Tottenham’s players live in “fear” of the club’s spiky assistant manager Jesus Perez, according to a report.
Football London claim on their live blog (Monday, 4.52pm) that the Spaniard is “one tough guy” and “he’s the one the players fear at Spurs”.
Perez joined Mauricio Pochettino in angrily confronting referee Mike Dean at the final whistle following Tottenham’s Saturday defeat to Burnley and the pair face being hit with misconduct charges by the FA.
OPINION
Perez may be short of stature, but he has an over-grown personality that plays perfectly off the manager Mauricio Pochettino. The 47-year-old was Pochettino’s assistant at former clubs Southampton and Espanyol after initially joining the Spanish outfit as a first-team analyst. As the manager’s book explains, Perez is in charge of much of the day-to-day running of the team, including hosting medical debriefs, liaising with the fitness coaches and formulating training sessions. Pochettino is, of course, in overall charge, but makes no attempt to hide how much he relies upon the advice and input of his sidekick. Indeed, Perez often sits alongside the Argentine during media conferences, and he is the man constantly chivving, encouraging and digging out the players. It appears he is in control of the rollockings, too, with Pochettino maintaining more of a distance. The duo are mostly calm and composed, but they are passionate, too, and that clearly spilled over into aggression at Turf Moor. It was ugly and unnecessary, and they should both be carpeted by the FA.