Tottenham suffered 3-0 defeat at Brighton after 7-2 loss to Bayern Munich
Sunday 6 October 2019 13:45, UK
The Sunday Supplement panel have given their verdict on whether Mauricio Pochettino should stay or go at Tottenham.
Pochettino has come under fire for one of his rockiest periods since he took the Tottenham job in 2014, on the back of a 7-2 home thrashing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League last week and a lethargic 3-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday.
The Sunday Supplement panel were asked their thoughts on the Spurs boss' future - and had some differing views on where the manager, and the club, go from here.
The Sun's Manchester United football writer Neil Custis:
"What alarmed me most about yesterday was the workrate, or lack of it. The reason Man City and Liverpool are so far ahead is not only because of the quality in the individuals and exceptional managers, it's the workrate too. The workrate when they lose the ball is incredible.
"Yesterday, there were moments when Spurs lost the ball high up the field and just ambled back, didn't close down, didn't try and tackle, ambled. Didn't run at all.
"They've given up on the manager, they're not playing for him, they know he's under pressure and they're not doing it for him. It's lamentable but it looks like a team that's just come to the end.
"Pochettino's defence, he's had an £87m net spend in the five years he's been there, is not a lot compared to what he's achieved, but you don't come back from situations like this when it's so clear that the players have given up and stopped playing for him.
"The record of 17 defeats in 2019 is the worst of any Premier League club, I think. The performance in the Champions League was awful, and the miracle of Amsterdam I think masked a lot that was going on at the time.
"It looks like a team that's gone, he's not done himself any favours with saying he might quit if they won the Champions League and little comments like that, and it's something Daniel Levy won't appreciate."
Daily Express sports reporter Matt Dunn:
"The players seem at rock bottom. I can buy some of the excuses from Tuesday, 7-2 was a runaway scoreline at the end, but the heads went down when the fifth went in and that's something you don't expect of this Spurs team.
"People are turning against Pochettino, but he gets the support of the press because he's an impressive human being, an impressive man. He treats the media with respect, which helps any manager. Those same qualities are the ones he uses with his players to a large degree. When you speak to players who have an axe to grind against him, at worst it's criticism that's guarded or qualified.
"He does seem to be able to get on with players who he wants to. He has those human qualities which are important in a manager, which is why people have been so supportive. If he gets his head together, he needs to send out a solid message to his dressing room that all the mucking around over his future, batting his eyelids over various clubs is going to stop, he's going to deliver a second-generation Spurs team before he leaves.
"That should be his commitment now. Seven players from 2014/15, that's looking tired now. Fergie never allowed that to happen. He talks about this being his next plan, he's got to show signs of delivering a team to fulfil that plan, and say I'm not going to go until I've put something in place to start winning things."
Daily Mail north east reporter Craig Hope:
"You look at what happened yesterday and there was no tempo, aggression or imagination in the game. You look at the team sheet and ask how can this be, but there's a feeling of the whole thing going stale.
"Expectation and ambition are at odds with one another. After the Southampton game, I was doing the Monday report, and the mood music was negative around Spurs but after I left the stadium, I was thinking things weren't all that bad; they've got a world-class manager, going down to 10 against Southampton seemed to galvanise them. I wrote 'Crisis, what crisis?' That aged well.
"You look at subsequent events and the performance against Bayern Munich wasn't terrible, every time they shot they scored, but yesterday the performance suggested there are wider problems.
"Would you get rid of Pochettino? Absolutely not. A manager of that calibre, everything they've done is because of him. It would be a very, very dangerous road to go down if you started to suspend someone of his class and calibre. I've always found him a thoroughly impressive man and a decent human being."
