Playing for Pochettino: What USMNT can expect from the new boss

Earlier this week, U.S. Men's National Team players took their first steps into a new dimension as they completed their first training sessions under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino. When it launched last month, it gave a taste of what to expect.

“The player must feel that he is being looked after,” Pochettino said at his press conference in New York in September. “If the player feels like you care about him, you can get the best out of him. We will work to create the right pattern to follow to gain confidence, regain confidence and play together.”

Each player starts fresh, so what do they get from their new boss? To sum it up in one word: intensity.

“Yes, at first glance it seems a little more intense,” left-back Antonee Robinson said at a press conference on Tuesday. “(Pochettino) knows that we only have a short period of time to understand the principles with which we should play, the tactics and so on. It will be a time when we have time to enjoy it, but we will work hard and really work towards success.”

Stylistically, there is a tendency to lump Pochettino in with his main coaching mentor, Marcelo Bielsa. The first two crossed paths at Argentine club Newell's Old Boys, where Pochettino made his professional debut as a 17-year-old. They met again and again throughout Pochettino's career, later briefly at Espanyol and then in the Argentina national team.

However, when you look at Pochettino's career, the characterization of being Bielsa 2.0 doesn't quite fit. In fact, one could argue that there are two Pochettinos: one initially very dogmatic – at Espanyol, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur – and a more pragmatic one who has emerged since leaving Spurs in November 2019 and taking jobs at Paris Saint-Germain and then Chelsea.

The dogmatic Pochettino was heavily influenced and inspired by Bielsa, who preached the importance of relentless pressing, winning the ball and a quick transition game. Pochettino's obsession was to press high through one-on-one marking, with the full-backs playing high up the pitch. To play with such intensity, his teams had to be beyond their maximum fitness.

During his time at Saints and Spurs, it was not unusual for his players to complete three training sessions a day during pre-season. His teams regularly finished in the top three of the Premier League in terms of distance covered per game.

At Southampton, players still remember how at the start of every Monday training session – just 24 or 48 hours after 90 minutes of a Premier League game – the manager would always ask them to run 12 laps around a packed pitch. You didn't understand the logic behind it. When Rickie Lambert decided to speak to Pochettino on behalf of the team, the coach replied: “OK, I understand.” The following Monday and every Monday thereafter, he made them run 24 laps.

“He doesn’t like having his authority questioned,” a former Southampton player told ESPN. “He felt that running so much on a Monday was to the benefit of the team, so he would never change anything. Actually, the opposite is true.”

Despite some complaints, there were no objections to the results. The team exceeded expectations: after finishing 14th in the 2012/13 Premier League season with 41 points and a goal difference of minus-11, Pochettino's Saints finished 14th in the 2013/14 season with 56 points and a goal difference of plus 8 eighth place.

After his move to Tottenham it was the same in north London. With young, hungry players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Pochettino could demand the same intensity as on England's south coast, but from a squad that has more talent. Together they finished second in the Premier League in the 2016/17 season, the club's highest finish since 1963, and reached the Champions League final in 2019, the best continental season in the club's history.

That ability to push players will be crucial for a U.S. team that looked too comfortable and settled in its Copa América group stage exit last summer. Tyler Adams once said in an interview with Men in Blazers during the US manager search that the USMNT needed someone who was “ruthless” and would tell the players what to do. The players seem to understand this, as does a coach who is interested in building a relationship with them.

“The only people who won’t fully join (Pochettino) are people who don’t work hard,” said former USA international Brad Friedel, who was part of the Spurs squad during Pochettino’s first season in north London in 2014. 15. “I don’t mean you have to walk around like a crazy person. … Just approach your (job) professionally.”

Friedel added that reputation and what happened in the past count for little with Pochettino. If a player performs well and is a good professional, then he will play. If not, they end up on the bench.

“It’s really a pretty simple thing,” Friedel said. “There is nothing complicated about playing for Mauricio. It’s really fun to play football with him.”

That sentiment was shared across much of the Spurs locker room. Many of those players shed tears when he was fired by the club after more than five seasons as coach.

“He changed the game. He was very demanding, but in the right way,” said the former Tottenham goalkeeper and current LAFC No. 1 Hugo Lloris told ESPN. “He wanted us to play intensely. We used to train so hard to make the games feel easier. We applied so much pressure and won the ball back so high that we were able to attack immediately.”

For others it might be more difficult. No manager will be able to reach every player, and this is especially true for those who struggle to get on the field.

“He wouldn’t tell you why you weren’t picked or why you weren’t playing,” a former Spurs player told ESPN. “If you wanted to talk to him, you had to go to him, and even then you could tell he didn't appreciate it.

“He often referred to God making things happen or not for players and games. It was very frustrating because he was clearly a great coach but had this strange arrogance towards himself when it came to relationships with some of the players.”

The pragmatic Pochettino has evolved from his dogmatic ways, although one could argue he had no choice when he took charge of PSG in January 2021. Instead of molding another young, hungry and impressive squad in his image, he inherited a difficult dressing room full of big egos, including Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Lionel Messi.

Forget the super intensity and high pressure. In Paris there was no triple training and there wasn't much tactical work either. Pochettino tried to give the players a chance to express themselves, but he proved not to be an ideal fit. He experimented with formation and personnel, building a three-man group consisting of Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, but he never really felt like he could achieve what he wanted with the team.

Pochettino was released from the French capital club in July 2022. He won Ligue 1 in his only full season as manager, but his last game in the dugout at the Parc des Princes was marred by a fan walkout after PSG capitulated to Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.

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In Pochettino's speech before his first USMNT training session

Mauricio Pochettino speaks before his first training session with the USMNT.

The lack of tactical work is a criticism that resurfaced during his time at Chelsea. Moisés Caicedo said publicly that training was mostly about running and was largely lacking in tactical work. Other players on the Blues roster told ESPN the same thing. Pochettino relied on the physical ability of his players at Stamford Bridge.

However, Caicedo later credited Pochettino with helping him get his game back on track after the Ecuador international struggled to live up to expectations that came with his £115m British record transfer from Brighton & Hove Albion were connected. As the players became more comfortable with Pochettino's approach, the team thrived. Chelsea finished the 2023/24 season sixth in the table and played at a pace in the top four points per game after the turn of the year.

All of this suggests that Pochettino's approach is becoming more flexible. He said after announcing the squad last week that he would primarily use two formations: 4-3-3 as well as its close cousin, 4-2-3-1. This is consistent with what he used earlier in his career, although his approach often morphed into a very attacking 3-5-2 with lots of runs backwards by the strikers and the width of his full-backs.

In addition to high pressing, one of his stylistic pillars is playing from defense. Recent evidence suggests there is reason to question whether the USMNT has the players to employ this style, particularly against high-pressing teams. However, as he has shown, Pochettino is certainly adaptable.

“Pochettino likes to play at the back, but if he has to be pragmatic, he will,” said Friedel, who is now sporting director at Turkish Super Lig club Besiktas. “If he doesn’t believe his goalkeeper and centre-backs can play out of defense, he won’t do it. He's smart. He’ll see what he’s got.”

He actually will. The players will too. The hope is that it is the start of a beautiful relationship.