How Pochettino has become the king of the lukewarm water tap since arriving in Paris



Pochettino, the new terror of press conferences. – CHRISTOPHE SAIDI / SIPA

  • Since his arrival at PSG last January, Mauricio Pochettino has carved out a reputation as a specialist in the language of wood at a press conference.
  • Still, the Argentinean hasn’t always been so stingy with words in the face of journalists, especially when he was coaching Spain’s Barcelona team.
  • But over time, the experience coming, Poché ended up not saying much to the media, to the delight of the Parisian leaders.

Two rooms, two atmospheres. Unlike Thomas Tuchel, his predecessor, who at the end of his Parisian mandate transformed each press conference into a battlefield to settle accounts with management or journalists, Mauricio Pochettino opted for a diametrically opposed strategy: while restraint and in hackneyed stencils. We had further proof of this on Tuesday, during the press conference on the eve of the PSG-Manchester City match.

The profile of this shock of the Champions League semi-finals? “It will be a battle between two good teams”. Which game system and which players are most likely to start? “We will try to put together the best starting XI.” We try our luck with a question about the opponent. An opinion on Phil Foden, in great shape at the moment? “Yes, he’s a very good player, like everyone who plays for City.” Move on, there’s nothing to say.

When a colleague sets foot in the dish

Poché’s press conferences no longer border on caricature, they have bluntly merged with it. To the point of pushing one of our colleagues to set foot in the dish after yet another dip in the Parisian coach’s pool of lukewarm water, before the match against Saint-Etienne in mid-April. In the discussion group between journalists and the club, on WhatsApp, he is worried to see Pochettino send each question in less time than it takes to ask them. “Not even out of respect for us [les journalistes], he specifies. But for the supporters of PSG who read his words ”.

On our side, we thought that by choosing to answer the questions in Spanish and by coming to the confs accompanied by his translator, Pochettino was going to take the opportunity to develop his ideas. Paradoxically, the exact opposite has happened. PSG retorts that if we are free to ask the questions we want, the former Spurs reserves the same right when it comes to answering us. What is true. We are also made to understand that this may be due to the content of our questions.

This is also the opinion of our colleague Guillem Balague, the author of the biography of Pochettino, who knows the guy inside out. “I realized that you, the French journalists, asked him a lot of questions about the contracts of the players, the profiles for the transfer window, all these things which are more the responsibility of Leonardo. And as he is someone very, very attentive to respecting the hierarchy of the clubs in which he works, he knows his role and he sticks to it. “If there is surely a little truth in what Ballague tells us, we do not forget either that a question on offensive animation, Pochettino once answered” if we have to engage in debates on tactics, it would take us hours ”.

We have known the more disserting Argentine

The former Parisian defender has not always been so cautious, so careful, call it what you want. When he started out on the Espanyol bench, Poché’s press conferences were even an unmissable event. Journalist Javier De Haro remembers: ““ He always took the time to answer questions at length. We felt that beyond journalists, he wanted to speak directly to supporters to give them reasons to believe in him and his team. He was never stingy with words, with explanations. These press conferences very often exceeded the hour and a half. He even had to answer on a whole bunch of subjects that went beyond his era of competence and responsibility.

“There was a period when the presidency was vacant, so for half a season he had to behave both as a coach but also as a president. He was very involved, independently of purely sporting subjects, in the institutional communication of the club. “

Ditto in Tottenham. According to journalist Ben Pearce, if the native of Murphy in Argentina was never a big fan of the exercise of the confs, at least he was trying to give the media a little cookie. “He did not want his words to be embarrassing in high places, especially on topics that are not of his primary competence. Now, like Daniel Levy [le président du club] is someone very discreet in the media, it has happened to him to have to leave his role of manager and to tackle topics very far from the sporting field, like the works of the new stadium which had taken a lot of delay ”, explains the follower of Spurs. Quite the opposite of what we ask him in Paris, roughly.

PSG will not complain

Aware that Tuchel’s unfiltered communication partly cost the German his place, Pochettino quickly understood that to last at PSG, it was better not to worry too much about the kibble in Leonardo’s bowl. “Between the dismissal of Tuchel and his appointment, Pochettino took advantage of these few days to learn about the Parisian context. And among the targeted elements, there was of course the incisive communication side of Tuchel. He has adapted to that, ”says one of our fellow PSG specialists. At the club they must be delighted, they can almost take a nap during his press conferences! Qataris love it when it’s calm and nothing sticks out. “

Pochettino was perhaps also cooled by the “Marco Verratti Gate”, upon his arrival at PSG, when a journalist made him understand that his choice to reposition the Italian higher on the pitch had already done the trick. Paris, despite the setting up behind closed doors the day before at Camp des Loges. In his defense, we must admit that Paris Saint-Germain is a club apart where leaks in the press are elevated to the rank of semi-religion. This is not necessarily conducive to building a relationship of trust with the media.

Ben Pearson: “Pochettino is someone who needs to know who he is talking to in order to know how far he can go in his speech. In Paris, he is still getting to know journalists to find out what he can and cannot say. “” Before, if he had to go to the fire, if he had to push such and such a rant, he did not deprive himself of it. Today, with his experience, he has learned to say less so as not to put himself in danger, confirms De Haro. He put a lot more distance between himself and the journalists. And the more the years go by, the more politically correct it becomes. “

The follower of Espanyol goes even further, he who over time has ended up forging a more personal than professional relationship with the Parisian coach. “As a friend, I regularly checked in on him. In Tottenham for example, I had been able to call him the day of the Champions League final [perdue contre Liverpool en 2019]. But since he has been at PSG, I have not been able to contact him anymore… But whether it is with me or with you, the French media, I do not think he is very happy not to be able to confide more in depth. We promise we’ll try to ask him the question next time.





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