When Mauricio Pochettino was at Tottenham Hotspur, there were two moments in the early part of his reign that left him feeling indebted to Ryan Mason.
In 2014, Spurs had just two wins from Pochettino’s first five matches when they fell behind to Nottingham Forest in a League Cup tie. It was Mason who equalised, turning the tide in what became a turning point of his new manager’s season.
A year later, Spurs were in such a muddle that they botched their planning for a trip to Sunderland. They had failed to realise the match clashed with the Great North Run and had to take such a diversion to the ground that they arrived late. It felt like nothing was going right – and still, Mason cropped up scoring the winning goal to end a winless start to the season.
It forged a bond between the two men that Pochettino described as a “love” that would “always be there”. Almost immediately after Mason retired early due to a head injury in 2018, his former coach recruited him to join his backroom staff in north London.
At Chelsea, the Argentine is still waiting for his “Mason moment” to turn doubters into believers. Pochettino is immensely loyal to players who have come through for him at pivotal times.
Thus far, Cole Palmer is winning that race, scoring the Blues’ first in the 2-0 victory over Sheffield United before keeping alive a ball that most had given up on to assist Nicolas Jackson for the second.
Palmer had Pochettino to thank too for his second half resurgence. At half time, with the scores level, rather than turn to a bench which included £52m Christopher Nkunku, he put Raheem Sterling and Jackson up front in a midfield two, allowing Palmer to occupy Sterling’s former position on the right. Sheffield United were bewildered and Palmer thrived.
At White Hart Lane Pochettino had a core of homegrown, committed players on whom he relied. Nor has it been big-money signings who are helping him remain in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.
It is a slightly surreal sight to see Conor Gallagher lining up in the tunnel, huddled in an oversized coat preparing to front the troops, but it should not be that surprising given the tenacious and dedicated players Pochettino has always been keen to place his faith in.
There have been suggestions that the decision to give Gallagher the armband have caused some consternation in the dressing room. At 23, and in just his second season at senior level, he appeared as baffled as anyone, all the more so with Thiago Silva still starting regularly.
Yet Gallagher is vindicating the move with his performances. If you could pick-pocket toes, that was how he dispossessed Ollie McBurnie and Gustavo Hamer to break up Sheffield United’s counter attacks. He offers more than Enzo Fernandez going forward, hence the £107m midfielder dropped to the bench. Moises Caicedo was another beneficiary, delivering one of his more assurances since joining from Brighton.
That Chelsea lack leaders is no secret. There is not a John Terry, Frank Lampard or Gary Cahill figure, which means the belief has to circle always back to Pochettino. Asked why, after a series of false dawns already this season, the weekend’s victory would be the turning point, he remained unfazed.
“You always need to believe that it must be a really important result for us, to make us believe we can do it in a different way,” said Pochettino.
“I think we were talking a lot during the week after [the 2-0 defeat to] Everton, that we need to make a drastic change. I think it was important to now confirm that we were in a good way.”
For a manager who last week compared his job to sitting in an “electric chair”, the mood is evidently malleable.
Regardless of the lows, there are enough glimpses of his Spurs project in what flits between being a disastrous debut season in west London and simply a sub-par one.
At this stage of last season, Graham Potter had picked up 24 points, two more than the current total. Crucially, though, Pochettino’s side have overcome the real ailment of Potter-ball: compared with just 15 goals from 17 league games last term, they now have 28.
Chelsea players are doing enough to keep him in a job and Pochettino, for his part, is vowing to “trust until the end”, believing there will be enough of these “Mason-like” moments to convince Todd Boehly of the process. Those who are delivering them will not be forgotten in a hurry.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/N1bWG80
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