POCHETTINO'S START AT TOTTENHAM GOES UNDER THE RADAR

Mauricio Pochettino's reign as Tottenham's new manager has been very low key so far. With the club needing to sell in order to buy new talent, much work is needed in the month ahead for them to be a top four-challenging team.

 

D. Ray Morton, 20th July 2014.

Mauricio Pochettino has kept a low profile as Tottenham manager but will need to make strides in the transfer market if they are to challenge for those lucrative Champions League places

When Tim Sherwood's tenure as Tottenham boss ran down towards the end of last season, three candidates emerged to be the club's next permanent manager: Frank de Boer, Louis van Gaal and Mauricio Pochettino. All three were interested in the job at different stages but Daniel Levy and the Tottenham board opted for the latter based on his stellar work at Southampton. De Boer remains at Ajax Amsterdam and Louis van Gaal was handed the Manchester United reins boosted by having a fine World Cup guiding the Dutch national team to bronze medals. Some United fans are even talking about challenging for the Premier League title. One wonders whether such optimism would be at White Hart Lane had van Gaal gone there, keep in mind that Spurs did finish five points ahead of the Red Devils last season.

It is fair to say that Pochettino has operated under the radar so far. His goal is to finish in the top four but he must rebuild a flawed squad and also has a lengthy Europa League campaign ahead of him, something which Manchester United do not need to worry themselves with. To assemble this squad, he needs to sell to buy. Levy will not allow the free spending which backfired for the club last summer after the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid. Ben Davies, Swansea's capable left-back, will likely be their first signing of the summer for a fee of around €12.75m funded by the sale of Jake Livermore to Hull City for €10m.

Ben Davies (foreground) could be Tottenham's first signing of the summer

The real conundrum is, who to sell and who to keep. Jan Vertonghen, Hugo Lloris and Érik Lamela are their three most in-demand players but the club really need to keep the first two as they are key members of the first-team squad. Lamela is young, Argentine like Pochettino and has potential but had an awful first season at White Hart Lane troubled by injuries and homesickness. The option is there to offload him or try and rekindle the abilities he demonstrated in Italy with Roma. Then there is a list of squad members who can easily be disposed with should Spurs be able to attract buyers: Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Emmanuel Adebayor, Lewis Holtby, Kyle Naughton, Andros Townsend, Michael Dawson, Gylfi Sigurðsson and Sandro can all leave if suitable offers come in. Getting rid of a good few of those should raise a decent enough kitty to reinvest in the squad.

Some movement in the market is now crucial as desperation can rear its ugly head if business is left too late. No doubt technical director, Franco Baldini, is busy behind the scenes trying to close deals and the sooner they get done, the better. With North London rivals Arsenal having already signed one of the stars of the World Cup in Alexis Sánchez, Tottenham will have make a few moves in order to build a bit of much-needed belief around the club.

NEXT SEASON'S PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND

D. Ray Morton, 29th April 2014.

After initially flirting with Tottenham, Louis van Gaal is likely to be the next Man Utd manager

 

With the season winding down, speculation is mounting amongst several Premier League clubs as to who will take charge next season. Many teams want drastic change and only a handful of clubs have their managers pinned down, their respective boards pleased with their level of performance: Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City and Roberto Martinez at Everton. Mark Hughes at Stoke, Steve Bruce at Hull City and Tony Pulis at Crystal Palace are also secure. At every other club, however, there could very easily be change.

Mauricio Pochettino could be just the man for Tottenham next season

Looking higher up the table, Tottenham, Manchester United for certain and even Arsenal could be looking to recruit. Spurs are very likely to replace Tim Sherwood and with Louis van Gaal now nearly certain to move to Old Trafford, the North London club will have to look at other targets. Southampton's Mauricio Pochettino or Ajax's Frank de Boer are two names linked to the job. United are very close to signing van Gaal but it should be interesting to see where Ryan Giggs fits into all of this. Arsene Wenger will probably stay on at Arsenal although it looked as if he might have left had they failed to secure a Champions League spot.

Frank de Boer is also in high demand but might hold out for a very high profile job e.g. Barcelona

Further down the table, the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United must really take a long, hard look at their current managers and ask if they're good enough. Newcastle have been on a miserable run having lost their last six league games and really ought to get rid of Alan Pardew who already humiliated himself by attempting to headbutt David Meyler earlier on in the season to earn himself a lengthy touchline ban. Paul Lambert is struggling at Villa Park and it appears as if he's at a loss when it comes to finding a way to improve their form.

Paul Lambert seems completely out of ideas at Aston Villa

The relegation dog-fight will mean chopping and changing managers as three teams will have to face a step down to the Championship. It's hard to imagine Pepe Mel sticking around at West Brom, Felix Magath remaining at Fulham or even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being at Cardiff City next season seeing as they're as practically relegated now.

The average Premier League managerial reign is about 18 months these days so this constant replacing of managers is something we have to get used to. The days of stability are gone and three year contracts are the style of the time now. Short-term projects with precise goals seem to be the way forward. The farce that was Manchester United and David Moyes' season should act as a warning for clubs not to tie untested managers down to long-term deals. May the merry-go-round continue.