Tottenham certainly did have a great season last time around, even though on the last day they finished behind their arch-rivals, Arsenal. While that blip and end of season implosion didn’t cost Tottenham all that much, it should serve as a warning to Mauricio Pochettino about how tough the league actually is and each team will be looking to get stronger for the campaign after the Euros end.
The London side certainly played some great football and most of the decisions taken by the manager for 3/4ths of the season worked like a charm. Spurs are going to play Champions League football and that in itself is a pretty big deal.
Pochettino knows he will have a lot of competition from other clubs next season and ensuring a top four place will not easy. We look at three things the Argentine manager must do to keep Tottenham in the top four spots next season.
Target the right players
Pochettino did do one thing right when he joined the club and that was to get rid of all the excess players at the club and reducing the wage bill to an extent. Last season, he brought in a few players and barring Kevin Wimmer, no one really stepped up at the club.
Clinton N’Jie spent most of the season injured while Son Heung Min could not adjust to the rigours of the Premier League. Tottenham require a pretty large squad since they will have a lot more tough games next season owing to the Champions League and Pochettino must ensures that he gets the right players.
Get the deals done in quickly
With Euro 2016 and Copa America 2016 both being held close to each other, it will be tough to get negotiations done but the more time is wasted, the chances of losing out on the players that he targets grows.
Pochettino might not want to wait for the end of the two competitions and bringing the players in before pre-season would actually help the players get better and gel with the squad as well. Signing the players early will help them acclimatize to the country faster as well and ensure that they perform from the get go.
Plan for the extra games and prioritise
If there was one thing that many people actually admired about Pochettino’s team was that he always sent out a side that had quality. You would have to count on one hand the times when the Argentine sent out a team that was “weak” on paper at least.
However, that did cost them in the long run as playing in the Europa League and sending out a strong side didn’t work out, the same issue occurred in the FA Cup when they lost out as well. The cup games will be important but Pochettino would have to decide which games are more important. The UEFA Champions League is the Holy Grail that everyone looks to get into and Pochettino would have to make some tough decisions and also a few enemies as he prioritises games next season and rotates his team.
