Football in England changed with that Southampton team of 2013-14, claims Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino guided Tottenham Hotspur to the final of the Champions League last season
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Mauricio Pochettino believes that his Southampton side in the 2013-14 Premier League season changed football in England and people started to believe in young players. The former Spurs boss started his managerial career with Espanyol before taking charge at Southampton and then the North Londoners.
Highly regarded for his tactical acumen, the Argentine manager guided Tottenham Hotspur to the final of the Champions League last year. Having spent six years at North London Mauricio Pochettino is now one of the most highly coveted managers, but has revealed that his team during his stay at Southampton changed the mindset of English football. The Argentine's eighteen-month stint with the Saints saw the team finish 8th in the 2013-14 Premier League season and he added that teams started to trust youngsters.
"Football in England changed with that Southampton team of 2013-14, there is no other team that had as big an impact in changing the mindset. We arrived at a club with a president like Nicola Cortese who gave us what we needed to create something unique in English football. Our ability to adapt to a completely different environment was incredible,” said Mauricio Pochettino during a Football talk show on La Liga TV.
"We found a group of players who wanted to learn from the experiences we brought from Spanish football, and with the quality to play a different style of football to that which everyone in English football was used to. Young players started to appear, and people started to trust in young players, also in the English national team,” added the manager.
Even though Southampton finished at the 8th position in 2013-14 seasons, they managed to script memorable victories over Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City (champions that season). It was only the previous season that they narrowly escaped relegation, but Pochettino's arrival changed the scenario drastically.
