Small Team Superiority - Big Team Inferiority

Many of us play in a small sandbox but enlarge our contribution relative to small team leadership. In that regard the current Tottenham team are Small Team Champions and after their fortunate victory over Cardiff City earlier today, the record for Spurs for the last 39 matches against newly promoted teams is 35 Wins 3 Draws and 0 Losses.  Compare that to Manchester City's league points breaking record of 32 Wins 4 Draws and 2 Losses (100 pts) - that means Spurs have gained 102 points against lower level opposition.   So why are Spurs not champions of the league instead of Manchester City?

The answer is in falling short against the "big teams".  For sure Spurs can recount a 3-1 win against Real Madrid in the Champions League in the group stage but it is Real Madrid who went on to win the Champions League.  This year Spurs can recount a 3-0 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United, but this United team got dumped out of the League Cup by a lower division side Derby County and were just one point blank great save from losing against Newcastle today.  As it was Manchester United managed to recover and win an excilarating tie against Newcastle with a come from behind win.  Spurs on the other hand struggled mightily against 10-man Cardiff City and have recently blown leads.

Spurs big wins have come against the big boys when the had hit a blip of bad form, recent losses against Liverpool in the Premier League and now this week against Barcelona in the Champions League show that rather than build on the United win - they have since looked a tired and jaded team.  It may well be that Mauricio Pochettino's preference on absolute fitness after a short-rest window after this years World Cup is now taking effect.  Pochettino still prefers to put his players through double training regiments.  The display against Cardiff may have been a win but it was through a rather fortunate defensive bungle up by Cardiff in the 9th minute. After that it may have been easier for Cardiff to score than to squander the chances they had, and then a professional foul in the second half reduced Cardiff to 10 men, or at least a professional foul that normally carries the sanction of a yellow card, was interpreted as dangerous play and a red card was issued.  Had it not been for that red card, a rampant Cardiff team will be bitterly disappointed in not sharing a point.  Cardiff's manager Neal Warnock is leading a spirited side who came up short, against a very poor Tottenham team.

It is fair to question Mauricio Pochettino's management philosophy that expects his players to play at maximum level.  Just because a team outworks their competitor, it does not hold true that they will necessary win.  On Wednesday night Lionel Messi, the still playing Argentine soccer legend showed Mauricio Pochettino a masterclass in Football.  The irony of Messi is that instead of running all out for 90+minutes, we often see Messi walking and thinking about his next move.  Messi could never be coached by Pochettino because he would not comply with the heavy duty defensive responsibility, and the same is true of French star Paul Pogba at Manchester United.   Man Utd's boss Jose Mourinho wants Pogba do his fair share of defensive work when not helping the attack.  The fact that Manchester United have their eye on Mauricio Pochettino may indeed end up being a blessing in disguise for Tottenham.

Zidane who took Real Madrid to three successive Champion League victories is touted as a replacement for Jose Mourinho and that would have been more likely had Manchester United not mounted their come-from-behind win earlier today.  Mauricio Pochetino has not yet proven himself of winning silverware and his tired looking outfit is an indicator of what I consider to be a limitation, especially in a league where other Premier League managers have adopted the same philosophy of crazy hardwork.  If Pochettino subjected the more egotistical star players of Manchester United to his training rigour, eventually unlike the more patient and complying players of Tottenham, would rebel against his methods.  The irony is that Mourinho is in better position to employ his soccer strategies with Tottenham than he can do with Manchester United.  For sure the Tottenham fans will not like Mourinho's football methods and way of playing but that way of playing will stand a better chance of what Spurs fans have not experienced recently - which is winning some silverware.

As much as Manchester United would love to employ Pochettino, Tottenham are holding on tight to their manager.  For sure Pochettino has vastly improved this Tottenham team who for two decades in the Premier League were not considered a Top 4 team.  Pochettino has made Spurs a Top 4 Team.  Yet Arsene Wenger led Arsenal to nearly 20 years of finishing in the Top 4 but this year lost his job as Arsenal fans also start yearning a Premier League Championship or a Champions League Cup win.  Arsenal have improved but still sit behind Tottenham in the league but that is more due to Spurs sliding through many games against newly promoted teams - which as been pointed out above is where Tottenham are definitely great against and winning nearly 90% of those matches is a great record - but can Pochettino overcome his teams inferiority complex against Big Six Premier League teams and/or the big clubs of Europe.

There may have been a mini-revival against Barcelona when the combination of  Kane - Moura - Son - Lamela seemed to trigger Spurs into life but having pulled a goal back to trail 2-3 against Barcelona, instead of witnessing that comeback, Lamela had to come off with an injury and his replacement Sissoko is one more of those players that play with an inferiority complex.  Sissoko has great talent but he is an under-achiever and Pochettino has not sharpened him to the point of him becoming a threat against big teams.  When Spurs defender got himself transferred to Manchester City, City boss Pep Guardiola developed a very good defender and turned him into a player who plays with absolute confidence in a big-game environment.   The test for Spurs this year will come soon with matches against Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea on the horizon.  On the basis of those games will we learn if Spurs have developed a champions mentality or whether they will continue with their reputation for messing things up and becoming "Spursy".