. The introduction of Harry Winks sparked the late victory. The young lad made his debut and bagged a brace! He scored two goals out of nothing, striking them from both from about 25 yards out. Of course he was our man of the match, and he had a thrilling debut. Still, I am worried about our starts to matches. We seem to get out of the gates a bit slow, and we need to improve in order to keep getting three points.

Our third match was a London derby against West Ham. Again we were slow coming out, and West Ham had a couple of chances that could have easily been goals if we didn't have the expertise of Hugo Lloris in goal. The second half was a different story. Tons of chances came our way and our lads looked up to it. Harry Kane got a hat-trick even though he missed a penalty! Great result, perfect month, and I am ecstatic with how the team is performing.

Table


Taking a look at the table, we are in a great position after the first month. Of course we hate seeing ourselves behind our biggest rivals, but we will push on for the title. One interesting thing is that Manchester City, under new manager Pep Guardiola, have already lost two matches. Now of course, it is early and they should not panic, but a team of City's caliber with that kind of manager shouldn't be losing 2 of its first 3 matches.

Barclay's Player of the Month
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He is not only my player of the month for our squad, he has also won Barclay's player of the month, with 5 goals and an assist in 3 matches and an average match rating of 8.40. He faced stiff competition from Alexis Sanchez, who scored 4 goals in 3 matches and had an average rating of 8.47.

Barclay's Manager of the Month
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After guiding his team to 3 victories in 3 matches, Mauricio Pochettino has been awarded manager of the month award. He faced stiff competition from Arsene Wenger and Claudio Ranieri, who also won 3 matches this month.

I would also like to make an honorable mention to Harry Winks, who got 2nd place in the goal of the month voting. He played for about a half an hour and scored two goals. What a brilliant performance he put in.

Cup Draws
EFL Cup 3rd Round Draw
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Crystal Palace vs. Everton
Burton vs. Blackburn
Arsenal vs. QPR
Bournemouth vs. Reading
Liverpool vs. Bristol City
Chelsea vs. Stoke
West Ham vs. Aston Villa
Brighton vs. Manchester City
Tottenham vs. Wigan
Manchester United vs. Walsall
Nottingham Forest vs. Peterborough
Derby County vs. Preston North End
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Leicester
Sunderland vs. Hull
Southampton vs. Newcastle
Watford vs. Leeds United

A good draw for us, as we are home against Wigan. Might be rotating the squad for that one, but I am confident of a result. The tie of the round has to be the only all Premier League match of Sunderland vs. Hull. It is a match that pits two relegation battlers against each other. Another interesting draw is Southampton vs. Newcastle. It will be a tough game for Southampton but I'll give them the edge since they are home.

Champions League Group Stage Draw
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Group A: PSG, Porto, Olympiakos, Dinamo
Group B: Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, Besiktas
Group C: Sevilla, PSV, Club Brugge, Leicester
Group D: Real Madrid, Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, AFC Astra
Group E: Atletico Madrid, Lyon, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce
Group F: FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Dynamo Kyiv, Apoel Nicosia
Group G: Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Basel, Roma
Group H: Bayern Munich, Napoli, Tottenham, Celtic

It is a pretty tough draw for us, with Bayern Munich expected to cruise through the group. I am hopeful that our team can make it to the knockout stages ahead of Napoli and Celtic. I think our group is the most competitive of them all, with Group B coming close.

New Contract!
September 11, 2016

Cameron Carter-Vickers
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I am very excited to announce that Cameron Carter-Vickers will extend his stay here at White Hart Lane through 2020. This boy is a real talent and he will play a big role in the future.

Monthly Recap: September, 2016
Results


We were not quite as successful this month as we were last month, but I am still pleased with the way the team is approaching my philosophy. We started the month with an abysmal home loss versus Crystal Palace. We completely deserved to lose, and I blame myself. I had changed our system to a 4-2-3-1 after our 3-4-3 had been working and the team was not comfortable. We were able to turn it around however. We stuck with the system during our wins against Celtic and Wigan. We had reverted back to the 3-4-3 during our away matches, and I was most impressed with our 4-1 away victory against Napoli. That will be huge for our chances to qualify to the knockout rounds in the Champions League.

Player of the Month
Harry Kane
Harry scored 6 goals this month, 4 of them in the Premier League. He is top of the scoring charts in the Prem, with 9 goals in 6 matches. I am very impressed. He is in scintillating form. He also got 3rd place in player of the month voting by Barclay's Premier League. I am very proud, and hope that he can continue this form.

Premier League Table


We dropped down to third place, but are still in prime position and are only one point back of Arsenal. Surprisingly, Bournemouth is keeping pace and are in the top four, and Crystal Palace has gathered 13 points. The Manchester clubs and Chelsea are not far off the pace, and everything else is pretty predictable.

Champions League Table


What a start to the Champions League! Surprisingly, Bayern have drawn against Celtic, so we are two points clear at the top, and 5 points clear of third place. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going and we can qualify for the knockout round.

Some bad news to end this monthly recap. While Mousa Dembele has returned from suspension, Jan Vertonghen is now facing a few weeks out with a twisted knee. We hope he will have a speedy recovery.

EFL Cup 4th Round Draw
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A shock came in the third round, when Manchester City lost 2-0 against hosts Brighton. Aston Villa also beat West Ham 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium. In our highlighted matches of the third round, Sunderland beat Hull 1-0 in extra time, and Southampton beat Newcastle 2-1.

The Draw
Sunderland vs. Brighton
Leicester vs. Crystal Palace
Derby vs. Southampton
Aston Villa vs. Nottingham Forest
Tottenham vs. Manchester United
Watford vs. Liverpool
Chelsea vs. Burton
Arsenal vs. Bournemouth

The tie of the round is obviously Tottenham vs. Manchester United. It's a tough draw for us, but we are home and are hoping to advance to the Quarter final. Other good matches that I would like to highlight are Leicester vs. Crystal Palace, Watford vs. Liverpool, and Arsenal vs. Bournemouth.

Monthly Recap: October, 2016


It's been a tough month for us. We started with a tough 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, which I believe we could've gotten a point out of. We just couldn't finish our chances. Then we had a draw at Goodison and a bad draw at home against Watford. Up 2-0, we let them comeback to draw. The Bayern Munich destruction just added insult to injury. The EFL Cup loss to Manchester United hurt as well. We came back from 1-0 down to be ahead 2-1 after 80 minutes, but gave up an 87th minute goal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The match went to penalties, and we could only make one, which was truly disappointing. A 2-1 penalty shootout loss is unacceptable. Fortunately, we finished the month off with a North London derby victory. Lots of work ahead, hopefully the lads can get out of this bad period.

Premier League Table


5th Place now, but only two points off of the leaders. I want to remain within striking distance. That is the challenge now as we try to regain the momentum.

Champions League Table


We are now in 2nd place in the group, but there is still some distance between us and Celtic. I am hoping that we can create more distance as we hope to pick up at least a point at home against Bayern in our next match.

Monthly Recap: November, 2016


We had a rough start to the month, with a home loss to Bayern in the Champions League and a blistering 4-0 away defeat against Chelsea. After the Chelsea result, we dropped to 7th and a few pundits were suggesting that I should get sacked. But we bounced back. We beat Southampton 3-1 and had a great 2-1 home victory against Manchester City. The only downside was that we also lost 1-0 at Celtic, leaving us in third place in the Champions League group with one match to go. The Napoli match is a must win. Hopefully Bayern put out a full strength squad to face Celtic and we can obtain the necessary points.

Premier League Table


So we moved up a spot and are now in 4th place. We are only 3 points back of first, so I am hopeful that we can still move up the ladder.

Champions League Table


Third place on goal differential. So if we get a draw, there is a good chance that we will advance to the knockout stages since Celtic have to play Bayern Munich in their last match.

Young Player of the Month


Dele Alli got 2nd place in the player of the month voting, but did win November's Young Player of the Month award in the Premier League! He was fantastic, having an 8.05 average match rating, while scoring 3 goals in 3 matches and contributing an assist. Hats off to the young lad!

Note from dshaw292: We are coming close to the January transfer window. If any fellow users have any suggestions on transfers I should make, please let me know!

are you playing on the latest transfer window save and what is your budget? I feel you could get rid of Jansen and try bringing in someone like Belotti! He is quality,
maybe try an ambitious move for Morata too?

defensively, I would look at M'villa and maybe look at Ascibbar from Argentina?

@ReeceH1994 -- I am not playing with the latest transfer window save (Tom Carroll was the only transfer anyway, I still have him). My budget is 27 million pounds. As for getting rid of Janssen, I do not have a lot of cover there, I'd rather bring in the quality strikers first before getting rid of him. My guess is that I'll keep him through this transfer window. I do have one question about Ascibbar. Will it be hard for me to get his work permit application to be accepted? And should I go for M'Villa ahead of say, Franck Kessie?

ah fair enough well Belotti is worth a punt! especially as he can play as an AF and be good rotation or bring in somebody like Maximiliano Romero as a youngster for the future!

with Asscibar he has flexible potential but he isnt expensive like Kessie dude and with M Villa you can bring him in for free or like 5 milion bid! Also with Ascibbar I believe you get it on appeal....however if you can sell Carroll id be interested to see Tielemans at spurs!

Christmas Axes Come Down!
Stoke City
Update:
December 13, 2016 -- Stoke City hire Sam Allardyce to be their new manager!

Update:
December 8, 2016 -- Andre Villas-Boas suggests that he'd be interested to take the Stoke City job.

December 5, 2016:
Stoke City have fired Mark Hughes after a run of terrible form has left them in 16th place in the league. The early favorite to take the job is Mark Warburton, who is clearly working at Rangers.

Swansea City
Update:
December 19, 2016 -- Swansea City hire Fernando Hierro to become their new manager!

Update:
December 15, 2016 -- Oviedo manager Fernando Hierro is being touted as the favorite to land the Swansea City job after having interviewed at the club.

December 10, 2016:
Swansea City have fired Bob Bradley due to being in caught in a tough relegation battle. Currently in 20th, Swansea needed a change and it is being reported that Paul Clement can take charge of the club.