OPINION
There would have been mixed emotions both in the stands and in the dressing room after Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Saturday.
On one hand the Lilywhites battled back to seal a point and avoid defeat to their bitter north London rivals but on the other hand Mauricio Pochettino’s men failed to live up to their expected standards.
It was by no means a vintage performance and the fact they required a penalty to score their equaliser speaks volumes about their struggles at the moment, having seen a significant dip in form.
Perhaps more telling is what is going on behind closed doors, with defender Danny Rose revealing his shock at the manner in which his manager spoke to him and his teammates at half time.
He told the Mirror: “The manager said some things at half-time and that was the turning point, because he’s usually really calm and collected. He normally talks to us at half-time. This time it was like he was really sending us to war.
“He normally talks, he’s really calm – but this time he was really passionate.”
Now it is a manager’s prerogative to treat his players how he sees fit but the fact that the Argentine was forced to change his ways of dealing with them surely shows not everything is right behind the scenes.
Be it the players’ mental strength, their dedication and desire or something else, Pochettino recognised something was lacking in his men and did what he could to instigate change – which obviously had an effect.
However, the real question for the Argentine is not what he had to do but why he had to do it – and fixing that on the training ground is a must.
He has been a brilliant manager but if his methods are not producing the same results then he needs to be asking himself why, for it only signals that something is wrong.