Alan Shearer: Tottenham boss Pochettino needs to be more like Mourinho
By Harvey Byrne
Legendary striker turned pundit Alan Shearer has claimed Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino needs to be more like Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho in the cup competitions with the Portuguese boss’ winning mentality.
The Argentine boss claimed earlier in the week ahead of the club’s EFL Cup clash against Barnsley that Spurs would prioritise both the league and Champions League ahead of the domestic competition.
This brought some concern to the north London club’s fan base with their side’s last piece of silverware coming back in 2008 in the League Cup.
Now, Shearer has agreed with those concerns, stating that Mourinho is a serial winner, taking each competition seriously and that Pochettino needs to be more like that.
“When you haven’t won anything for so long, you have to take every competition seriously, whether it’s the League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League or Premier League,” wrote Shearer in his column for Coral.
“It was only last season that Spurs were in the Champions League and Mauricio Pochettino played a weakened team against Monaco that meant they went out at the group stage.
“If you’re Spurs or Liverpool, for example, you have to take these competitions seriously, these clubs desperately need to win some silverware.
“Jose Mourinho proved last season that winning a trophy is so important.
“Man United may have been a bit fortunate in the League Cup Final against Southampton, but they got the win, and from there, kicked on for the rest of the season, that helped them go on to win the Europa League.
“Mourinho is a serial winner, he’s always taken Cup competitions seriously, his record proves that.
“It’s not just about creating a winning habit at a club either; the fans want to see trophies won, the big days out are why fans are in it, and again, if those fans haven’t seen that success for so long, clubs should not be disregarding any competition.
“It was all well and good Pochettino using Wigan as an example, but Wigan are in the record books for winning the FA Cup, and it’s the same with Porstmouth.
“Of course both those clubs would like to be in the Premier League now, but they will still go down in history for being FA Cup winners, no one can take that away from them.”
Pochettino has had a fine managerial career to date with each of Espanyol and Southampton before joining Tottenham in May 2014.
But, he has so far been unable to lead any of those sides to a trophy with his closest being the Premier League trophy when Spurs finished in second place last season.
Now, while the club will be keen to repeat those heights alongside progressing beyond the Champions League group stages fans would also welcome a run in the cup which could possibly take them to a final at their current home ground Wembley.
In other Tottenham news, Pochettino has given a positive insight on this Spurs player.
We’ve launched a << BREAKING NEWS FEED>> exclusively for your club. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Tottenham breaking news.