Ange Postecoglou, the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, has teasingly advised Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino not to anticipate a guard of honor upon his return to North London on Monday night.
In gameweek 11, Pochettino will lead his Blues team to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a thrilling London rivalry. This will be Pochettino’s first game against Spurs as the opposing manager since his dismissal in 2019.
Pochettino led the Lilywhites to become championship contenders and consistent Champions League hopefuls over a storied five-year tenure in the head coach post, which culminated in a runners-up place in the 2018–19 European top–flight season.
Under the Argentine, who also guided Tottenham to a club-high 86 points in the 2016–17 Premier League season, where they finished as runners-up to Chelsea, players such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Son Heung-min developed their skills.
Pochettino, however, was unable to bring an end to Tottenham’s protracted trophy drought. In fact, he was fired by the club shortly after leading them to the Champions League final due to a poor run of play.
Following his departure from Spurs with a record of 159 victories in 293 games, Pochettino had a brief tenure as manager of Paris Saint-Germain, where he led Les Parisiens to the Ligue 1 title in the 2021–2022 season. Pochettino left Les Parisiens in January 2021.
The 50-year-old left the Parc des Princes after suffering more Champions League heartbreak. Since then, he has managed a mixed start to the 2023–24 season as Chelsea’s successor to Graham Potter, winning six, drawing three, and losing four of his first 13 games.
Only seven months after Tottenham’s new stadium opened, Daniel Levy fired Pochettino, who was largely responsible for the team’s ascent up the rankings at White Hart Lane and Wembley.
The Argentine is informed not to
He had an undeniable impact on this club. His work is unquestioned. People I speak to here who worked with him can’t speak highly enough about him.
“I can’t imagine there will be anything but respect for Mauricio from the people at this club and the fans. He’s not going to get a guard of honour or anything because we want to win the game and he won’t expect that, but there will be respect for him.”
Pochettino’s Tottenham exit preceded the largely forgettable reigns of Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, but Postecoglou is already off to a record-breaking start in North London.
The former Celtic boss has taken 26 points from his first 10 games at the helm, more than any other manager in Premier League history, and Tottenham hold a two-point lead over Manchester City and Arsenal at the summit of the table as a result.
Prior to facing the media, Postecoglou also gave the latest on Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies’s injuries ahead of Monday’s headline encounter.