Mauricio Pochettino is in a bit of a tricky situation, and his press conference today is making that abundantly clear.
He’s trying to ask for patience and understanding in that the project he’s embarked on is one that will need time. But at the same time he wants to be clear that he has high standards and isn’t giving his group any excuses.
So when he was asked today about his aim to reach the top 4 and whether that was proving more difficult than anticipated, he was forced to insist “we are going to challenge,” but then wasn’t able to actually say when.
“Who knows” he said with a hollow smile when pressed on a time frame for when his side could be expected to compete.
It’s quite the bind – keeping standards high but expectations low. There is a lot of frustration in the fanbase right now, and he’s going to have to do a delicate job of managing that.
