Real Madrid’s defeat to Ajax tonight could prove more important for Tottenham’s future than Spurs’ own victory over Dortmund.
It was already a distinct possibility that events in Manchester and Madrid over the coming months could end up defining Spurs’ season more than Tottenham’s own results. And Real Madrid’s shock loss at the hands of Ajax tonight has increased the chances of that being the case considerably.
Coming into the encounter with Ajax, three home defeats for Madrid in the space of a fortnight was the sort of form that sets fingers twitching in the notoriously trigger-happy Bernabeu boardroom. Today’s defeat has made the position of Santiago Solari — Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino’s former teammate in the Argentinian national side — go from looking precarious to appearing doomed.
It seems almost certain Pochettino has turned down approaches from both Madrid and Manchester United already this season, after the sackings of Julen Lopetegui and Jose Mourinho respectively. Events tonight mean that the question of whether Pochettino will decline such advances a second time is very likely to loom large this summer.
And that’s of enormous importance to the club and their fans, because since taking over in 2014, Pochettino has consistently made Spurs punch above their weight to a quite remarkable degree.
It’s abundantly clear that he improves the players he coaches. The current Tottenham squad cost only £19 million more to assemble than Everton’s, and Spurs’ annual wage bill is just £2 million higher than that of Marco Silva’s side. Tottenham have twice finished third and once as runners-up in the past three seasons, despite having both the lowest transfer budget and wage bill of the Premier League’s big six.
Those are the club’s three best finishes since the Premier League was formed back in 1992, in fact. And Pochettino is on course to match these achievements again this season despite not having signed a single player in the summer. Today’s victory over Dortmund means he’s also matched Spurs’ finest-ever performance in the Champions League, when Harry Redknapp’s team reached the quarter-finals in the 2010–11 season.
Moreover, to put Spurs’ performances in these competitions under Pochettino in a clearer context, you have to go all the way back to the early 1960s to find a Tottenham manager who has done better. That was a period when the legendary Bill Nicholson led the club to a league and FA Cup double in 1961, the semifinals of the European Cup (the predecessor to the Champions League) a year later, and then a league runners-up spot in 1963.
Despite the demands for his services from elsewhere, though, there’s clearly a great deal to entice Pochettino to remain at Tottenham. They’re set to play their first game at the club’s new stadium in April, and his squad don’t seem to be far away from consistently challenging for major trophies.
Spurs’ away form is the best in the Premier League this season. Marry that with slightly better home results, and they’d be vying for the title in a season when Liverpool and Manchester City have been setting all kinds of records.
It’s also obvious that this Tottenham squad have yet to reach their full potential. Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Winks, Lucas Moura, Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez are all 26 or under, while Christian Eriksen, Kieran Trippier, Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld are each in their primes.
It would be a shame, then, not just for Spurs fans but also for many neutrals to see Pochettino abandon this project prematurely, especially to join clubs as dysfunctional as Madrid or Manchester United. But he left Southampton for Tottenham in 2014 because the north London club was more suited to his ambitions. Time will tell whether Pochettino once again feels that he has outgrown his surroundings.
None of this should diminish the fact that Tottenham prevailed in Dortmund tonight, of course. It just means that the final scoreline in Madrid could turn out to be more important to Spurs’ future.