‘They are not about to say goodbye to me’: Mauricio Pochettino reveals his Spurs stars have invited him to dinner to show they ‘love’ him as under-fire boss insists the club is not in crisis
Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham’s players are still backing him – because they’ve invited him out for dinner next week.
The Spurs boss is under huge pressure after an awful start to the season which sees his side sitting ninth in the table, out of the Carabao Cup and without a win in the Champions League.
But Pochettino insists his squad are on the verge of turning things around, and have even planned a bonding night out involving him and his staff next week.
Mauricio Pochettino laughs as he directs his players during training on Thursday morning
Speaking in his press conference on Thursday, Pochettino said: ‘When you feel the energy it’s because something special happened. And then when last week, you receive a text from the players inviting you and the coaching staff for a dinner.
‘That is… only two things can happen. Because they want to say goodbye! Or because they feel that they love you and they want to show that they are with you. And I think it’s the second.
‘They are not about to say goodbye to me. To say goodbye to me, they would say goodbye here (at the training ground). Not inviting me to dinner.
‘Who texted me? You can guess! Players. All the players. Because it’s a WhatsApp group.
‘For me, it’s the quality and the message. And what the people translate to you, too. That is the most important – that energy.’
Pochettino also insisted that Spurs are not in a crisis, despite a run of just one win in six games and heavy back-to-back defeats by Bayern Munich and Brighton.
‘Crisis? Crisis means madness? What does it mean? Ah crisis,’ said Pochettino. ‘You can accept the word crisis when you lose two games in the way we lose. You can use different words. The most important thing is how we feel inside.
‘After a couple of days together we all have the hope we are going to turn it around and start to perform in the way that we expect. Of course it’s not going to be easy.
‘When you are not performing in the way you want, you cannot change this and that and it’ll work. It’s difficult, football but we are working hard and I really believe we are going to find a way to find the balance to start to perform.’