Man City boss Pep Guardiola sends message to former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino after Tottenham defeat
Pep Guardiola has decided not to repeat his comment about Tottenham being a “Harry Kane team” in order not to anger Mauricio Pochettino once more. The Manchester City manager was upset after watching his team lose 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, with Kane scoring the winning goal.
Kane again inflicted damage on Guardiola, 18 months after the City manager desperately attempted to sign the Spurs talisman, by scuffing his shot past Ederson in the opening half.
It was sufficient to secure all three points for the north London club, who have yet to concede to City at their £1 billion arena.
Kane also celebrated surpassing Jimmy Greaves as the club’s all-time leading scorer, with 267 goals.
Since taking charge of City, Tottenham have been Guardiola’s kryptonite, and he was similarly frustrated by his team’s inability to convert possession into goals on Sunday, even without Antonio Conte, who is recovering from gallbladder removal surgery.
But the 52-year-old still had room for a provocative remark after the match, bizarrely suggesting he would not label Spurs as a team that heavily relies on Kane for fear of upsetting their sacked 2019 manager Pochettino.
“I’m not going to say the Harry Kane team otherwise Pochettino will be grumpy and I don’t want it,” Guardiola told reporters in a news conference.
“But on behalf of Manchester City, I can say congratulations on this incredible milestone. He is an exceptional player.”
Guardiola’s thinly veiled jab at Pochettino dates back to 2017, when the Argentine, who is currently unemployed after leaving PSG, was in charge of the north London club.
Spurs were considered title contenders after competing with Leicester in the 2016-17 season, and Kane won the Golden Boot with 29 goals in 30 games. Guardiola attributed Tottenham’s success under Pochettino to Harry Kane, dubbing them “the Harry Kane team.”
“Of course this season has a little more problems because they play every three days, that’s always more complicated for all the teams,” he said at the time. “But we also have United, we saw again the Harry Kane team scores every day two or three goals.”
As expected, Pochettino responded strongly and accused Guardiola of lacking respect for Tottenham.
“I know Pep very well and when he is excited, after an amazing victory against Chelsea, sometimes he struggles to keep his position and be a gentleman,” Pochettino said.
“The situation didn’t affect me but, in reality, it was very disrespectful for many people. It’s difficult to understand because Pep was part of the big success at Barcelona, when it was Messi at his best. And I never said it was the Messi team. I always said it was Barcelona and it was Pep Guardiola. I think everyone deserves to be recognised as being part of the success of the team.
“I think that many people took his words as very sad and disrespectful to the club. And for many players that are here – it’s a strange situation. Personally I didn’t take it in a bad way. It wasn’t disrespectful to me. I only express my feeling that, for a lot of people, it was unnecessary to say that.”
It is unclear if Pochettino will respond to Guardiola’s latest attack on him, but the manager of Man City has more pressing issues to worry about as his team failed to capitalize on Arsenal’s loss and now trails in the race for the title by five points.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola sends message to former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino after Tottenham defeat
