Everton Remind Pochettino’s Tottenham of Need for More Than Just Good Mentality

It takes a while to shake off the previous season in football, good or bad. Mauricio Pochettino and his Tottenham Hotspur side kicked off their 2016-17 Premier League campaign against Everton on Saturday still contending with both.

The good was in being able to keep together a talented, predominantly young team that finished third last season, the only differences at Goodison Park being the appearances of new signings Victor Wanyama (replacing the still suspended Moussa Dembele) and Vincent Janssen.

The bad was the shadow cast by the disappointing aftermath of their title challenge, something going behind to Ross Barkley’s free-kick in a poor first-half display threatened to awake unwanted memories of.

Erik Lamela’s second-half equaliser earning a 1-1 draw ensured the enduring optimism in this team trumped doubts about its all-round aptitude. But it is clear for now all involved are still negotiating how to take forward parts of 2015-16 without letting it encumber their hoped-for progression.

It is understandable that a year just past is often used as a reference point for what may be ahead. Pre-season can only tell us so much about a team’s prospects—and if you have done as well as Tottenham mostly did, you will want to believe you can carry it forward.

The kinds of motivation utilised by coaches at such points is interesting.

An example that sticks in this writer’s mind is that of the longtime Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (also currently seen back coaching Team USA at the Olympics). Per The Last Great Game by Gene Wojciechowski, having used failure as a motivation a year earlier, he “compartmentalized” their 1991 national championship and encouraged his team to begin a new chapter.

“He told his team and the media that the Blue Devils weren’t defending the 1991 championship,” Wojciechowski wrote. “After all, it had been bought and paid for with victories, and nobody could take it away.”

Of course, football is a different beast to basketball in so many respects (not least the college game being subject to cyclical turnover in playing personnel). But the need for the Lilywhites to sustain a certain level under considerable scrutiny and pressure is a common one.

Speaking in his pre-Everton press conference, Pochettino was caught somewhere between eagerly anticipating the fresh start and wanting to reiterate why it was his team is so good.

“Yes that is our challenge, to improve our performance, to compete better and to achieve another level,” he said. “But this is very hard because we are nearly on the top and it’s sure that the competition will be tough.”

At the same time, Pochettino went so far as to offer his team’s general stability—not spending huge sums in the transfer market (yep, £17 million for Janssen …

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