A young Tottenham side must stay humble and hungry if they are to achieve success this season. After the sudden change of heart amongst the media and pundits, who are beginning to praise and become bosom pals with the club, now is not the time to let complacency kick in.
Dele Alli is one such example of the media’s change of thought. After hitting that sweet deflected strike against France, Alli’s name has already hit stardom. Whilst this may seem positive in many ways, there comes a darker side to all of this media-loving. Sure, Alli has achieved a lot at such a young age, but to put him in the public spotlight already is potentially damaging. Pochettino will mostly likely ensure that all his players do remain just as hungry, which means that Alli will not be allowed to rest on his laurels and will have to graft just as hard to remain in the first team.
In general, Tottenham have been putting together an impressive string of results in the Premier League and have proven themselves capable of even slaying the best of teams. But all this success will be ephemeral if Spurs don’t stick to their principle ideology developed by Pochettino. There will come a time where Spurs will drop points and this may disappoint fans, but Pochettino’s tactics and ideology must be respected.
A good example of the manager at work is Harry Kane when he plays for England in a totally different system. Very often Kane is the only one pressing the goalkeeper, sprinting 20 to 30 yards all by himself. This could be seen as a waste of time, but more importantly, it shows how deeply engrained Pochettino’s ideology is in the player’s mind. It’s imperative that Spurs do stick to their guns and make sure that nothing is left out on the pitch.
There is a threat that Pochettino must be sure to negate. Dele Alli has already been mentioned, but Eric Dier, Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb are a few more examples of young talent who can’t let international call-ups or success get to their heads. Bentaleb is probably less at risk because he has already represented his country 17 times and has quite a mature role for Algeria. However, for the English players, international football is a novelty that must be cherished, but not overemphasised.
Sure, Eric Dier made his debut for England, but he is far from his true potential and success so he must keep on working hard. The danger is that young players get rewarded too young and don’t quite give their all for the shirt. At Tottenham, is this a threat? It feels quite the opposite.
Many of the squad have progressed from the academy and therefore know and love the club. Mason knows what is expected of a Spurs player and Dier and Alli, who are new to Spurs and relatively new to the Premier League, are starting to show what is expected of them by the Spurs faithful. Nevertheless, these players cannot falter if they and their team wish to succeed.
Overall, the youthful Tottenham squad seems to be adhering to Pochettino’s all important ideology and if they continue to do so, success will surely await them. But stray from hard work and a humble attitude and Spurs may stray from success.
