EXCLUSIVE Interview with Gus Poyet

Gus Poyet, former Chelsea and Spurs player and head coach at Brighton and Sunderland talks exclusively to William Hill about his former clubs. The Uruguayan, who always has a smile on his face, was assistant manager for Leeds United during his managerial career and shares his views on their promotion chances.

First up, Gus reviews Chelsea’s season so far under Pochettino and how important the 2nd leg in the Carabao Cup is for the team and securing their first trophy under new ownership. Then Gus shares his view on Spurs, where he believes the style of football they are playing is very impressive and believes a top 4 position is well within their grasp.
For Gus, Sunderland are on the right path and Leeds are right in the mix for a swift return to the Premier League.

Gus Poyet on how important it is for Chelsea to quality for Carabao Cup Final

It would be massive. I think when you become a Chelsea player, a Chelsea coach, you know you need to win trophies, you know you need to do well. With all the difficulties of the Premier League with the new players and settling down and bringing them together and trying to make something happen, if you have the chance to grab a medal, to go to a final, you must do it. I’m quite confident that if everything goes normal, normal means no mistakes, no red cards, nothing strange, Chelsea will go to the final. Then winning a final is a different matter. But I think it’s key for Mauricio also. It doesn’t matter how strong a person can be, it doesn’t matter how you feel that you’re doing the right things as Coach, It’s always nice to go to a final. It’s always nice to have the chance to take the club and have a chance of winning silverware.

Gus Poyet on the Chelsea qualifying for Europe in the League

I would say that playing in Europe is always important for a team like Chelsea. To play in the Europa Conference? If you’re going to win it, it’s another trophy, another European trophy for Chelsea to add to the cabinet.
Chelsea have already won the Cup Winners Cup back in the day, Champions League and Europa League, so should they qualify for the Europa Conference League, then so be it. Chelsa will be in Europe and it will help rebuild the club to compete at the top level.
Looking at the League position now, I think the more important thing is for Chelsea to have more consistency. We have seen too many times a good performance is then followed by a below par one and there are reasons for it. Injuries have hit the team this year and then the influx of new players isn’t easy for a Head Coach to get his vision across and style of play. The new project is still coming together and it will take time. New players need time to bed in and the basis is there for Chelsea to compete at the top, but winning becomes a habit and they must put in a good 2nd half of the season to gain a European spot.

Financially for the club as well. t’s always important to play in Europe. But the competition for European places has extended to beyond the usual suspects. Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are there, and now you have Spurs, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Brighton all fighting out for European spots and also West Ham are having a good season.

Looking at Chelsea though, we are seeing signs of improvement. I think Palmer is now having a real impact in the team and I think Sterling, under the circumstances, is having a very good season. With Reece James and Ben Chilwell being injured, this is difficult for the Coach, but consistency is the key for a team is they want to achieve success.

Gus Poyet on Tottenham and their top 4 chances.

Spurs are most definitely in the top 4 race. Everybody knows how spurs play. They have a style, they have a big impact on games and they are not afraid to take risks as they play an attacking style of football. They’re going to go forward; they’re going to be goals for sure in Tottenham games and it’s exciting to watch
You are always going to have a bad spell. The Premier League is long, but it’s important that you turn it around quick and recover with three or four good wins.
Ange Postecoglou is doing an excellent job so far, it’s still very early but you can see the players know their roles and they are in it together. It’s obvious to see this by the performance on Sunday against Manchester United. Two different sides as Manchester United seem not to have that identity on the pitch. Spurs had no fear going to Old Trafford and that is a good thing.
It reminds me a little bit the feeling I had when I was with Chelsea. With Chelsea, we went to Old Trafford and said, okay, they are a good team, but they’re going to have a problem because we’re going to have the ball as well. So, they’re going to have to run, they’re going to have to fight.

Coming back to Spurs, you can see Spurs have that feeling as well now, which shows they are going to be competitive throughout the rest of the season.
Looking closely at the top 4 places and I think Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal are in the driving seat with the quality of the players in their squad. I have been very impressed with Unai Emery and his Aston Villa team this season. They are playing some great football and will be in the top 4 race for sure.
However, I believe Spurs will have the edge and can deliver a top 4 place this season and return to the Champions League, which will be a huge achievement for the Club.

Gus Poyet on his time at Sunderland & the current Sunderland set up

Well, in terms of what we define as success, my time at Sunderland was a success because when you are a top side, you’re objectives are trophies and for Sunderland, our objective was to avoid relegation and we did that. The second objective was to beat Newcastle and we played them three times, two away from home and one at home and we beat them three times.

I enjoyed my time in the northeast. It was terrific. When you’re there, you realise how important the club is for the city, how important the rivalry is with Newcastle. I got the very special moments, for sure. The three derbies. The first one because it was my second game. But the other two away from hall were amazing. The reaction the day that we got saved against West Brom at home, The Stadium of Light was spectacular. And the reaction of the people when we went to Wembley, even if we lost, was excellent. But you’re still meeting people in the street that they remember. One said to me, I remember half time at Wembley. Yeah, because we were winning one nil and I never felt like that. You’re thinking, wow, I don’t remember. I just remember that we lost. But it’s that feeling that they have for the club. And everything was good.

Looking at the Sunderland side now, they have a great group of young players and a Coach who can guide them in the right direction. It’s important to keep hold of as many good young players as you can, as Sunderland are a team very close to the play-offs and with a little bit of luck you never know.

Michael Beale is in now as Head Coach and he can concentrate on the playing side which he has shown he can do very well. Sunderland should continue their strategy of bedding in young players with the crowd behind the players, this can take the Club a long way.
The training ground is amazing, the facilities as well around the club are good and everything is set up for Sunderland to keep improving. Unfortunately, football doesn’t stand still so you need to keep looking forward. It’s key to keep your top players and if not, look go being in the same calibre of top players. I always check how Sunderland are doing and hope they can achieve something special.

This season, the Championship is very competitive. Leicester City and Southampton have deep squads and playing very consistent football right now. The biggest surprise is Ipswich with any doubt. That is because they have a superb style of football, the Coach has been with them a while now and they have a team that knows how to win, having seen good success in League One and they have continued this year in the Championship. The momentum they have had has seen them do really well. Now it the real challenge, to see what they can do in the 2nd half of the season.

Gus Poyet on his time at Leeds

It was very interesting because when we arrived with Dennis Wise, obviously being ex Chelsea, it was not really a nice welcome. Especially after all the craziness of the administration and everything that happened in the first six, seven months, I think that everybody understood what kind of people we were with Dennis, and we achieved something. I’m still meeting Leeds fans. They always ask me to go back and they always want me to go back. Because it was a good, close relationship in a very difficult, unique situation.

We were into administration, into League one. We started the season with minus 15 points. I hope it’s the last time in my life that you win your first five games and you go zero points. Top of the league and you go zero points. We won six or seven in a row. The supporters were amazing, taking so many fans to an away game in the lower leagues. The fans were great.

But football can change in an instant and I got a call from Tottenham, to help Juande Ramos and I decided to move on to the Premier League and have a different experience. I always say that without the experience of being with Dennis Wise and without the experience of being with Ramos at Tottenham, I wouldn’t be the coach I am now.
I like the Leeds team this season, after a tough start, they have got into their groove and will challenge for automatic promotion. It is very competitive, but Leeds do have a great chance to return to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Gus Poyet on the Carabao Cup Semi-Finals

Both semi-finals are delicately poised and both 2nd legs are going to be good to watch. Looking at Fulham v Liverpool and the slender lead Liverpool have should be enough to secure them a place in the final. The squad is very strong and although Fulham have been playing well of late, being Arsenal at home in the League especially, they will make it difficult for Liverpool. My view is that the game will end in a 1-1 draw and that will be good enough for Liverpool to head to Wembley.
In the other match, Chelsea know how important it is to be in a final at Wembley, it is in the DNA of the club, to win trophies, so they can play on the front foot and put pressure on Middlesbrough. I think over the 90 minutes, Chelsea will have too much for Boro and can run out convincing winners and make it another final against Liverpool in this competition. For a scoreline, I would say 3-0 Chelsea win.

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