Mauricio Pochettino returns to Tottenham with roles reversed in emotional sweepstakes
- Tottenham host Chelsea in London derby on Monday night
- Mauricio Pochettino making first return to Spurs since 2019 sacking
- Argentine has played up his love for Tottenham ahead of kick-off
By Sean Walsh
Tottenham Hotspur, welcome to your multiverse of madness.
Monday will mark the first ever meeting between two of the club's most popular managers, with the incumbent Ange Postecoglou hosting former favourite Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine joked in his pre-match press conference that he would have liked to have returned to Spurs to watch a game sometime after his sacking while wearing a disguise, possibly during the lockdown era when masks were mandatory.
Instead, he's heading to a Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that's as loud as it has ever been, truly united for the first time since Pochettino himself led them into the ground, and with a fanbase decidedly split on how he should be received.
Both Postecoglou and Pochettino have played down suggestions that this reunion will be like meeting with an ex-partner - if in part because they have long been happily married to their respective partners. Both were full of praise for the other, everything seems amicable. But from the Argentine's Cobham house, it seemed too amicable.
Chelsea despise Tottenham. Chelsea love to make Tottenham miserable. Chelsea fans chant 'we hate Tottenham' before every home game.
The feeling is near-enough much mutual, but the Blues are not Spurs' number one enemy. Pochettino has even said so himself as a way of explaining his move to Stamford Bridge.
"If you remember I say clubs I'll never manage was Arsenal because I considered them the worst enemy of Tottenham and Barcelona because of Espanyol," he said on Friday.
Pochettino then proceeded to gush over Tottenham and how special the club will always be to him, adding: "It's really special [to return] because coming back after four years to a place we have amazing memories and created amazing memories together, I think it is special. I cannot lie."
As the embargoes for more of his pre-match musings were lifted, Pochettino risked the further ire of Chelsea's fanbase.
When asked if he has the same relationship with Blues supporters as he did with Spurs', he replied: "After four months? I cannot lie. I hope we can arrive on the same level that I had at Tottenham. Because then it would mean we are doing really well here.
"Of course, I expect one day to be on the same level but I cannot lie, at the moment, no. It is a tough situation."
At a time where Pochettino could do with endearing himself to the Chelsea faithful, this seemed more like a charm offensive to those of a Tottenham persuasion. He didn't have to reveal his true thoughts - this was an occasion where nobody would have faulted him for a smidgen of dishonesty.
90min understands that Pochettino would have been open to succeeding Antonio Conte when Spurs sacked the Italian back in March. A rather sizeable portion of fans wanted it, consistently chanting his old 'he's magic, you know' chant at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium while their season went up in flames.
Everything seemed fitting for an emotional reunion. Tottenham as a club had tried and failed to move on from Pochettino, the fans - whose relationship with the Argentine was for the most part near enough paternal - were ready just to feel something positive again. But Daniel Levy was busy trying to find the next Pochettino rather than the current one who had been burned by his most recent managerial experiences.
That, eventually, led him to Postecoglou.
Tottenham's pent-up and hormonal desire to love a manager again has been unleashed by the Greek-Australian, who - unlike Pochettino at Chelsea - made the most of his endearing personality and charm. By the end of month one, Postecoglou had Robbie Williams remixing his own songs in tribute to him.
While Spurs are currently enjoying this rollercoaster of emotion - one which Postecoglou has told them to enjoy as long as possible, such is the cruel and bitter nature of the real world - Pochettino must be looking over in envy. His adoration and respect while at Tottenham was much like the progress he oversaw; slow and steady, measured and composed but punctuated by moments rather than massive heaps of tangible glory.
For five-and-a-half years, Pochettino was the king of Tottenham. If they had won that ill-fated Champions League final, he would have unquestionably gone down as immortal. His legacy was being strengthened by Spurs' self-destruction under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
To use an online phrase, Postecoglou is now not the step-dad, but the dad that stepped up. Tottenham have at long last found some closure from their hectic break-up from Pochettino, but it's pretty obvious that feeling isn't mutual.
Chelsea head to north London sitting 13th in the Premier League table. They take on Manchester City later this week. Patience in Pochettino from the stands was wearing thin in regards to results and performances even before he decided to nail his Spurs colours to the mast and effectively crowd-surf the single-tier Park Lane end with a pint of Beavertown in hand.
But these antics have impressed neither side. Even in the lilywhite corner, Tottenham are loving Big Ange instead.
A Spurs win will send them back to the top of the Premier League, an achievement Pochettino only ever recorded in week two of his reign. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium can turn into a 'nightclub' as Postecoglou has christened it again. Pochettino will find himself staring straight down the Chelsea barrel if he comes away from his old home pointless.
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