Mauricio Pochettino can fix Man Utd - his USMNT stint proves it

Mauricio Pochettino is not the most exciting appointment Manchester United could have made, but it could prove to be a very sensible one.

The 54-year-old was officially unveiled as the Red Devils' new head coach on Friday, a day after the club confirmed the sacking of Michael Carrick, which had seemed inevitable for weeks.

Shortly after Man Utd's announcement, Pochettino said his tearful goodbyes to the United States men's national team - even though he will still be in charge for a week and oversee a double-header against Haiti.

Once he touches down in England, Pochettino will walk into a veritable mess. The Old Trafford club are currently in the Premier League relegation zone and have not won a domestic match since August.

There are question marks over the club's hierarchy and bizarre ownership structure, and the squad lacks sufficient depth and quality in several departments. Pochettino will reportedly be backed in January, but how much money he will actually have available remains to be seen.

In many ways, Pochettino faces an impossible job. He will be Man Utd's eighth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and not one of them has been able to mount a credible Premier League title challenge.

Even the Jose Mourinho team that came second in 2018 finished a whopping 19 points behind Man City. Yet, in 2024, new CEO Omar Berrada told Man Utd staff that the goal was to win the Premier League in 2028 for the club's 150th anniversary. He doubled down on this last year.

Can Pochettino do it? The chances are slim to none, particularly when a frequent criticism levelled at him is that he doesn't win silverware. But that doesn't mean that he can't have a successful tenure. At this stage, Man Utd can't conceivably think about winning the Premier League.

They are nowhere near the level of Arsenal, who look like they will romp to the title again - and probably again next season - and given their track record, it's certainly better to be dubious about their ability to assemble a title-winning squad in three transfer windows.

Pochettino's immediate task can't be to win or even challenge for the Premier League title. To even suggest that would be utterly delusional, considering that this team can't even perform well for 90 minutes, let alone for nine months.

The fact that Pochettino has been hired and deemed the best man for the job is, in a way, proof of Man Utd's decline. In 2016, they turned their nose up at the Argentine - despite the recommendation of Ferguson - because he hadn't won anything.

10 years on, this is still the same stick with which to beat him, although he does have a Ligue 1 title and a Coupe de France to his name after his brief spell at PSG. His lack of title-winning pedigree isn't the only potential concern.

There are also question marks about his tactics. There are worries that his approach is outdated and will no longer work in the Premier League, although this is slightly unfair. Pochettino has shown adaptability and a willingness to experiment in recent years.

Moreover, there is currently no "correct" way of playing football in the Premier League. The irresistible, control-obsessed approach of the peak Pep Guardiola years has given way to a smorgasbord of different styles, which makes the outcome of most games impossible to predict.

The last time the 54-year-old coached in the Premier League, his Chelsea team thrived in chaos, so he might be able to excel in this unpredictable current tactical landscape. Emphasis on "might."

The real reason why Pochettino could be a success at Man Utd has less to do with what happens on the pitch; it's what he does off it. He has repeatedly shown, except perhaps at PSG, that he is an excellent culture-builder.

Though his Chelsea stint was messy, he led them to a respectable sixth-place finish despite dealing with a bloated squad and plenty of other issues that ultimately culminated in a parting of ways.

Pochettino is an excellent man-manager. He gets complete buy-in from his players, and if he doesn't, then that player will be out the door before long. He has no issue ostracising those who don't pull their weight. During his time with the USMNT, he had his guys.

Once he had made up his mind about a player, it was difficult to change it. Yunus Musah, Johnny Cardoso and Tanner Tessmann were omitted from the World Cup squad because they had failed to sufficiently impress the Argentine despite playing for European heavyweights at club level.

Cristian Roldan of the Seattle Sounders or Sebastian Berhalter, then of the Vancouver Whitecaps, had, on the other hand, fully won the trust of Pochettino, not just because of their performances but also because of their mentality.

The human element, as Pochettino likes to constantly hammer home, is incredibly important to him. Even though he was only with the USMNT for two years, he completely transformed that program.

The mindset of the squad was turned on its head. Before the Argentine arrived, the US was seen as a collection of talented but entitled and "soft" players. This could hardly be any different now.

He turned the US into a team of grafters willing to go blow-for-blow with even the nastiest opponents without compromising on the actual football. In other words, he drilled an elite mentality into the USMNT. It was something the US already had; it just needed to be unlocked.

"Even though he’s Argentinian, he has that mindset of like, look, this is what we do, you know, and this is who we are, and this is what America’s about," Berhalter said of Pochettino and the team's new mentality earlier this year. "We’re American, and we don’t take shit."

This is exactly what Man Utd need. They need a culture-builder. Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim were supposed to be that, but neither had the experience of Pochettino; they were consumed by the size of the job.

Pochettino, though, has worked at big clubs in the Premier League before, and he won't be overawed by the massive task at hand. What also works in his favour is that several senior players will be out of contract in the summer.

This will allow him to find his guys and weed out the rest - the big egos that might undermine his efforts to build a strong collective. Pochettino needs open-minded players who are willing to learn and adapt, so don't be surprised if he cleans house next summer.

Whether he is able to turn Man Utd into a proper team again will come to define his tenure at Old Trafford. Although the expectations will be vastly different from those in the US, he knows that culture-building will be a huge part of his upcoming job.

"I am little bit arrogant but not too much," he said at Friday's USMNT press conference, during which he confirmed his move to Man Utd. "We don't take on a project to be remembered forever and have a picture here in the national training centre.

"We do it for the impact on the human being, and to be a good partner. Through the vision of the federation, we want to add our quality and knowledge about the game, and to be part of the family.

"I hope in Manchester United the same happens. That is what we can add: our expertise on soccer... The key factor that we can have a big influence over is the human being. And being tough when you need to be tough. And being nice. But being good, more than nice."