Thursday 17 October 2019 16:35, UK
Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores has hailed Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino as the best Premier League coach in the last four years.
The two played against each other in La Liga when Sanchez Flores was at Valencia and Real Madrid and Pochettino was at Espanyol. They were also in opposite dugouts before resuming their rivalry in England during Sanchez Flores' first stint as head coach at Vicarage Road.
Both managers meet again on Saturday when Watford travel to Tottenham and Flores has the highest regard for the Argentine.
"I love him, he is the best coach in the Premier League in the last four years, this is my opinion," he said.
"When I was (last) at Watford I thought he was the best coach in the way he moved the team and the way the team played.
"Of course now it is a difficult moment for him and for the team, but for me he is the best coach in the last four years in the Premier League."
Pochettino has endured a difficult start to the season at Spurs and the Spaniard was asked if he expected the Tottenham boss to remain at the club long term.
"It is up to you, the critics, it's not up to me," said Sanchez Flores. "It depends on the results. The results bring in the critics."
Watford are bottom of the table ahead of their first trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with just three points from their opening eight games. But Sanchez Flores is refusing to be drawn on whether the Hornets will finish the season in the bottom three.
"I don't want to talk about that because it's really early" he said. "This is the big problem in football sometimes. We try to finish the season in September but it is May and there are 30 games ahead. And so it's impossible to think about what will happen.
"The only thing we have to do is work in a positive way and not think about the worst finish. We have to think about a good end to the season, how we can improve, how proud and happy we will be if we are able to do that, so this is the spirit."
