Harry Redknapp says Mauricio Pochettino’s job is safe – but Spurs should be pushing for Premier League title
Harry Redknapp believes Mauricio Pochettino will lead Tottenham to third place in the Premier League this season, although he thinks they should be challenging for the title.
The former Spurs boss believes the Argentine possesses as good a squad as Liverpool and Manchester City, although he brushed off the suggestion that a sacking could be in the pipeline.
Tottenham, who reached the Champions League final last season, have begun the 2019/20 campaign in dreadful form.
Last weekend’s 3-0 defeat away to Brighton was their fourth loss in the last five games and left them ninth in the table, 13 points behind leaders Liverpool.
They haven’t fared much better in Europe, drawing 2-2 with Olympiacos in their opening Champions League group game before being hammered 7-2 in London by Bayern Munich two weeks ago.
But Redknapp doesn’t think the club hierarchy will be considering getting rid of Pochettino regardless of the slow start.
“Absolutely that is not going to happen," he told the Mail Online.
“'I don’t know if they’ve overachieved. They should be finishing in the top three with that squad, that’s where they should be, there’s no doubt about that in my opinion.
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“But to get to a Champions League final was great for them. It was great to see them reach the final.
“At the start of the year I really thought Spurs would push Man City and Liverpool a lot, lot closer. Tottenham have got a great team, with Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Son – I thought this could be their year.
“But it’s been a disappointing start for them for sure and they need to turn it around quickly, but I still think they’ll finish third.”
Pochettino has shown his frustration with his club’s lack of spending in the past, but Redknapp pointed out the strength of the group and facilities he has available.
“They’ve got the best stadium in the country, the best training ground. It’s all in place,” he said.
“They’ve got a great group of players. It’s some squad, if you go through it. I don’t care what anybody says I don’t think there’s a lot between that squad and Liverpool’s and Man City’s squad, I really don’t.
“You’re as good as your players. Graham Taylor once said 'your manager is never as good as you think he is and he’s never as bad as you think he is, he’s somewhere in between' and that is football management.
“If you put Pochettino, or you put Pep [Guardiola] or [Jurgen] Klopp and let them go and manage Brighton or manage Norwich or Sheffield United, they’re not gonna go and put them in the top six, it doesn’t work that way.
“It’s about the players. He [Pochettino] has got the good players but at the moment there have been hiccups – one of two of them are not playing to their real potential or as good as they can.”
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Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.