Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino drew great attention by directly mentioning the possibility of Tottenham's return.
Chelsea is set to play against Tottenham in the 11th round of the Premier League in the 2023/24 season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, at 5 a.m. on the 7th.
Until just before the season, the situation between the two teams was rather opposite. Tottenham was expected to go through a transition period this season, appointing Anji Postecoglou, who has no experience in Europe's top five leagues, along with Harry Kane's transfer to Bayern Munich. Chelsea, on the other hand, invested heavily despite its sluggish performance last season, and appointed Mauricio Pochettino, who succeeded in the Premier League stage, as its head coach, and it was expected to be a year of rebound again.
Since the opening of the season, Tottenham has been listed at the top of the league based on Son Heung-min and James Maddison's strong performances, the team's spectacular attacking football, and stable defense, while Chelsea has rarely raised its ranking due to front-line decisions, injuries to the team, and frustrating offensive tactics.
Before the game, Pochettino, who had a reputation as Tottenham's head coach in the past, was facing Tottenham as Chelsea manager.
Pochettino has led Tottenham for about six years since 2013, making good achievements in Tottenham history along with Son Heung-min, Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli. In the 2018/19 season, he also pleased fans with his first achievement in the UEFA Champions League final.
Pochettino had to leave Tottenham in November 2019 due to poor performance, and he has since been through Paris Saint-Germain and is currently managing Chelsea. However, Tottenham fans' love for Pochettino continued until recently. When Antonio Conte was sluggish at Tottenham last season, fans shouted Pochettino's name and did not hide their hope for his return.
In the meantime, Pochettino also expressed his intention that he may return to Tottenham someday, making Tottenham fans dream of reuniting with him.
British media Metro reported on the 6th that "Pochettino has revealed whether he will join Tottenham again."
Metro acknowledged that "Pochettino is willing to return to the Tottenham bench as Chelsea prepare for the match against Tottenham." He means a lot to meet with the team he led for the first time since he was replaced in 2019. He has close ties with Tottenham fans, and has recently been closely linked to Conte's possible appointment to Tottenham twice since he was fired, he said.
"Tottenham eventually hired Anji Postecoglou, and Pochettino moved to Stamford Bridge to take charge of Tottenham rival Chelsea," he added.
According to reports, when Pochettino was asked about the possibility of returning to Tottenham at a pre-Tottenham press conference, "I hope to stay at Chelsea for 20 to 25 years until I die, but I never know what will happen tomorrow. I'm 51, and I think more about enjoying today without looking too much into the future. However, we never know the future," he said indirectly, saying that Tottenham's return could also be possible in the future.
"If I'm not working, there's no reason why they don't want me someday, right?" he said, explaining that Tottenham can also hope for his return someday.
Pochettino stressed that apart from the feelings of Chelsea fans, he did not want to show his hostility towards Tottenham. "I have to be natural, not fake," he said. I don't want to be a hypocrite and say something I don't feel. I can't say I forgot it all. Rather, it would seem more foolish. I'm just going to enjoy a natural and wonderful game, and I want to win. I don't think it's revenge at Tottenham's home stadium," he said, noting that he still has good memories of Tottenham, but will also take victory.
Pochettino also mentioned Son Heung-min at the press conference. Asked how he intends to stop Son Heung-min, he said, "I'm not going to play center back," reminding him that his position during his active career was a central defender and adding, "Our team's defenders should stop him." We know he's a fantastic player. It's one of the best in the Premier League. I hope it will not be a good night for him," he declared to block Son Heung-min.
In fact, Son Heung-min has been performing well in the evaluation that he is a fantastic player this season. Son Heung-min, who scored only 10 goals in the league last season, made a perfect comeback in the 2023/24 season. Son Heung-min, who received from Anji Postecoglou, succeeded in returning to the Premier League's best striker while enjoying his new role.
Son Heung-min has scored as many as six goals in four league games in September since changing his position to No. 9 striker. No player performed better than Son in September, so the Premier League named Son as the September Player of the Month.
Son's momentum continued in October. Son Heung-min, who led the 2-0 victory against Fulham in the ninth round of the league on the 24th with one goal and one assist, immediately contributed to a 2-1 new victory by scoring a goal in the 10th round away match at Crystal Palace. Amid Son Heung-min's performance, Tottenham went undefeated in the league (8 wins and 2 draws) after the opening and took the lead in the Premier League.
Britain's "Sky Sports" explained that the change under Postecoglou and Son Heung-min's existing strengths created synergy, leading to Son's revival.
Sky Sports said on the 20th, "Son Heung-min is now working a lot in the opponent's penalty box," and explained, "Son Heung-min, who has had less than 10% of touches in the box compared to the total number of ball touches so far, is close to 20% of the touch ratio this season." It is argued that the number of times Son Heung-min touches in the box, who had good goal decisiveness before, has increased significantly. In fact, all eight goals Son Heung-min scored this season were scored in the box, and it was pointed out that former coach Antonio Conte used Son Heung-min close to midfielder as one of the reasons for Son's poor performance last season, and Postecoglou maximized his scoring ability by moving Son Heung-min close to the box.
Like Postecoglou, Pochettino is one of the coaches who made a turning point in Son's career. In an interview with Britain's Evening Standard in 2019, Son Heung-min once said he seriously considered leaving Tottenham after the 2015/16 season. The reason why Son Heung-min considered the transfer for the first time in a year was the lack of playing time. Son Heung-min, who recalled that time, said, "I almost left Tottenham at that time. "I want to go back to Germany because I'm not comfortable here for Pochettino," he said.
In fact, Wolfsburg and others showed serious interest in recruiting, and Tottenham was able to receive the transfer fee that was given to Leverkusen. It was possible to recover the principal. Son Heung-min was also making up his mind by moving to Wolfsburg. However, Pochettino convinced Son Heung-min at this time. Son Heung-min, who trusted Pochettino and remained at Tottenham, immediately became a key striker for Tottenham with 21 goals and 9 assists in all competitions, including 14 goals and 8 assists in the league in the 2016/17 season.
He also acknowledged that Tottenham is a team that has entered the competition for the championship. When asked, "Can Tottenham compete for the league title?" Pochettino affirmed, "Yes," and said, "I think so. Tottenham are looking very fantastic. All the coaches, including Anji Postecoglou, are fantastic. We all feel Tottenham can compete for the league title because it is a team with very good players. "It's still early in the season, but he's showing himself as a competitor," he praised.
Tottenham is showing a tremendous rise this season, along with coach Postecoglou's excellent guidance, along with the performances of key players such as Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Mickey Panderpen. Tottenham (26 points) finished second behind Manchester City (27 points), which had eight wins and two draws in 10 league games, but could return to the lead depending on the results of the match against Chelsea on the 7th.
In the absence of Kane, the freshmen's performance was outstanding, so they gained a lot of momentum at the beginning of the season, and expectations for Postecoglou that he will be able to lead Tottenham to an era of glory once again after Pochettino have grown.
However, there were some negative opinions about the match against Chelsea. According to British media The Sun, Arsenal legend Paul Merson said, "They will move forward," claiming that Chelsea will be suitable to face Tottenham because such an aggressive and high line of Tottenham can make room for Chelsea to counterattack.
"Chelsea prefer to play against a team like Tottenham. For Chelsea, it is more difficult to deal with teams sitting still. They just look at 10 people behind the ball. That's why I think they would be more confident going away to Tottenham than going against Brentford at home. "If Chelsea loses, I will be shocked," he said, predicting Chelsea's dominance over the match between Tottenham and Chelsea. However, it is not expected that Tottenham will collapse as Merson guarantees because Tottenham's momentum is much better. 토토사이트
As more attention is drawn to the match between Chelsea and Tottenham due to the memories of Pochettino and Tottenham beyond the match between the priests, attention is also being paid to what the two teams will take care of.