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Mythbuster is a series that critically fact-checks preconceived footballing notions and myths. This edition examines the perception that the former Tottenham Hotspur boss twice choked in the Premier League title race.
Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City has resurrected the age-old tag of not having the nerve and follow through to see out a Premier League title race.
Mikel Arteta’s men were beaten 4-1 at the Etihad on Wednesday to extend their winless run to four games, although they still sit top of the table, albeit having played two games more.
When Arsenal last won in the league on April 1, they held an eight-point lead over Pep Guardiola’s men, who admittedly had played a game fewer, but could find themselves in second when they take to the field next Tuesday against Chelsea.
Essentially, they have been accused of ‘bottling’ the chance of a first Premier League title in 19 years.
However, this week’s edition of Mythbuster is not challenging that claim. The season is not over and, despite the expectation that Pep Guardiola is primed for a fifth league win in six years, stranger things have happened.
Instead, Chelsea’s rumoured next head coach Mauricio Pochettino is scrutinised. When it emerged that the former Tottenham Hotspur boss was the leading candidate to replace Graham Potter, the inevitable examination of his Tottenham tenure began.
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Broadly, anyone invested in the discussion falls into two categories: recognition of the Argentinean’s role in establishing the Lilywhites as an established top-four side and guiding them to the 2019 Champions League final or condemnation of those achievements by pointing to the absence of trophies in five years.
Pochettino’s fiercest naysayers label the former Paris Saint-Germain boss a bottler for a perceived failure to win the Premier League title in 2015-16 and 2016-17, but what does it even mean to bottle?
Definition and precedents
Admittedly, to ‘bottle’ a match or tournament could be used in several contexts, but the universally recognised one is inadvertently throwing away a game or tournament from a seemingly unassailable position.
There is often untold schadenfreude when a favourite or a team that has a significant advantage in a match or during the course of a league campaign fails to claim maximum points or progress to the next round — in the case of a one-off encounter — or blows their lead in the title run-in.
A fitting example in a one-off match was the 2005 Champions League final, where AC Milan contrived to lose a three-goal half-time advantage over Liverpool inside six minutes to find themselves level at 3-3 by the 61st minute.
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The Miracle of Istanbul saw the Reds claim their fifth European Cup under Rafael Benitez.
Arsenal’s 4-4 draw with Newcastle United in February 2011 is memorable because the Magpies fought back from four goals conceded in the opening half-hour to score four times in the final half-hour, with two of those strikes coming in the last 10 minutes.
For league campaigns, Arsene Wenger’s Gunners had a five-point lead over Manchester United in 2002-03 with nine games remaining but ended five points behind the Red Devils.
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However, the notable precedent came in 2011-12 when Sir Alex Ferguson’s United side lost the league on goal difference despite leading Manchester City with eight points with six games to go.
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With the precedent already established, were Spurs bottle jobs in 15-16 and 16-17?
Tottenham’s 15-16 title challenge
The perception that Spurs threw the title away to Leicester City in 2016 is perplexing for a few reasons.
Pochettino’s team never opened up a lead atop the table, the Lilywhites were never even table toppers in that campaign.
A closer look at that campaign shows that Tottenham could not break into the top four until the 17th round of games, where a 2-0 victory at Southampton took them above Man United on goal difference. At the time, they were nine points adrift of Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes.
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They stayed fourth until the 24th gameweek and moved into second place in the following round, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and five points back of Leicester.
However, a point from games against West Ham United — they lost 1-0 — and a 2-2 North London derby draw meant the Lilywhites could not capitalise on the Foxes dropping points against West Bromwich Albion in gameweek 28.
Picking up 14 points from the following 18 meant they went into the Chelsea showdown in round 36 needing a win at Stamford Bridge to keep their slight title hopes alive. Alas, it ended 2-2, and Leicester were champions.
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Pochettino’s team finished third after a crestfallen side lost their final two games, losing 2-1 against Southampton and 5-1 at Newcastle.
Tottenham’s 16-17 title challenge
Despite an unbeaten start to 16-17, six draws in their opening 11 games left Spurs in fifth place.
Two losses in three games to Chelsea and the Red Devils in rounds 13 and 15 left Pochettino’s men 10 points back of Antonio Conte’s troops in mid-December.
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But Spurs claimed six successive victories, including a 2-0 success over the table-topping Blues — ending the West London side’s 13-game winning run — to move into third.
Securing five points from 12 saw Pochettino’s men slip to third, below Chelsea and second-placed Manchester City, trailing Conte’s men by 10 points after round 25.
However, a stunning perfect 10-match sequence put pressure on their London rivals, with Conte’s side losing just twice in that time, cutting the gap to four points.
A 1-0 defeat at West Ham in gameweek 36 and Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough meant the West London side were on the verge of the title, which they ultimately won.
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Conclusion
Tottenham did not blow a lead in both seasons nor were they top of the league in those campaigns, debunking the ‘bottlers’ tag many continue to place on that iteration of Spurs managed by Pochettino.
If anything, a team not given a title chance at the start of those campaigns put in a strong challenge, particularly in 16-17, where they pushed Conte’s men with 10 consecutive wins.
With minimal investment in that squad, evidenced by their net spend from 2014-15 to 2018-19, the Argentinean guided the club to a top-four berth in all but one season in five full campaigns, finishing fifth in his first.
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While Spurs were always in and around the top-four conversation in the 2000s and early 2010s, the North London side never ended in the Champions League positions in successive years.
Pochettino not only got them to their highest points total in the Premier League (86 points) in 16-17, but he also guided them to the 2019 Champions League decider, even if they were beaten after a meek final against one of Liverpool’s great sides.
No, Pochettino is no bottler. How can you bottle when you were not the favourite or blow an advantage?
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