Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham Hotspur coach, used an interview in English to assure his players they should not fear his innovative coaching methods.
Despite speaking English to his players at former club Southampton, the Argentine has used a translator to talk to the media since arriving in the Premier League in January 2013.
Pochettino dropped the interpreter for an interview with Spurs TV, however, and moved to ease concerns about his high-intensity training sessions.
"The players don't have to be afraid," Pochettino said. "Our style is demanding – sometimes too much, but we use common sense. We demand a lot from them, because that is our style.
“Our philosophy is ‘suffer in training so you don’t suffer in the game’.
“We can only expect full commitment and a positive attitude.”
Pochettino said Steffen Freund will remain on the club's coaching staff. The former Spurs midfielder will work alongside assistant head coach Jesus Perez, first-team coach Miguel D'Agostino and goalkeeping coach Toni Jiminez, who all came with Pochettino from Southampton.
Meanwhile, Southampton forward Jay Rodriguez said the club lost a “great manager”. Pochettino guided Southampton to a club-record eighth-place finish in the Premier League last season and Rodriguez was full of praise for his former boss.
“Mauricio is a great manager and a great guy and was well-respected by the lads,” Rodriguez said. “He worked us really hard and we got the good results and finished eighth, which we were happy with.
“Football moves on, though, so it’s one of those things.”
Southampton face a struggle to keep hold of their key players this summer, with the likes of Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers all being linked with moves away from St Mary's. Striker Rickie Lambert followed Pochettino out the exit door to join Liverpool earlier this month, and there are fears more players could do the same.
“You don’t want to see players going and the team being taken apart,” Rodriguez said.
“You can sometimes never stop it, it is one of those things, so I’m trying not to think about it and hopefully we will have everyone at pre-season.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
