Mauricio Pochettino talks good game at Tottenham Hotspur

London: It was one of the conditions of his appointment as Tottenham Hotspur manager and Mauricio Pochettino followed it to the letter on Thursday night by finally declaring himself ready to speak English in public.

After a year and a half hiding behind a translator at Southampton, the Argentine vowed to address Spurs fans in their native tongue, despite claiming he was still struggling to master the language.

The 42-year-old’s decision to speak English only in private at St Mary’s sparked controversy and Tottenham were adamant that would no longer be the case upon recruiting him in May.

Pochettino demonstrated that he was more than happy to comply, having little difficulty getting his message across in his first serious encounter with the British media since joining his new club.

“Now, it’s good, my communication,” he said, while maintaining he “never had a problem” conversing with his English players at Southampton.

Admitting he was still “nervous” about speaking his second language in public, he insisted he understood how doing so would enable him to forge better relationships in the UK, drawing comparisons with the experiences of Sir Bobby Robson and David Beckham when they moved to Spain.

But he had no regrets about waiting until now to unveil his English skills to the world, adding: “Sometimes, it seems poor, my English, and it’s difficult to explain in the way that I want. And, it’s for that I used the translator in Southampton.”

That may be one reason why Pochettino will retain the services of a translator at Spurs — on Thursday it was assistant head coach Jesus Perez — if only to ensure he fully understands all questions asked.

The main one on everyone’s lips at a club now on their 13th permanent manager during the Premier League era is what targets he has been set by trigger-happy chairman Daniel Levy — targets likely to be far more difficult to achieve than speaking English.

“At the moment, there are a lot of targets,” Pochettino said. “To develop a balanced squad, to put our philosophy into practice and, on top of all that, we need the results to keep the belief high.”

Yet, qualifying for the Champions League has not been demanded of the new man in charge, who nevertheless set himself the impossible challenge of winning every game.

More realistic will be getting the best out of a squad who badly underachieved last season following Gareth Bale’s world-record £86 million (Dh531 million) move to Real Madrid.

Their failure was exemplified by record signing Erik Lamela, who was in danger of going down as one of the biggest flops in Premier League history but has shown glimpses in pre-season of what prompted Tottenham to pay Roma £30 million for him almost a year ago.

Insisting “my challenge is not only Erik Lamela”, Pochettino was expecting a dramatic improvement from his fellow Argentine this term.

“He is still young and the Premier League is the most difficult league to play, the style, the language, and to adapt,” Pochettino said.

“But now, we think and believe that Erik is ready to show his quality. For me, it is about exciting football, pressing high, playing with flair — this is our philosophy that we want to get down,” said Pochettino.

— The Telegraph Group Limited 2014