Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino’s name is once again resurfacing and being linked with the manager’s job at Old Trafford as the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer intensifies in the midst of his team’s continued dismal performances in the current Premier League campaign despite fine wins in the Champions League.
Their 1-0 defeat to a jubilant Arsenal side on Sunday leaves them down in 15th place in the table and they have won just two of their seven games in the division so far.
With the speculation again picking up, former Premier League striker Darren Bent has revealed he does not buy into the hype surrounding the ex-Tottenham boss, believing istead that the likes of the Gunners’ Mikel Arteta and Brendan Rodgers of Leicester are both better coaches than the Argentine.
But speaking to talkSPORT, Bent is emphatic that United would not improve under Pochettino and when asked if Pochettino is a world-class manager, Bent replied: “I don’t think he is.
“When I look at elite managers that are out there, I look at (Jurgen) Klopp, (Pep) Guardiola, even (Carlo) Ancelotti with what he’s done. I can’t put Poch in that bracket.
“To elevate a manager just because he got his team to a Champions League final and a League Cup final – that’s not world level management for me.
“I think he’s good but I just don’t think he’s in that world class bracket.”
Although Arteta only took on his first management job last December when he replaced Unai Emery as Gunners boss, Bent is convinced he has already seen enough to suggest the Spaniard will surpass Pochettino, while at the same time he has also been impressed by Leicester’s Rodgers.
“I would put Brendan Rodgers ahead of him (Pochettino),” Bent continued. “As a coach and a manager he is absolutely superb.
“For me Arteta is a better coach than Pochettino as well. If you look at Spurs, even after all that great work Poch did, developing players like Dele Alli and Harry Kane, Daniel Levy still needed someone to win trophies and he felt Pochettino could not do that.
“Arteta has gone in at Arsenal, he’s not even been there a year yet and look what he’s done. He’s gone in there, won an FA Cup, won the Community Shield and beat some of the biggest teams out there.
“So he’s managed to find a way of getting it done.”
Credit: Football Tribe Malaysia
