Spurs will take a break from harassing Chelsea at the top of the Premier League to go into direct conflict with their London rivals at Wembley later today, and to mark the occasion, the Telegraph's Matt Law has written a very fine profile of Mauricio Pochettino, and the reasons behind his success at White Hart Lane.
There's lots of great detail in there, and it can read in full here.
One of the main pillars of Pochettino's success is the relationship he engenders with his players, with the fostering of "love" critical to the coming good of the Argentine's promise of sound and fury. And this is love sent one byte at a time.
The article reveals that Pochettino is in constant contact with his players via WhatsApp, and even keeps in touch with his old Southampton charges, too.
Pochettino frequently messages his Spurs players over WhatsApp and has remained in touch with many of his former Southampton squad. He has on numerous occasions spoken about the importance of showing “love” for his charges.
One of the players to lean the heaviest on Pochettino was Luke Shaw, currently being publicly provoked into form by Jose Mourinho. Intriguingly, this must be quite a change in experience for Shaw: he used to spend hours upon hours in Pochettino's office.
Mauricio built strong relationships with his players and staff. Luke Shaw would be in his office for a couple of hours each day.
The article also divulged Pochettino's odd love of darts. He frequently double screens Premier League darts with the Europa League on a Thursday evening, falling in love with the sport's raucous atmosphere.
Read it in full here.
