Chelsea legend Joe Cole has said Tottenham’s star players will have been shocked by Mauricio Pochettino’s claim that it could be 10 years before the club win the Premier League.
Pochettino criticised his side’s lack of mental strength after a frustrating 2-1 defeat at Burnley, before going on to say it could take him a decade to develop a title-winning instinct at White Hart Lane. And BT Sport pundit Joe Cole believes Tottenham’s star men will be thinking about their own futures if they are forced to wait so long to taste silverware at the club.
‘If I’m Harry Kane and Dele Alli and my manager says we’re five, 10 years away from winning a trophy, I’m on the phone to my agent. He’s [Pochettino] made an improvement, but I don’t see him making a change in the mentality at Spurs, because you’re still seeing the same problems where you expect things like they’ll lose to Burnley at the weekend. All your quality English players, like your Winks’ and your Kanes and your Allis, have their sights set on winning Premier League titles. I’d personally think: “he thinks we’re…” you know,’ said Cole.
Cole’s comments were in response to Pochettino’s remarks made after Tottenham missed the chance to close the gap on Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League at Turf Moor. The Spurs boss was clearly agitated at full-time, storming on to the pitch to confront referee Mike Dean – actions that led the FA to charge the Spurs boss. The 46-year-old regained his composure later, admitting on Tuesday he will accept any punishment before apologising to Dean. But he was still acutely aware of the greater implications the defeat at Burnley could have for his squad – and warned it could take years to develop the right success-breeding mindset.
‘If we want to be real contenders, Burnley is a must-win game. It’s unacceptable to lose. If you lose you cannot say afterwards you are a real contender. In the last 10 or 12 games of the season, you have to be strong and dominate all the aspects of the game if you want to show you are a real contender. What we showed on Saturday was that we are a good team, that we have good quality, but that is not enough to win a title like the Premier League. That’s the reality. The players think the same. If you’re not capable of beating Burnley when you are going for the title, then it’s impossible to think that you are going to win the title,’ he said.