Rival Watch : PSG Announces Pochettino as new coach

Having sacked Thomas Tuchel a few days ago, our next Champions League opponents, PSG, have announced the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as the team’s new coach. What’s the logic behind this, and what do these changes mean for Barça?

At first glance, this may seem like a stupid decision. Tuchel had fulfilled PSG’s dream of reaching the Champions League final. Moreover, doing so in convincing fashion. But he’s now replaced by Pochettino, who’s seen no silverware during the entirety of his coaching career. Yet Tuchel’s dismissal is not just about sporting reasons, but mainly due to a disagreement between him and the team’s sporting director, Leonardo. Thomas Tuchel has himself stated that he felt like a politician rather than coach at PSG, which is exactly where the problems started for him.

Failing to continue after a good season

Tuchel is a mastermind, but with a serious drawback: once he gets a taste of success, he starts misusing that power and genius of his to an extreme extent. That’s how he left Borussia Dortmund, and that’s how he’s leaving PSG now. There are some coaches who cannot be kept at a club for long. They bring you success at first, but then get completely carried away.

What will Mauricio Pochettino change at PSG? Nothing really. It’s unlikely that he’ll alter anything apart from the formation, being a similar coach to Tuchel in terms of his ideology. But one thing he will surely add to this PSG side is balance. He, unlike Tuchel, is a coach and by no means a politician. And that’s what the French side were looking for. 

Overall, that’s a great deal for PSG. Do our chances of going through to the quarterfinals either increase or diminish? Probably not. There’s still a long way to go till we will be able to truly compete against teams of that calibre.