Spurs fans had a mixed reaction to Lucas Moura’s comments on former manager Mauricio Pochettino after he suggested that he wasn’t utilised properly under the Argentinian.
According to Jonathan Veal (via Ricky Sacks), Moura is excited about his future under Jose Mourinho after starting the Portuguese manager’s first two games on the wing for Spurs.
Under Pochettino, the 27-year-old was often deployed as a striker, to which he said “every player wants to play, it doesn’t matter the position. But everyone knows I am not a No.9”.
The Brazilian, who is valued at £36 million (as per Transfermarkt), has made just 75 appearances for Spurs in nearly two years with the club and was often forced to settle with a place on the bench under Pochettino. However, he has started both of the games against West Ham and Olympiakos in his favoured position, contributing a goal and an assist across those two fixtures.
Is Lucas Moura right to criticise Pochettino?
Yes
No
Reaction from Spurs fans to Moura’s comments can be seen in the tweets below.
Lucas do not like poch
— Asaf Borry (@asafhamka) November 27, 2019
Moura with the sly dig
— The Jose Effect (@EffectJose) November 27, 2019
Lucas Moura has a right to never forgive Poch…I’m a huge Poch supporter but I believe he got that wrong in #ucl final and honestly an argument can be made Poch did him dirty given what he had achieved to get Spurs into that game …
— Regular Timeline Hank (@hanx3sports) November 27, 2019
Just runs with his head done and doesn’t get much assists. Squad player at best.
— Jon Labi (@Jon1Labi) November 27, 2019
Very ineffective this week in his “correct” position
— Sheldon (@shelzzmalz) November 28, 2019
Not a fan of that. Would think he could keep his disagreements w/poch as internal concerns. Guess his innate bias against argentines came out.
— John Gannon (@hailcaesar71395) November 27, 2019
He’s not really proved to be a great wide man either. Time to step up
— Matty Hart (@matty_j_hart) November 27, 2019
Jose utilising Aurier and Lucas properly. Great to see
— Tron (@TronTromatic) November 27, 2019
Even though he scored two hat-trick as a 9 I like Lucas, great talent but needs to improve and realise he’s part of a team, he hardly ever passes to anyone, he gets it and just runs with his head down. Super player in there if he can learn he has teammates.
— Harvey (@Namdalla1993) November 27, 2019
Spurs fans are clearly in disagreement about Moura’s recent form, with some suggesting that he still has a lot to improve on if he is going to nail down a starting spot under Mourinho.
What do we think?
Moura’s reasoning behind the Pochettino comments is fairly clear to see, with the winger no doubt frustrated that a hat-trick in last season’s Champions League semi-final wasn’t enough to see him start ahead of a half-fit Harry Kane in the final. However, there is no doubt that he was underused by Pochettino in an unfamiliar position at times, so it will be interesting to see if he continues to perform well on the right-wing under Mourinho’s management.