Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Pep Guardiola the figurehead of modern management - Pochettino

LONDON -- Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino has described Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as "the face" of a new era of management ahead of their first meeting in English football on Sunday.

They will meet as managers for the tenth time when second-place Spurs host league leaders City at White Hart Lane, and Pochettino has named Guardiola as the figurehead of modern management -- but says he owes that position, in part, to the quality of players he has worked with.

"He is the face of the change," Pochettino said. "When you mix the romantic football with the new technology, in this moment, a new manager appears.

"Guardiola is a little bit ahead because of the results. The new manager starts to work with the technology and this romantic vision of football -- to mix that I think is the start of the new era in football.

"Guardiola is the face but not only Guardiola. I was involved, and different managers like Luis Enrique or [Diego] Simeone -- we are the same age, in the same level. Guardiola was the face because results always put you in the top. I think always you can see better when you have in your team Ronaldinho, [Lionel] Messi -- then everything you do looks better than another team."

Both men described the other as among the best managers in the world on Friday and they will shake hands on Sunday as equals, even though Pochettino is yet to win a major trophy and Guardiola has 21.

They could hardly have had more contrasting starts to management, though. While Guardiola embarked on an historic treble-winning season with Barcelona in 2008, Pochettino was completing his coaching badges by assisting Espanyol's Ladies team, spending late nights learning about the "psychology" and "passion" of women's football.

The arrangement suited both parties; Pochettino needed to work with a qualified coach for the final stage of his course, while Espanyol were eager to keep their former captain, then 36, at the club, quietly developing him away from the attentions of rivals.

"I didn't want to manage the ladies, you understand? I wanted to be a men's manager," Pochettino explained, and his chance came when Espanyol sacked Jose Manuel Esnal in January 2009, with the club third from bottom of La Liga.

"I had the possibility to work [as the manager] at a difficult moment, a difficult period for Espanyol," said Pochettino. "I'm happy how my career has gone. It's hard to compare with another manager, how I or they arrived to a certain point. We all have different possibilities but when you get your chance, you have to show yourself, that you have the value.

"Guardiola had the possibility to manage Barcelona with Messi, but he showed that he was capable of doing that and increasing the level of the team. A lot of managers have had the possibility to manage teams, to be a great manager and then, if you don't have the quality to get success, it's always difficult. The most important thing is that if you have the possibility, you take it."

Pochettino's first match was against Guardiola in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal first-leg and Espanyol surprised the league leaders with their approach in a 0-0 draw.

"It was a big impact because my first training session was Tuesday, then we played Wednesday. We trained in the afternoon and then in the morning to prepare for the game. Two training sessions in less than 12 hours. The players looked at me in the eyes like this," explained Pochettino, feigning surprise.

"I said to them we need to play high pressing and one-v-one at the back. They thought it was impossible against Barcelona, but I said no, it is not impossible. We need to play like this and we need to be ready. It was easy to convince them. It was good because 0-0 at Barcelona was a fantastic result and it was then easy to convince the players to play in a different way ... they were desperate.

"It is about your personality, how you are. It is your lifestyle and you show on the pitch how you are. If you are brave in your life, you cannot behave in a different way on the pitch. It is about how you feel, how you are, your character. I don't understand how to play in a different way. Always be brave ... I like to be brave."

Three consecutive draws and defeats to Barca in the second-leg and Valencia in La Liga followed, before Pochettino and Espanyol headed back to the Nou Camp to face Guardiola's side, who were ten points clear at the top of the table and unbeaten at home under the Spaniard.

Remarkably, Ivan de la Pena scored twice in a 2-1 win -- Pochettino's first as a manager and Espanyol's first in the city's derby for 27 years. Guardiola's later assessment of the game said plenty about Pochettino: "There are teams that wait for you and teams that look for you. Espanyol look for you."

For Pochettino, Sunday's meeting with Guardiola is not just a top-of-the-table clash in the Premier League. It has an extra edge because, although he is an Argentine, culturally, he feels Spanish and as wedded to Espanyol as Guardiola is to Barca.

"I think all was special to beat Barcelona because we were on the other side of the town. The derby was special in Barcelona. Barcelona looks bigger than Espanyol but in the end, Espanyol was the real Catalans -- they're the foundation and basis of the club.

"Espanyol was the real Catalan people and Barcelona was founded in another way. The problem is the supporters of Espanyol always look at Barcelona as not only a club because they use the politics to sell and you can see Catalonia, it is not Spain, no? We fight and we have different values. The Espanyol supporters are different to the Barcelona supporters.

"For me Espanyol supporters are better because I am Espanyol supporter, I am Periquito. That creates a bit of a problem between us. Always it was special to beat Barcelona because it is my sporting enemy. I am from Argentina but I spend half my life in Barcelona and my two sons were born in Barcelona. It was special."

There are similarities in style between Pochettino and Guardiola. Both demand their teams play from the back, keep possession and press the opposition relentlessly to win the ball back.

The Spurs manager, however, has always worked with worse players and less money than Guardiola, a point he reiterated on Friday before adding: "When players do what the manager expects, it is like an opera when the music is all together. Everyone needs to do what the conductor says.

"It is always difficult to convince the players. Players are special people, with special psychology. In low level or a top level, it is always complicated. There are many components that are important in how you do this and relate the message," he continued. "But if you have clever players, it helps."

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