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Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou expects Mauricio Pochettino to be shown plenty of respect on Monday night but joked there will be no guard of honour for the current Chelsea boss.<\/p>\n
Pochettino will return to Spurs for the first time since his acrimonious departure in the winter of 2019, which occurred months after he guided the north London club to the Champions League final.<\/p>\n
There have been various points over the past four years where Tottenham supporters have longed for their old boss to return amid an identity crisis, but chairman Daniel Levy decided to go in a different direction and hired Postecoglou, while Pochettino by this point had already accepted the Chelsea job.<\/p>\n
Eyebrows were raised when Pochettino took over at Stamford Bridge in May, given the rivalry between the London clubs during his five-year tenure at Spurs, and it could result in a mixed reaction on his return to N17 next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, it is undoubted that he had an unbelievable impact on this football club,\u201d Postecoglou said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us in our roles, that is our ultimate goal and ambition that whatever doors we go through, we make an impact and he has had an undeniable impact on this football club in his time here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe almost took the club to the ultimate summit of the Champions League, got close to the league, so his work is unquestioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I speak to around here, there are still people who worked with him, they can\u2019t speak highly enough of him as a person and as a manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI doubt there will be anything but respect for Mauricio from anyone at this football club, supporters or people associated, but it doesn\u2019t mean he will get a guard of honour on Monday night because we want to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he would expect that, but his tenure here and impact here is undeniable and will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever people think of Mauricio and his time here as a Spurs manager, they will only look upon it with respect and fondness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pochettino has suffered plenty of teething problems at Chelsea, but did spend more than \u00a3350million this summer and pressure is beginning to grow with the club struggling in 11th position after only three league wins all season.<\/p>\n
It is in complete contrast to Postecoglou, who lost record goalscorer Harry Kane on the eve of the new season and yet has transformed the club with an unbeaten run to the Premier League summit.<\/p>\n
The Australian coach added: \u201cWhat I know is you don\u2019t really know what challenges exist until you\u2019re in it.<\/p>\n
You look at Mauricio\u2019s track record and I\u2019ve got no doubt he\u2019ll get Chelsea on the right path<\/p>\n
\u201cEven here, people can assume what kind of challenges I had coming in but it is probably not a tenth of what we had to do or what I felt needed to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that\u2019s Mauricio or any other manager I guess, you don\u2019t really know what they are having to deal with to get to the end point.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, while others may look at it and say \u2018that\u2019s a real difficult one\u2019, there will be managers saying, \u2018I wish I had a billion to spend and waste\u2019 because what some people sometimes see as an advantage, others see as a disadvantage. That\u2019s the challenge for all us managers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think we are all in our own unique space that nobody can really understand because none of us can really disclose all the information because that\u2019s the way organisations work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I have to deal with and what Mauricio has to deal with are probably very, very different, but in essence what we are trying to do is the same thing: build a team that we believe can bring success.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at Mauricio\u2019s track record and I\u2019ve got no doubt he\u2019ll get Chelsea on the right path, I\u2019ve no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n