Mauricio Pochettino will have impressed Manchester United in semi-final defeat, says Paul Merson
Friday 25 January 2019 23:46, UK
Tottenham's defeat against Chelsea was bad news for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United will have been impressed with Mauricio Pochettino's humility in defeat, says Paul Merson.
Pochettino is one of the favourites to be the next permanent United manager, but Solskjaer is making a big impact at Old Trafford in his interim capacity, winning all seven of his games in charge.
Spurs let another opportunity to win silverware slip away from them in agonising fashion at Stamford Bridge on Thursday when they lost on penalties to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Pochettino, despite having Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son unavailable, did not look for excuses for the defeat, which will have been noted by the United hierarchy, according to Merson.
"Tottenham's defeat at Chelsea doesn't help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer," he told Sky Sports.
"Manchester United will have been watching from a distance and yet again he showed he's a class act in defeat. How many managers do you see moaning about how unlucky they were to lose on penalties? Pochettino was gracious.
"Other managers would have found excuses. The result went against Spurs but he never blamed anyone or moaned about the injury list - he just says that's the way it is. He never moans about the board, either.
"He'll be thinking 'how far can I take this team?' He's not silly.
"I think Pochettino wants to win things."
There has been widespread praise for Solskjaer, who took over from Jose Mourinho, for being able to turn things around so quickly at United.
However, talk of Solskjaer being in pole position to take the job on a full-time basis is premature, says Merson.
"I would say Pochettino is the front runner still," he said.
"Solskjaer has beaten teams he should have beat and if it wasn't for David de Gea against Spurs it could have been any score. He's doing a great job in the interim but this is a big job - they are a million miles away from Manchester City and they need to close that gap."
