Mauricio Pochettino, former defender (2001-2003) and coach (2021-2022) of Paris Saint-Germain, who is now in charge of the United States national team, spoke to L’Equipe in an interview published this Tuesday. He defended his approach at PSG, whose project needed to evolve. But he also explained his resentment towards “certain pundits” during his time in Paris.
Pochettino: “I think we weren’t helped by certain pundits either.”
“I think we weren’t helped by certain pundits either. Like in Marseille where Hakimi was sent off early in the second half and the match ended 0-0 (October 24, 2021).”
Thierry Henry, who was commentating for Prime, said he didn’t understand why Pochettino had put Messi on the right when he was better alongside Neymar. To that, I reply: Pochettino and his staff didn’t deliberately send Messi to the right in the second half. Sometimes players find themselves in a defensive position to recover, to regain their freshness, and that was the case with Messi.
So, if a former player like Henry criticizes this situation and holds me responsible, it causes an uproar. You hear: “This coach doesn’t know how to play Messi. He doesn’t know how to use Mbappé.” (He laughs.) That’s the kind of irresponsibility some people in football can adopt. The ideal target at PSG, the scapegoat, was the coach.
Pochettino: “We had the necessary knowledge to create a solid structure.”
Were you annoyed by the criticism from former players like Thierry Henry?
No. But I remember telling him that. He actually agreed with me and replied, “Well, what do you want me to do?” No! Not “What do you want me to do?” Don’t lie, that’s all. Sometimes it’s things like that that hurt me the most.
When you sign with PSG, it’s because you have a track record. It’s not to do me a favor. Nobody does you any favors in football. I don’t care if people tell me I’m ugly, fat, or whatever. But lying… At that time, there was a lot of disrespect shown to us.
I repeat: we had the necessary expertise to create a solid structure to give Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé the opportunity to perform at their best. But, well, the decision was made to remove us. “
It’s easy to understand Pochettino’s annoyance, especially given how frustrated and tired we can already be by the comments we hear. This is particularly true regarding PSG, but not only. We aren’t even inside the club, with the players, involved in the decisions that need to be made. These decisions are constantly questioned and criticized by outsiders. Some pundits’ opinions even become accepted as fact. We saw this with the criticism leveled at Marco Verratti, Neymar, Marquinhos, and even Luis Enrique for a while.
It’s all the more difficult to bear when the criticism is often quite superficial, with more catchy phrases than in-depth analysis. Unfortunately, this has been part of the game for some time now, and it’s also up to the clubs to know when to let it go. Pochettino and his staff shouldn’t have let themselves be discouraged by such criticism. They need to be confident and move forward with the project.”
Luis Enrique did a great job, perhaps with better support from the club. Ultimately, it was his style of play that convinced everyone, especially since it led to great results. Pochettino didn’t particularly give the impression of heading in the right direction, of being in control of the team’s development. It’s important that pundits don’t bear the responsibility for his failure either, even if we wish they were more impartial.
