Fitness, Control and 'Team First': What Man Utd Can Expect From Pochettino

Manchester United confirmed on Friday that Mauricio Pochettino will take charge on 18 November, replacing Michael Carrick, on a contract that runs until June 2029. The Argentine arrives at Old Trafford with a reputation for punishing pre-seasons, an obsession with fitness and a no-nonsense way of working. BBC Sport asked someone who lived under that regime what the squad should expect.

Toby Alderweireld, now 37, played four years for Pochettino at Tottenham, a period in which the club reached the Champions League final and finished second in the Premier League. His first point is about discipline. Pochettino is approachable, he says, but players must follow the plan. Those who do not are moved to the side and do not come back.

The principle, as Alderweireld tells it, is that the team comes first. A player can bring personal circumstances to the manager and be heard, but if he puts himself ahead of the group, he is gone. Alderweireld thinks that is what United need: a big character, everyone pulling in the same direction, and an open door for anyone who does not want to. He calls Pochettino "the main man".

He also describes a manager who understands the public side of the job. Pochettino knows how to talk to the press and what to say, Alderweireld says, and builds an us-against-the-world environment in which the squad focuses on getting fit and working together regardless of outside noise. Inside the building, he says, Pochettino is everywhere. Even when he is not on the training pitch he is watching video and studying data, and he knows the players on and off the pitch. In Alderweireld's words, the players will be watched. He calls him, in a positive sense, a control freak, because Pochettino holds that the body is a player's weapon and must be ready to perform.

Fitness is the central demand, and it lands on a United side that has been criticised this season for not running enough. The club ranks in the bottom five in the league for distance covered and for high-intensity runs. Alderweireld says Pochettino made his Spurs players very fit and that the pre-season was brutal. The style he wants, with the team on the front foot, pressing opponents, playing a high line and moving dynamically, requires players who can sustain high-intensity running. Every manager wants a good pre-season, Alderweireld adds, but players will feel straight away that this is a different level, with every training session at 100 per cent. He expects results from it quickly.

He offers one example of that mentality: the Champions League semi-final against Ajax, when Tottenham were 3-0 down. Pochettino gave no tactical half-time talk. He told the players to be physical, to fight, that one goal would put them back in the game, and to believe anything was possible. Alderweireld admits Spurs were nowhere near Ajax in that match, but says they changed it through intensity and duels. He recalls the long ball to Fernando Llorente and the sense of being asked how badly they wanted it. The game turned from that moment.

The account comes from one former player, speaking before Pochettino has taken a session at United. What can be checked is the starting point: those bottom-five rankings for distance covered and high-intensity running. Whether his methods move them will be the first measurable test once he takes control next week.