Mauricio Pochettino has given his verdict on Tottenham Hotspur's current situation as they battle to avoid Premier League relegation
Mauricio Pochettino has explained why he feels “really sad” about the current situation at Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs are currently battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League and have four games left to secure their top-flight status.
Pochettino spent five years as Tottenham manager, guiding the club to the Champions League final in 2019 before his departure a few months later.
The 54-year-old has since had spells at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, and is now the head coach of the United States men’s national team heading into this summer’s World Cup across the pond.
Tottenham won their first Premier League fixture of 2026 last weekend with the narrow 1-0 victory at bottom side Wolves, and they return to top-flight action on Sunday when they take on high-flying Aston Villa.
Spurs are currently in 18th place in the table and two points from safety with just four matches left to play this term.
Pochettino has opened up about his time at Tottenham, as well as his exit, as the club currently battles to avoid dropping into the Championship.
“It's really sad, I really love Tottenham, it's going to be a part of my life, an important part of my life as a coach, a personal life too,” Pochettino said on The Overlap's latest episode of Stick to Football.
“It's really sad because I know how the people are suffering there, inside the club and also the fans.
“It's difficult to accept, but the moment when we left, what I told to the media and what I told internally was my feeling and my vision. You need to talk during the day that you are there.
“When you left or when you are sad or when you decide to move again, I think it's not time to talk. If you talk, things for me are not right.
“But I think when I was there, I tried to explain what was my vision. We were in a situation that was amazing because I think the training ground, we finished the training ground, we finished the stadium, we moved to Wembley to play, to Milton Keynes to play many games. At the same time, we were very competitive.
“But this idea of how it can affect the environment and the people outside and the people that make the decision inside... It's one title, it's one to win a FA Cup, it's to win a Carabao Cup.
“It's a shame. We were winning every season because with all the circumstances that we were fighting, we spent 18 months with no one signing. That was a record in the Premier League.
“We had money to spend but not the type of money to improve, to be close to win or to challenge. We challenged, we challenged to win. But we missed this last step.”
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Pochettino went on to explain what he looks for when presented with an offer to become a club’s manager, including how his time at Tottenham began.
He said: “It was difficult. Now it's difficult to talk about that because it was a really, really difficult situation. Because one of the things that I always like is if someone offers me a project, the possibility to coach, I want to know the reality.
“I want to know what they expect from me. I want to know what I need to do, which is the reality of the club. And I think what happened in Tottenham is that I understood what they expected from me, from the beginning.
“Of course it was tough, but I think I cannot complain. Only what I wanted to tell them is to say, ‘OK, that is the idea, that is the strategy, the philosophy of the culture that we were creating there’. But if we wanted to be competitive, we need some time to make different decisions.
“The problem is when the assessment is not coming from inside to the club, and the assessment comes from outside. And when people start to intoxicate things and say, no, you should win with this team.”