Mauricio Pochettino had a dig at Arsene Wenger recently after his comment regarding pundits celebrating teams that hadn’t made a final in 25 years was taken as a slant on Tottenham or Liverpool.
After Arsenal’s Carabao Cup semi-final win against Chelsea on Wednesday, Wenger explained why he thought it was strange that some teams are celebrated without having to make cup finals, while the Gunners are still criticised.
“Look, we have been in a few finals. Has it changed your (the media’s) mood? No,” Wenger said.
“You celebrate some teams who have not been in a final for 25 years and yet you kill us even though we have won the FA Cup three times in the last four years.
“It’s like that, we have to live with that. I have no illusions at all. The mood is decided by you (the press).”
It was immediately assumed that Wenger’s comment was a dig at Spurs and Liverpool, considering our north London rivals haven’t won anything meaningful since their FA Cup win in 1991. For Liverpool, it’s 2006. No, League Cups don’t count. Unless we win this year’s, obviously.
As soon as Pochettino heard the press’s version of this, he got defensive and said that Wenger shouldn’t talk about other clubs so much.
“I’m so young and only five years in the Premier League, in two clubs Southampton and Tottenham, but there’s no point to talk about another team,” Pochettino said.
“Praise? Of course we receive praise. Football is not only to win trophies, it’s the circumstances of different clubs. For me he is and will always be one of the best managers in the world, I respect him, but I think he needs to talk for himself and for Arsenal.
“For me he is a special manager, but everyone sometimes makes a mistake and for me he made a mistake to talk about us or a different team.”
Pot, meet kettle.
Wenger has since denied that he was even talking about Spurs but realises that Poch’ has probably been misled by the media.
“Of course he has been misled,” Wenger said during his pre-Swansea presser on Friday morning.
“He said I have to focus on Arsenal and he’s right, that’s what I do. I have no problem with him or with anybody else.
“I just want to be responsible for what I say but not what I was supposed to have said – that’s really disappointing for me.”
Although, from now on, presumably the ex-Southampton boss will practice what he preaches, right?
Here are nine examples of him doing the opposite.
9. 25 December, 2015
When Poch’ quoted Britney Spears at Christmas.
“I think it’s like what Britney Spears and Will.I.Am sing: ‘Everybody in the club, all eyes on us, all eyes on us’. Because it’s not important what Arsenal do.
“For me, it’s important to assess our season and how we can compare with us not how we compare with another team.
“If you finish in the top four it’s a success because we will have improved on last season.”
8. 7 May, 2016
When it looked like Spurs might actually finish above Arsenal for the first time since 1996.
“We have our own challenge but it is not our principle challenge to be above Arsenal. We want to play well and win trophies but this is not important for us,” he said.
They didn’t.
7. 9 May, 2016
Poch’ doesn’t care about Arsenal. He really, really doesn’t.
“I think that I don’t care about Arsenal, I want to win the league, I want to be on top but Arsenal I do not care about,” said the Argentine.
“Sure I want to be above them, but this I think is normal. But to try to improve, to try and be bigger, we need to concentrate on us and not look what is happening with our neighbours.
“We feel disappointed, I think that our last game at home we want to win but we are disappointed.”
6. 18 November, 2016
When Danny Rose injured Hector Bellerin.
“We want all players to be like a man, be aggressive, make a tackle, always. But intention to injury the opponent? In football you know.
“Sometimes you cannot stop, you arrive late and you cannot criticise every single tackle.
“It is very strange that comment [from Wenger]… but I respect him.”
5. 28 April, 2017
Again, can you see how much Poch’ DOESN’T care about Arsenal?
“My challenge is not to be above Arsenal,” Pochettino said. “My challenge is to be above 19 teams, and to be the first, on top. That is my challenge, my aim, my dream. I don’t care what happens with Arsenal. With all my respect, I care about what happens with us. I try to win every game and be the best. That is our big, big challenge.
“I really don’t think about Arsenal’s position.”
He added: “For me, (abolishing St. Totteringham’s Day) is not a motivation. The motivation is to win because it’s a derby and I know what that means. But it’s not a motivation to end that thing.
“I really don’t care about that celebration you have explained to me.”
4. 13 May, 2017
When he decided to get Wenger involved in his beef with Antonio Conte.
“Arsene Wenger should win the league every season because he is 20 years in charge, if that is the right way to measure our advantage.
“I think it’s not fair to measure with me, as it is to measure with Wenger. Twenty years is a massive advantage. Why not win every season?
“It’s not a criticism [of Wenger]. It was not the best comment from him [Conte].”
3. 18 November, 2017
When Poch’ insisted he doesn’t care about Arsenal’s 13 FA Cups. He wants ‘real’ trophies.
“Would I swap coming second and qualifying for the Champions League for Arsenal’s FA Cups? No.
“Because Tottenham is Tottenham and Arsenal are in another stage of their project.
“I don’t care where they are, because after three-and-a-half years we have achieved a lot.
“You arrive at a big club and you can play a final and win – that happens at Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea.
“At all big clubs they try to use the whole squad for the cups. But you know the Premier League and Champions League is a massive challenge for big clubs – this type of trophy are the real trophies.
“I would like to achieve more – to be first and not second and to win cups – but we are in different process of our project.”
2. 18 November, 2017
When he was annoyed that Arsenal actually beat Tottenham.
“It’s so difficult to explain when you lose in this way, with some details that maybe are big details and change everything. Because until that moment, [Granit] Xhaka maybe should be sent off before, the foul wasn’t a foul, the goal was offside,” he said.
“It changed of course the dynamic of the game. But we need to accept that. That is not under our control. If you analyse the game, until we conceded the goal, I think the team was doing well, I think we were better than them.
“But in the end it was even, the game. But when it’s a massive mistake like this, which is not one mistake, it’s two mistakes on the goal … At that moment, your plan changed. And I think that affected the team, and then we conceded a goal quickly, 2-0. And then to come back in this type of game is always difficult.”
1. 26 January, 2018
When Poch’ said he’d rather work on a farm than manage Arsenal…
“I am never going to be manager of Barcelona or Arsenal. That is my decision – I prefer to work on my farm in Argentina than in some places.”