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Cape Town - Mauricio Pochettino has asked Tottenham fans to be patient as the Argentine tactician looks to break the club's 12-year trophy drought.
Pochettino has been at the helm since May 2014 and, with a win-rate percentage of 56%, he has turned the north Londoners into a force to be reckoned with both domestically and in Europe.
Their Premier League challenge faded badly last term although only Liverpool were better in the Champions League after the Reds beat them 2-0 in the Madrid final to win Europe’s elite club competition.
A delay in moving to the new stadium did not seem to affect the players and, now in the new facility, the challenge is to kick on and finally get some silverware in the cabinet.
While the pressure to succeed has now been ramped up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Pochettino has made it clear it is all just part of a lengthy plan to place the club where it should be.
“People do not realise all that is going on at this club for five years,” he told ESPN Brasil. “There was a five-year period, which was a huge challenge.
“Also, what is coming now is a challenge because once the stadium or the sports city are over, we are also thrilled to win and lift the title.”
The 2007/08 League Cup remains Spurs’ last triumph and that is something that the fans find hard to accept, with all the world-class stars that have been at the club over the past 11 years.
It remains to be seen if they can finally get over the line this time around, but their South American tactician does not feel they are a million miles away.
“We’re close, we went against all odds, because nobody took us like a real team that was going to fight for great things, great competitions,” he added. “But we have reached that level and the challenge is to keep it.”
The former Southampton chief has ambitions to win big competitions but is likely to move on in the next few years.
Whenever he does, he will have laid the foundations for success and anyone coming in to manage the club will have things in place to continue the journey.
It has not been a quick fix at Spurs, but years of underachieving will surely be forgotten if the Lilywhites lift a trophy over the next 10 months.
