Mauricio Pochettino’s objective in yesterday’s press conference was very clear – make sure he got credit where credit was due.
He’s had to suffer a lot of criticism this season, so on the occasion of his team securing their second trip to Wembley of the campaign, Pochettino wasn’t going to let anyone leave without acknowledging the work he had done steering this young (and often injured) group to that stage.
He’s right, it’s worthy of some praise. But you don’t have to drill that deep into the concept to see why it’s a bit flimsy.
Our opposition along the way was Wimbledon, Brighton, Blackburn, Newcastle ( we drew, and won on penalties), Middlesbrough, Preston, Aston Villa (it took a replay), Leeds and Leicester. Every single one of those games was at home apart from replays and two-legged ties.
So while the facts are the facts – we’re back at Wembley. The reality is that that is a phenomenally easy run, and we got beaten by a crippled Liverpool side in the EFL Cup final. The FA Cup is a chance to change that and go one further, but until we actually play and beat a big team, the achievement isn’t as big as Pochettino would like it to be.
