Pochettino Pays Price for Spurs’ Failure of Renewal but Mourinho Is a Big Gamble

 Mauricio Pochettino built a hard-pressing Tottenham side stylistically at odds with the methods of his successor, José Mourinho. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA-EFE
Mauricio Pochettino built a hard-pressing Tottenham side stylistically at odds with the methods of his successor, José Mourinho. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA-EFE
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Pochettino Pays Price for Spurs’ Failure of Renewal but Mourinho Is a Big Gamble

 Mauricio Pochettino built a hard-pressing Tottenham side stylistically at odds with the methods of his successor, José Mourinho. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA-EFE
Mauricio Pochettino built a hard-pressing Tottenham side stylistically at odds with the methods of his successor, José Mourinho. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA-EFE

Fifty years ago this season Liverpool went to Watford, then struggling near the bottom of the Second Division, in the sixth round of the FA Cup. On a dreadful pitch, its central third rutted and bare, they lost 1-0 to a diving header from Barry Endean. Bill Shankly called Watford “the worst team that ever beat us”. He was aware the upset could be as epochal as the defeat to Worcester City that had led to him replacing Phil Taylor as manager in 1959 and was provoked into action. “I knew I had to do my job and change my team,” he said. “It had to be done and if I didn’t do it I was shirking my obligations.”

Although Liverpool had finished second the previous season, they were enduring a major stutter, having won only five of their previous 18 in the league. He raged in the Vicarage Road dressing room, telling a number of players they were finished. Over the following weeks Tommy Lawrence, Ian St John, Ron Yeats and Geoff Strong were all discarded. Peter Thompson, struggling with cartilage problems, departed a few months later. The players changed, but the method did not. “The policy of the new team was the same as that of the old,” Shankly explained. “We played to our strengths. We pressurised everybody and made them run.”

There was a time when managers were not sacked as soon as they faced a bump in the road. Three years later Liverpool won the league and the Uefa Cup. A year after that they produced arguably the greatest performance of Shankly’s reign in demolishing Newcastle in the FA Cup final. He promptly retired.

As Mauricio Pochettino has found, that is not how modern football works. Modern football likes nothing more than to identify a crisis and to respond to it with sacrifice. Perhaps that is simple economics – it is cheaper to replace a manager than half the squad – but there is also something ritualistic about it, the elders leading the designated scapegoat sadly to the altar. Sir Alex Ferguson identified football’s lust for blood with reality TV and the idea that somebody must be voted off each week, but the urge perhaps lies deeper than that: Isaac, Jephthah’s daughter, Iphigenia, Jesus, Sydney Carton, Edward Woodward’s police officer in The Wicker Man – they all pre-date the X Factor.

Football operates in cycles. Coaches as different as Béla Guttmann and Gordon Strachan have identified the third year as fatal, the moment when a critical mass of players tire of the techniques and idiosyncrasies of their manager, when one or other has to change. Managers such as Ferguson and Valeriy Lobanovskyi were able to sustain their success for so long because they were ruthless in refreshing their squads. Shankly acknowledged he had waited too long but was given time to enact a second revolution. Pochettino was not afforded that luxury.

The Argentinian, having been at Tottenham since 2014, had identified the problem. He knew it was not just about building a good squad and letting it run. For two years he has been urging rejuvenation but when it came last summer with three signings, two of whom have struggled with injury, it was too little too late. What has happened to Tottenham this season – 14th in the table after three wins in 12 games – is the price of last season, when they did not make a single senior signing.

Two factors have exacerbated the problem. First, that Pochettino’s way of playing is particularly exhausting. A hard pressing style is hugely demanding. When belief goes, the downturn can be dramatic. It happened, for instance, to Borussia Dortmund in Jürgen Klopp’s final season and, more pertinently, it happened to Pochettino as a player at his first club. Newell’s Old Boys claimed the Apertura in 1990-91 and the Clausura in 1991-92, also reaching the final of the 1992 Copa Libertadores, but the manager Marcelo Bielsa then left and form collapsed; they finished bottom of the 1992-93 Apertura.

Pochettino is not an inflexible disciple of Bielsa, is not as close to his methods as, say, Jorge Sampaoli, but the influence is clear and that can create problems. “It’s a method that provokes a certain level of tiredness,” said the former Newell’s full-back Juan Manuel Llop. “Not just physical tiredness, but also mental, emotional. Because the competitive level is so high, it’s difficult to keep up with it … there comes a time that the human being relaxes. It’s not that you abandon it, but you let something go because you feel worn out.”

If the 7-2 home defeat to Bayern Munich is accepted as something of a freak, Tottenham’s worst performance of the season came in the 3-0 loss at Brighton. Nine of the 11 who started that game have been at the club four years or more. It is hardly surprising if they have begun to feel fatigued, and that perhaps explains why Tottenham’s pressing has been so obviously less intense this season.

As a rough measure of that, in every previous season under Pochettino, Spurs have been one of the top six sides in the league for winning the ball back within 40 metres of their opponents’ goal; this season they are 15th. Any disillusionment will hardly be assuaged by the knowledge they could have been earning significantly higher wages elsewhere.

Tottenham being in the Champions League may have come to seem familiar, but by most financial metrics they remain the sixth-biggest club in the Premier League. And that is why something feels so self-defeating about Pochettino’s departure. For all their struggles this season, they remain one win off fifth. There was no threat of relegation such as that which prompted Middlesbrough to dismiss Gareth Southgate or West Brom Roberto Di Matteo. Nor was there the sense of insoluble toxicity that characterised José Mourinho’s final weeks at Chelsea. Even with four key players running down their contracts, this was salvageable.

But instead Tottenham have chosen the familiar route of replacing the manager. Perhaps the situation was irresolvable. Perhaps Pochettino, as his increasingly regular hints about leaving suggested, had lost patience with the project. But Spurs have paid £12.5m to release from his contract a well-respected and in-demand manager with a proven record of working on a budget and developing young players, and replaced him with Mourinho, who habitually complains about a lack of funding and, for all his protestations, has a limited record of youth development.

Where Pochettino’s sides at their best pressed hard, Mourinho essentially eschewed pressing as part of his rejection of Barcelona in 2008; his Manchester United side had the lowest running stats in the league when he was sacked a year ago. Perhaps weary players will relish the change, but this represents a major shift in approach and, as such, is a major gamble.

Sometimes the logic of football does not feel like logic at all.

The Guardian Sport



Meloni Condemns 'Enemies of Italy' after Clashes in Olympics Host City Milan

Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
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Meloni Condemns 'Enemies of Italy' after Clashes in Olympics Host City Milan

Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned anti-Olympics protesters as "enemies of Italy" after violence on the fringes of a demonstration in Milan on Saturday night and sabotage attacks on the national rail network.

The incidents happened on the first full day of competition in the Winter Games that Milan, Italy's financial capital, is hosting with the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Meloni praised the thousands of Italians who she said were working to make the Games run smoothly and present a positive face of Italy.

"Then ⁠there are those who are enemies of Italy and Italians, demonstrating 'against the Olympics' and ensuring that these images are broadcast on television screens around the world. After others cut the railway cables to prevent trains from departing," she wrote on Instagram on Sunday.

A group of around 100 protesters ⁠threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at police after breaking away from the main body of a demonstration in Milan.

An estimated 10,000 people had taken to the city's streets in a protest over housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Games.

Police used water cannon to restore order and detained six people.

Also on Saturday, authorities said saboteurs had damaged rail infrastructure near the northern Italian city of Bologna, disrupting train journeys.

Police reported three separate ⁠incidents at different locations, which caused delays of up to 2-1/2 hours for high-speed, Intercity and regional services.

No one has claimed responsibility for the damage.

"Once again, solidarity with the police, the city of Milan, and all those who will see their work undermined by these gangs of criminals," added Meloni, who heads a right-wing coalition.

The Italian police have been given new arrest powers after violence last weekend at a protest by the hard-left in the city of Turin, in which more than 100 police officers were injured.


Liverpool New Signing Jacquet Suffers 'Serious' Injury

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026  Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026 Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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Liverpool New Signing Jacquet Suffers 'Serious' Injury

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026  Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026 Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Liverpool's new signing Jeremy Jacquet suffered a "serious" shoulder injury while playing for Rennes in their 3-1 Ligue 1 defeat at RC Lens on Saturday, casting doubt over the defender’s availability ahead of his summer move to Anfield.

Jacquet fell awkwardly in the second half of the ⁠French league match and appeared in agony as he left the pitch.

"For Jeremy, it's his shoulder, and for Abdelhamid (Ait Boudlal, another Rennes player injured in the ⁠same match) it's muscular," Rennes head coach Habib Beye told reporters after the match.

"We'll have time to see, but it's definitely quite serious for both of them."
Liverpool agreed a 60-million-pound ($80-million) deal for Jacquet on Monday, but the 20-year-old defender will stay with ⁠the French club until the end of the season.

Liverpool, provisionally sixth in the Premier League table, will face Manchester City on Sunday with four defenders - Giovanni Leoni, Joe Gomez, Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley - sidelined due to injuries.


Højlund Rescues Napoli with Dramatic 3-2 win Over Genoa in Serie A

Napoli's Rasmus Winther Hojlund celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal  during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa Cfc and Ssc Napoli at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, 07 February 2026.  EPA/LUCA ZENNARO
Napoli's Rasmus Winther Hojlund celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa Cfc and Ssc Napoli at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, 07 February 2026. EPA/LUCA ZENNARO
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Højlund Rescues Napoli with Dramatic 3-2 win Over Genoa in Serie A

Napoli's Rasmus Winther Hojlund celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal  during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa Cfc and Ssc Napoli at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, 07 February 2026.  EPA/LUCA ZENNARO
Napoli's Rasmus Winther Hojlund celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Genoa Cfc and Ssc Napoli at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, Italy, 07 February 2026. EPA/LUCA ZENNARO

Rasmus Højlund scored a last-gasp penalty as 10-man Napoli won 3-2 at Genoa in Serie A on Saturday, keeping pressure on the top two clubs from Milan.

Højlund was fortunate Genoa goalkeeper Justin Bijlow was unable to keep out his low shot, despite getting his arm to the ball in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

The spot kick was awarded after Maxwel Cornet – who had just gone on as a substitute – was adjudged after a VAR check to have kicked Antonio Vergara’s foot after the Napoli midfielder dropped dramatically to the floor.

Højlund’s second goal of the game moved Napoli one point behind AC Milan and six behind Inter Milan. They both have a game in hand.

“We showed that we’re a team that never gives up, even in difficult situations, in emergencies, and despite being outnumbered, we had the determination to win. I’m proud of my players’ attitude, and I thank them and congratulate them because the victory was deserved,” Napoli coach Antonio Conte said, according to The Associated Press.

His team got off to a bad start with goalkeeper Alex Meret bringing down Vitinha after a botched back pass from Alessandro Buongiorno just seconds into the game. A VAR check confirmed the penalty and Ruslan Malinovskyi duly scored from the spot in the second minute.

Scott McTominay was involved in both goals as Napoli replied with a quickfire double. Bijlow saved his first effort in the 20th but Højlund tucked away the rebound, and McTominay let fly from around 20 meters to make it 2-1 a minute later.

However, McTominay had to go off at the break with what looked like a muscular injury, and another mistake from Buongiorno allowed Lorenzo Colombo to score in the 57th for Genoa.

“Scott has a gluteal problem that he’s had since the season started. It gets inflamed sometimes," Conte said of McTominay. "He would have liked to continue, but I preferred not for him to take any risks because he’s a key player for us.”

Napoli center back Juan Jesus was sent off in the 76th after receiving a second yellow card for pulling back Genoa substitute Caleb Ekuban.

Genoa pushed for a winner but it was the visitors who celebrated after a dramatic finale.

"The penalty wasn’t perfect. I was also lucky, but what matters is that we won,” Højlund said.

Fiorentina rues missed opportunity Fiorentina was on course to escape the relegation zone until Torino defender Guillermo Maripán scored deep in stoppage time for a 2-2 draw in the late game.

Fiorentina had come from behind after Cesare Casadei’s early goal for the visitors, with Manor Solomon and Moise Kean both scoring early in the second half.

A 2-1 win would have lifted Fiorentina out of the relegation zone, but Maripán equalized in the 94th minute with a header inside the far post after a free kick for what seemed like a defeat for the home team.

Fiorentina had lost its previous three games, including to Como in the Italian Cup.

Earlier, Juventus announced star player Kenan Yildiz's contract extension through June 2030.