London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea begin their League Cup semifinal with a first leg at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, and their managers are striking two different notes on the same ideas: Championships and legacy.
Both involve the big picture, though, and Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri‘s thoughts center around the importance of winning hardware. Not just for his short reign at Chelsea, but — pressure alert — Pochettino’s tenure at Spurs.
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“I agree he has to win a trophy, I hope not this,” Sarri said, according to The London Evening Standard. “For Pochettino, four years (without a trophy), for Jurgen Klopp, four years. It was really very hard in the first season also for Pep Guardiola so here it is really very difficult to build up a very good team – you need time.”
Sarri also admitted that the Blues’ 3-1 Premier League loss at Spurs hurt their season in a big way.
Meanwhile, Pochettino was discussing his admiration for another former London boss, two-decade plus Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger. And for him, five years is a short part of a big project. From the LES:
“It’s true it’s only going to be my fifth year,” Pochettino said. “But it’s true we work and we know the reality of all that happens inside, and sometimes we cannot expect that the people [on the outside] live the same reality or have the same knowledge about what happens inside. I hope, or I wish maybe, to be here 20 years and decide to leave or to finish my career here.
“But I don’t know because I need to ask him if I have one day the possibility if he is so happy in the way that he finished. I don’t believe. What I saw from my point of view, it was so unfair how the people treated him and talked. But we’ll see.”
Are we the only ones having a difficult time keeping that in context? Does Pochettino harbor thoughts about leaving before spoiling his legacy? Or does he genuinely think a long run at Spurs is in the offering?
Trust us, Ed Woodward and Florentino Perez really would like to know the answers to those questions (even the context one).
