Arguably one of the best managers in Tottenham Hotspur history, Mauricio Pochettino had to give the best interview of his career in order to make those at Chelsea forget about his former club, upon taking charge at Stamford Bridge. His approach? Well, it appears to be one where he talks down about his former club with some less-than-subtle digs about how the Blues have been better than Spurs for years… The Argentine has got some mess to clean up in London, too, and he hasn’t got long to do it. So far this summer, Chelsea have endured quite the clear-out, mainly shipping players off to Saudi Arabia in a bid to finally make some space in a dressing room previously filled to the brim.As for incomings, the Blues have so far welcomed Nicolas Jackson and the long-awaited arrival of Christopher Nkunku, with plenty more time to potentially welcome more fresh faces this summer.
What did Mauricio Pochettino say in his first Chelsea interview?
Speaking to the club for the first time, Pochettino said all the right things from a Chelsea perspective, but potentially all the wrong things if you support Spurs. After all, he suggested that the Blues have been better than Tottenham for more than a decade, even when he was in charge.
Indeed, in part one of his interview, he said: “‘I think it’s important and it’s a culture of winning. In the last 10, 12, 15 years, Chelsea is the greatest team in England. I know very well the Premier League and what the culture of Chelsea means. I think our fans are excited to again be on the road of trying to win.
“Of course, we are excited. We are excited to work with a very young team, with a different approach than in the past. But I think we all need to understand that we have to work really hard and create a very good atmosphere at the training ground to build success for the team in the next few years.
The new manager then went on to say in part two: “I know very well that we need to build this relationship. Our past is our past, we respect and are proud of our past, but now is time to build at a new club, with different fans that behave and are different to other clubs.
“That is our responsibility to build a very good relationship with our new fans. We hope we can create as soon as possible this good feeling, but I know very well we need to create this good feeling around the signals the team sends to them.
“We need to be team that shows togetherness, cares about the club, cares about the fans, and that fights until the end for the badge. That’s the most important thing. The fans need to feel that all the players involved in the game are going to die for the club. That is the most important thing to create this good feeling and for sure feel proud of each other.”
How did the fans react?
It seems as though the interview managed to win Chelsea fans over, with many left excited after Pochettino’s first words as the new boss.
Some took to Twitter to share their thoughts as they were evidently left delighted by the dig aimed at their London rivals:
Tottenham Hotspur fans, meanwhile, were not happy with Pochettino, to say the least. No doubt, they would have been particularly upset with his claim that in the last “10, 12, 15 years” Chelsea have been the “greatest team in England”.
After all, he was coach of Spurs during this period, so he’s essentially admitted that the Blues were better than his former team even when he was calling the shots in north London.
