 Thursday, 28th Feb 2013 21:40 by Miguel Ortiz It’s a weekend of mixed emotions for LFW’s man in Spain Miguel Ortiz as our QPR side face up against a Southampton team now managed by his boyhood hero Mauricio Pochettino. To an Espanyol fan like myself, what Pochettino as a figure represents is a thing quite difficult to explain. He is our Alan McDonald. Born in Argentina, he came through the ranks of Newell's Old Boys who were managed at that time by the obsessive figure of Marcelo Bielsa – most recently known in the UK for coaching an impressive Athletic Bilbao side to victory against Manchester United in last season’s Europa League. Newells won Apertura and Clausura and arrived at the final stage of the Copa Libertadores. Pochettino caught the eye and completed his transfer to Europe in 1994. He chose a team where he could play day in day out and fulfil his ambition of being capped by Argentina. That team was Real Club Deportivo Espanyol; a notoriously skint club with a rich history and a penchant for self immolation but with a sense of pride not seen anywhere (possibly attributable to plain stupidity) based in Barcelona. At the time the club had been promoted with a certain style under the iron fist of Jose Antonio Camacho (a fierce defender who gave 15 years service to Real Madrid as a player) from the Second Divisio for the fourth and (fingers crossed) last time in its history. His arrival coincided with a sort of resurgence from the white and blue humiliated pride and over the years he became a steady figure at the heart of the defence. Later he combined both player and coach roles and was the man that has defended our badge in more games than anybody else. We simply love him no matter what happened at the end of his coaching spell with us. He is a season ticket holder – there is nothing more to say. As a player he came as rookie - a bit impulsive and raw, with big tackles and consequently plenty of yellow cards, but he adapted his game to the Spanish way of playing very easily. It’s said that Argentinean defenders need six months to adapt to Europe and attacking players one whole season. So he changed his game, becoming a reliable centre half - no mistakes, strong in the air, good anticipation and clean. But of course the big tackles remained – he was booked for my favourite on on Raul, but the Madrid man did not touch the ball for the whole game. Year after year he was the main man at the club with the respect of everybody. In the bad moments - which at Espanyol tends to be every three years - his voice was heard. In his first spell he lifted the Copa Del Rey for the first time in 60 years in 2000 and was than sold to Paris St Germain to save the club and pay debts. In the process we had to sell our stadium and even then we finished with losses, can you believe it? Several times his name was mentioned for a transfer to Real Madrid and he got those caps he craved for Argentina - even playing at the World Cup 2002 including a match against England. After two years of obscurity but calm without him, disaster struck again and Espanyol entered into a QPR-style loop of hiring coaches and sacking coaches. There was no planning, each year 11 new foreign players arrived, each year two or three loans from at Madrid, and most of them were crap. For instance we had Cyril Domoraud on loan and he had to play at full back one season and holding midfield on another because he was a centre disaster prone centre half. I mean respect to the man for his goal against Seville in a crucial six pointer, and for the time he was sent to a prison camp by his government for performing badly in the African Cup of Nations, but what on earth we need a chap like this for if there are better players in our youth structure? By Christmas in the 2003/04 season things looked very bleak. We had just eight points on Christmas. Luis Fernandez came in as manager from Paris St Germain and brought Mauricio Pochetino with him. The great escape was on – built around Raul Tamudo, De la Peña, Poche, a core of players from the youth structure, couple of signings (Vignal who was crap and Hadji who was ok) and Domoraud out at full back for the food of everybody’s health. Poche had lost a bit of pace, but the ability and commitment was undiminished. Luis Fernandez left at the end of the season, his mission achieved. Miguel Lotina came - dull, ultra defensive – and we saw Poche’s last good year as a player in my opinion. The team finished fifth but missed out on the Champions League partly down to a controversial disallowed goal but mainly because a silly own goal meant only a draw at El Sadar against Osasuna. In his last year Poche lost his place for the first time at the club, the team could not perform in three competitions and although we won another cup we were seven long minutes in second division until a late goal on the final day. He retired at the end of that season, his last service was at the heart of El Bernabeu when after watching the mob of supporters escorting the club coach until the stadium (a tradition), he gave an inspirational speech to the lads and we won. Two cups his legacy. It is no mean feat considering who we are. During 2007/08 he took his coaching badges and at the beginning of 2008/2009 was collaborating on the futbol base (youth structures) when, (guess what?) the threat of relegation struck again. This was the last season at the council stadium, the next one was due to be at the new ground, but Espanyol were in trouble again, working their way through two coaches, and again arriving at the turn of the year with just nine points 9 dreadful points. Poche’s impact could not have been more dramatic. After 23 years without winning at El Nou Camp we recorded a stunning victory 1-2 and the great escape was marching on again. My sons sleep with the Espanyol pyjamas, that day I went out the streets dressed in white and blue hoops. It was a carnival, an extraordinary night. We even had something to spare at the end of the season and again we did it with style. That’s Espanyol a madness that comes from Barcelona. That team had quality but also bad attitude, so Poche steadily started to rebuild, mostly with kids from the youth structure and loans from abroad - spending very little because you know we ever have any to spend. He worked with what the club gave him during his whole tenure. At Espanyol one of the priorities and the thing that supporters we are most proud is the youth structure – he recognised this and looked downstairs to find good players, mostly defenders and holding midfielders, and put them on the starting line up. I’m expecting to him do the same at Southampton, another club with a fantastic academy. Seasons came and went but throwing dates and dates will not help you to understand the change under his hands. Perhaps it was a feel good factor that spread around the new stadium of again having our own house, perhaps it was having six or seven kids who had been with the club since they were juveniles playing for the team, perhaps it was the style of play with a simple 4-2-3-1 based on keeping the ball but the team played happily and successfully wherever it went. Some days brave, some days silly, some days receiving a slap in the face, but the team was young, we kept ourselves out of trouble and we felt proud, so it was ok. Sadly the team never was able to stay united for one whole season. Injures, departures and lower quality replacements. The style did not change, 4-2-3-1 and possession but you need to have quality players with pace to do it succesfully and year after year he lost those players. There was never any complaint, because he said that he belongs to the institution, and he managed to get the best from the players he had. Things would go well for the first half of the season and by the end of winter it would collapse - this happened two years in a row, we were always safe, we never been in relegation troubles, but with the faithful mad for pushing for Europe, to finish in midtable obscurity was disappointing. One year it was because we sold our best youngster in the winter, but last season the team was improved so when it happened again people got bored – again, two promising young players were sold to pay debts and their replacements were very poor. So this season started badly - a crisis at the club, a crisis in the youth system, and a stubbornness from Poche, sticking with a system that just wasn’t suitable at all. Set pieces became a concern. We conceded and we could not score, the season started horribly, there was a bad feeling among everybody, the lack of quality meant we lost possession regularly in bad areas and were vulnerable to counter attacks. Morale was shattered. There was a brief recovery, but Poche stuck with his new diamond formation and we lost three games in a row. The chairman resigned and Poche was sacked – no doubt he feels he should have taken the Sampdoria post when it was offered in summer. It was a sad moment but a moment that even he knew was inevitable. For the record he gave up the last year of contract - a nice gesture in contrast to the current position adopted by Mark Hughes. And what is the team is doing with his replacement Javier Aguirre? Well, fine. The great escape is on again. On Sunday we lost our only second game since he took the post, away at El Calderon against At Madrid. He has brought morale, first doing the basics and working on set pieces, we defend and kick the ball away then play a little bit of football after that. Reinforcements? We have Martin Petrov from Bolton. He has only played 60 minutes. We are still skint. We are eight points away from relegation at this moment (fingers crossed). As for Poche at Southampton - I’m surprised to see him in England. Each time I see him on the television without our badge on his chest it seems completely alien to me. I wonder if the English football is suited to his football. Although English football has changed during the last 20 years, England remains England - you watch an English game and it is completely different from our game and our tactics can not be apply on English soil. If Saints wants to appoint someone in the Wenger, Mourinho or Michael Laudrup mould they will need patience that so far Nicola Cortese has not shown. At Espanyol Poche had credit because he was a club legend, in England he is a nobody that has to say “my friend Mourinho” in his first press conference. If they want a change at the club and they back him up, then he is the man. He will pick up young players and work with the players given by the club - he will not ask for miracles. He will bring a style of play based on possession. But it will take time, and nowadays it’s a luxury in football. Tweet @loftforwords Pictures – Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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