Mauricio Pochettino left Saints under a cloud with supporters questioning whether he ever really had any affection or loyalty for the club, with his latest out burst we now have the answers to those questions.

In an interview with a Catalan radio station the transcript of which is in the Daily Mail Pochettino claimed that Ronald Koeman took over a ready made team at Southampton whilst poor little Mauricio had to start from zero at White Hart Lane.

‘You have to say that they invested close to 80m euros in the summer and it was already a winning team on the up. When we arrived at Southampton in January of 2013 they had the team that had conceded the most goals in the league.

'It was a team with a lot of problems, with players like Adam Lallana who wasn’t playing and Luke Shaw who wasn’t playing but in one and a half years we turned it round.
‘We brought a lot of young players through and finished eighth. It is always easier taking over a winning team which is the case this time with Ronald [Koeman]. We came here and had to reinvent things. We always laugh about it because we left a team at Southampton that practically trained itself after a year and a half to come here where we had to recreate everything that we had done at Southampton, pretty much from zero, but it’s a great challenge.’

So that is the truth as Mauricio Pochettino sees it, so lets look at the facts.

Pochettino fails to point out that although yes we invested around 80m euros, we had already seen around 95m come in due to player sales, that being the case the winning team on the up had already been dismantled and Koeman had lost 5 key players not to mention Jay Rodriguez through injury, to say he was inheiriting a "winning team on the up" is totally untrue, indeed it was a team that had finished 13 points behind his new club Spurs, who although they sold off a number of players in the summer these were mainly fringe players and Pochettino wasted no time in reinvesting that money.

When Pochettino took over at Saints in January 2013 Saints sat in 15th in the Premier League with 22 points from 22 games and 3 points off of the relegation zone, but this was not a team in trouble, it was a team that had recovered after a disastrous start to the season, it had only been beaten twice in its last 12 league games , a run which had earned 18 points, Pochettino was inheiriting a side on the up, as for the claim that it had conceded more goals than any other team, that was just a plain lie, Saints 40 goals against was not great, but 14 of them had been in the opening 4 games of the season, even though, when Nigel Adkins was sacked, there were still 3 other teams wh had conceded 40 or more.

The next lie is that Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw were not playing, Shaw had started every league game since his full debut at West Brom back at the start of November and Adam Lallana was injured, indeed it would be Pochettino's 5th match before he was fit enough to start a game, so the inference that these two players were being ignored in a losing side is just plain untrue.

Pochettino also claimes that in his time at Saints he brought a lot of youngsters through, that again is a myth, Luke Shaw was already established as the first choice left back before he arrived at the club and James Ward Prowse had likewise made the breakthrough, indeed just about the only player that Pochettino used with any regularity after introducing them to the side was Calum Chambers and even then that was only when Nathaniel Clyne was injured, Pochettino's side might have trained itself, but it also picked itself as it was always very predictable who would be in the starting line up and who would be brought on as sub.

In fact in season 2012/14 Mauricio Pochettino gained 19 points from his 16 games that season, coincidentally exactly the same number that Nigel Adkins gained in his last 16, the inference that Pochettino inherited the leakiest defence in the league goes out the window when you consider that in those 16 games , Pochettino conceded 20 goals compared to Adkins massive 22 in his last 16, although poor old Nigel did have the accolade in that his side in scoring 20 got one more than his successor.

So if Mauricio Pochettino is claiming that he came in and rebuilt the team and took them up a notch, that s not borne out by actual fact, in that first season the results achieved by Pochettino were as we can see almost identical to Nigel Adkins over the same number of games

So for Pochettino to ridicule Ronald Koeman's achievements at Saints, indeed to openly say that he and the coaches that jumped ship "always laugh about it" ie in what great foundations they had left Koeman with is just too arrogant to put into words, at best its just delusional and at worst just plain lies, this coming from a man who signed Osvaldo.

Indeed It was Pochettino that took over a club that was a "winning team" as was shown by their league position, in fact his success in the past month or so could be said to be fortuitous, Calum Chambers was a player that Pochettino often only picked as a last resort and that was the case with Harry Kane this season at Spurs.

So if Saints fans needed any convincing that Mauricio Pochettino was a wrong un at Saints, then the words in this interview confirm that, here is a man so vain that he cannot countenance anything other than his own greatness, like another ex Saints and Spurs boss Harry Redknapp, he is prepared to make innacurate statements that are easily dismissed by looking at statistics in order to give the impression that the world revolves around Mauricio Pochettino.

Of course Pochettino moved Saints forward a little, but it was not to the degree that he would have us believe, Southampton Football Club is well rid of a man who clearly never had Saints in his heart but only his own self serving interests, perhaps time may prove otherwise but I feel that Ronald Koeman is an honourable man who will do his best for Saints, of course he will leave, but when he does it will not be as Pochettino did, underhand and sneaky.

Saints had a lucky escape last summer, they lost a one trick pony and gained a manager who can truly make a difference.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 11:49 - Feb 5 Exactly.
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saintandy11 added 12:16 - Feb 5 Just about sums him up. Arrogance personified.
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Rednose added 12:18 - Feb 5 Read the report this morning and thought what the hell is MP on about, but didn't have the stats. Thanks for making this clear and hope your comments get an airing on a bigger stage. Nothing that happens this season should be taking away from RK, his management team and the players that are with us now. RK inherited a team that was completely unsettled. Before anything could be done on the training field RK had to stop other players leaving, galvanise the players that were left and find good replacements. Thankfully he and his team achieved that and then got on with putting everything right from MP's reign. For example we now have the best defense in the league and can adapt our style of play. And of course, if you believe everything in the papers, we also have players with the best hair cuts.

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steadyeddie added 12:39 - Feb 5 I can only hope that in time, we are able to shove those words where the sun doesn't shine Mr MoPo.
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halftimeorange added 12:50 - Feb 5 In fairness to MP (and allowing for the fact that the Mail might for once not have embellished its translation of what he actually said) he did introduce the pressing high up the pitch style which Saints still continue with however, he also inherited a midfield which had largely played together for some time and it is that midfield upon which this season's success has been achieved. We have faltered in the absence of MS, VW and JC but with the return of the first two we should pick up again. Also, the defence was only slightly tinkered with this season. Chambers was not a regular, Shaw's departure has been more than adequately covered by Bertrand and, arguably, Forster is no better than Boruc. TA has made a difference but Yoshida has never been hopeless. It is up front that Koeman has built and we are somewhat hit and miss in that department at the present time. I think it would be better to say that Ron is building on Mauricio's achievements as Mauricio continued with what Nigel had accomplished. You could even say that Alan Pardew started the rebuild. Hopefully, Ronald will see the job through. He does have the advantage of managing under a settled boardroom.

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BoondockSaint added 13:30 - Feb 5 And we will "always laugh" when we think of this!
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LostBoys added 14:18 - Feb 5 I find this a strange series of statements. Why criticise Ronald Koeman because he is higher in the table and when Spurs are close on our heels even if you accept they are being carried by their goalkeeper, Harry Kane and late Erickson goals. there is no doubt in my mind that after Cortese was ejected MoPo jumped ship because it was obvious certain player would go and he thought he/we would struggle. Now he looks a bit of a dick and untrustworthy to boot and jealous of the plaudits being given to SFC and Ronald Koeman . Good riddance

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saintsnutcase added 15:04 - Feb 5 This interview by Poch was given to Catalan Radio, home of Barcelona. Is Poch trying to prevent Koeman getting the Barca job? Does Poch want it himself? Today, Koeman was named 9th best coach in the world. Poch was nowhere.
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PezzaSaint added 15:21 - Feb 5 I hear they grow a lovely bunch of sore grapes in Argentina! One thing is for sure RoKo's Saints team is far better at closing games out for a win from a leading position than MoPo's ever was. Perhaps MoPo thinks he was responsible for that also?!
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stmichael added 17:29 - Feb 5 Moved on Saints a little! Now who is telling lies and ignoring statistics!! We broke almost every club record in the book last season including our highest position and record number of points most away league wins most clean sheets etc. It was a fantastic season with a style of play that was an absolute joy to watch. Dominating possession at Old Trafford and playing keep ball at Anfield when 1-0 up with both giants chasing shadows. You never gave him the credit he deserved and anyone who slags him off now is just bitter. I will be forever grateful for the 18 months he was here and the way the perception of the club from inside and outside was changed hopefully for good. I'm also grateful that he left because although I didn't know it at the time he was replaced by someone BETTER.

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GeordieSaint added 17:30 - Feb 5 Que? No entiendo Englaise Seem to remember him taking over a team that had just drawn away at Chelsea.
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SaintDownUnder added 12:54 - Feb 6 Nick, you don't often get it wrong, but you have here. I think stmichael points are all valid and you do have (and are entitled to) a negative bias towards NC and MoPo. The reality is that we have been in a state of positive transition ever since Marcus bought us and both NC and MoPo played huge roles in the advancement of SFC. I, and sure many others feel we played great football, became harder to beat and got more points under MoPo and we should thank him and wish him well. Frankly he's justified in feeling proud of the team and position he left saints in. The good news is under RoKo we've improved further, he's bought well and handled the player exodus with ease, he is fast becoming a Saints legend and i'd much rather him in charge than RoKo. But let's be honest MoPo isnt jealous or bitter and he's doing a decent job at Spurs, the reaction and vitriol here is all a bit daily mail like....... We should guard about becoming the thing we detest.

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bstokesaint added 13:27 - Feb 6 It was a cheap shot from Pochettino. He came out of nowhere, stayed for a short while and then seemed to get disinterested very quickly. Yes he played an unfamiliar continental style that we enjoyed for half a season, but in the second half of the season there were some super dull games in there, when absolute domination resulted in an absolutely no chances on goal as we slowly got found out. And then he was gone, with half of the first team. How we can claim any credit for our current situation is incredulous. Maybe I should too because I watch the team play and clap and shout words of encouragement. Maybe it was my influence. I don't think Nick has said anything that the vast majority of Saints' fans don't disagree with. I mean this is the same manager that claims that Spurs have the best youth system in the country. Let's read between the lines here, he's realised his move hasn't taken him any further forward and it’s hurting him how quickly he has been forgotten.

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aceofthebase added 07:44 - Feb 7 POX nuff said
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