Pochettino suggests that he could serve touchline ban against Southampton

We haven’t heard much lately about the fallout from Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino’s encounter with match official Mike Dean. Poch and Dean got into a heated and pointed argument after Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor two weeks ago. Dean apparently said something to Pochettino after the final whistle that set Poch and assistant manager Jesus Perez off, though neither Poch nor Dean are talking about what was actually said to each other.

That seemed to be the end of it at the time, with FA officials charging Poch with “improper conduct” but not giving any details about what punishment would look like. However, we may now have an idea. In the post-match press conference after Spurs’ 2-0 Champions League win over Dortmund, Pochettino, who seemed to misunderstand a question from a journalist, seemed to imply that he is expecting to serve a one-match touchline ban for this weekend’s Premier League match at his old club Southampton.

“I am very disappointed, I don’t think that is going to change but I don’t care, we are going to be strong. If are not going to receive a help from our football people in our country only I can laugh.

“You are going to see tomorrow why I am not so happy with the people. At 10 o’clock you are going to see about it.”

That sure does seem to suggest that the Premier League and/or Tottenham might be ready to make an announcement about Pochettino’s punishment. Poch had earlier said that he had apologized to Dean for what happened and that he expected to be fined.

The whole thing is just dumb if you ask me. Poch is one of the most level-headed managers in the Premier League, so whatever Dean said to him it had to be something especially inflammatory to make him and Perez so angry. We may never know what exactly was said, but Poch is probably going to end up paying the price for it instead of Dean.

If Poch is banned from the touchline against the Saints, one would imagine Jesus Perez would take over, but Perez was also involved in the incident. If Perez is also banned, touchline responsibilities would then most likely revert to first team coach Miguel D’Agostino.