Ardiles Backs Pochettino To Lead Tottenham Back To Champions League

Tottenham legend Ossie Ardiles has claimed Mauricio Pochettino is the right man to lead Spurs back into the Premier League top four, despite a difficult start to the campaign.

The former Southampton manager arrived at White Hart Lane earlier this summer seeking an improvement on last season, which saw Spurs finishing in sixth place.

However, even though the Argentinian had a promising start to life in North London, winning the first two Premier League games of the season, Tottenham have since failed to secure another league victory and are ninth in the table with just seven points from five games.

Daniel Levy sacked Tim Sherwood last summer after he failed to lead the side to the Champions League. Sherwood was the tenth manager to be dismissed by Spurs, following in the footsteps of high-profile names such as Andre Villas-Boas and Harry Redknapp.

However, Ardiles believes Pochettino can resist Levy's firm hand and eventually lead Tottenham back to the Champions League.

"He [Pochettino] is the right man for the job," the Spurs legend told TalkSport.

"Tottenham have changed managers too many times, they need to stick with one. In Mauricio they have someone who has the right ideas. Hopefully he will do the job for us."

Ardiles urges patience as "it's a team in progress, there is still a lot of work to be done.

"His [Pochettino's] ideas are very clear. He believes in putting a lot of pressure on the opposition, pressing as high as possible, recovering the ball quickly and then playing.

"Of course it's not going to happen overnight. He's got a big job on his hands and I just hope he gets given time."

After beating Nottingham Forest 3-1 in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, Pochettino now has a bigger challenge to face on Saturday, as Spurs visit the Emirates Stadium for the North London derby against Arsenal.