'I couldn't cope' - Striker reveals how Tottenham boss Pochettino wore him down
Match

'I couldn't cope' - Striker reveals how Tottenham boss Pochettino wore him down

Wayne Veysey
Wayne Veysey

Founder & Managing Director AUTHORITY Former chief correspondent at Evening Standard, Goal and Press Association with nearly three decades in national, regional and digital news and sports journalism. Wayne directs the network’s news strategy and high-level operations. FOCUS Editorial direction for the 11-site network and newsroom management. THE BRIEF Wayne oversees the network’s editorial standards across the network. He provides the final sign-off on all headline scoops, ensuring content across all platforms meets the standards required for a high-velocity newsroom.

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By Richard Parks

Rickie Lambert has shed some light on Mauricio Pochettino's ruthlessness and exacting standards as he explained how the Tottenham manager pushed the Southampton players to new heights during his reign at the club.

Eyebrows were raised when the Argentine was appointed the new Saints manager in January 2013 as a replacement for the sacked Nigel Adkins.

Pochettino made major changes on and off the pitch, which included lifting the fitness of the Southampton players by introducing exhausting Monday training sessions that pushed the players to their physical limits.

Lambert, who has announcement his retirement from playing, recalled in an interview with Radio Solent that it was not all plain sailing during the early days of the Argentine's reign.

"I just couldn't cope," said Lambert of Pochettino's famous Monday drills. "We would come in on Monday after 90 minutes on the Saturday and do 12 horseshoe runs [of the training pitch].

"I had the bottle to go into his room, pull him to one side very respectfully and I said, 'Mauricio, listen, we understand what you're trying to do, but you're pushing us too much on a Monday, you just need to calm it down, we're not used to it'.

"Mauricio was dead polite, said 'yes, that's fine, I understand', we shook hands and I went back to the lads, made up, thinking, 'just sorted it for you boys'.

"Next Monday, we came in and not only did we do 12, we did 24 runs. I was running around laughing, almost crying. I knew what he was doing, he was trying to break me and he did, he broke me."

Pochettino transformed Southampton from relegation candidates to an established Premier League side during his 18-month spell, steering the club to eighth in his only full season before quitting to join Tottenham in the summer of 2014.

He has subsequently taken Spurs to new heights, including consecutive top-flight finishes of third in 2015-16 and second 12 months later.

In other Tottenham news, Pochettino is set to welcome two key members of his side back to the squad after lengthy absences.

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Tottenham Hotspur
Mauricio Pochettino
Rickie Lambert
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