From Donnarumma to Ramos, Hakimi and Messi: the loser Pochettino is cornered, he has no more excuses. And Leonardo …

Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero is one of the most underdog coaches in the history of world football. In almost twelve years as head coach (Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham and Paris Saint Germain) he has only recently won a French Cup and a French Super Cup, but managed to lose the Champions League final at the helm of Tottenham and, since arrived in Paris, to throw a championship for the benefit of Lille who, at the beginning of August, also beat him in the Super Cup final. Called by Leonardo to replace Thomas Tuchel, who had brought Paris to the Champions League final the previous year, Pochettino was ousted from Manchester City in the semifinal of the most important Cup.

It must be said that coaching the Emir of Qatar’s PSG is not exactly the easiest thing in the world, least of all now that it has arrived Sergio Ramos and it’s about to arrive Lionel Messi. However, one wonders why it was possible to replace Tuchel (two championships, four cups and the Champions League final in his curriculum) with Pochettino (zero titles until the landing in Paris). They say that Tuchel did not have good relations with Leonardo and that even the locker room, divided into clans, did not tolerate him much. The changeover, however, was disastrous and Pochettino’s last fall, in the Super Cup final, caused even the least biased to raise their antennas. The Argentine coach has lost eight in 35 official matches and none of his five predecessors (Koumbuaré, Ancelotti, Blanc, Emery, Tuchel) had done worse than him.

Now the big question is: will Pochettino be able to manage a frayed group in which Navas can coexist with Donnarumma, Hakimi with Sergio Ramos, Wijnaldum with Verratti and Di Maria, without counting the trio of wonders Mbappé, Messi and Neymar? Did you notice that none of the three is a pure center forward?

There will be work to be done and there will also be talks because the only certain thing is that winning the championship will certainly not be enough for the Emir of Doha in the next year of the World Cup in Qatar. The more than declared goal is the Champions League, only touched upon by Tuchel who, however, went to take it, a few months ago, with Chelsea. And Pochettino risks being overwhelmed not only by the bulky personalities he has in the squad, but also by some other small nefarious event. Ligue 1 kicked off on Saturday and, after just nine minutes, newly promoted Troyes took the lead from a corner. Two Inter fans had to think about putting things right (Hakimi paid a month ago 60 million e Icardi 50 last year), overturning the result with one goal each.

Pochettino’s luck is that the only level coach without a team is Zidane. And that Zidane has the French national team in mind to take over after Qatar. But if I were him, I mean Pochettino, I wouldn’t sleep soundly. In certain intricate situations, in addition to experience, a cynicism is needed that Mauricio does not have. Maybe he could help him Leonardo that, logically, it is the manager who chose him, but the Brazilian has a flaw that many sports directors have. With the excuse of supporting the manager, he cultivates a direct relationship with the players. And this, even with all the good faith in the world, ends up de-legitimizing the technician. After all, if many pass by at Paris and no one stays, there will be a reason. Pochettino tries to resist, but he knows it will be tough. Also because if one day he really wins a title that is finally important, they would tell him that with those champions everyone would be capable of it. Even him, in fact.

@gia_pad

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