In some respects, it was as if he had hardly been away.
Mauricio Pochettino, dressed in charcoal, was animated on the touchline, and made no pretence of hiding his frustrations or articulating his team’s shortcomings when he spoke after the final whistle. He was disappointed that a set of players who only recently reached their first Champions League final could only draw 1-1 with a side of far more modest resources.
Fourteen months ago, Pochettino was manager for Tottenham Hotspur 1, Sheffield United 1, a result so dispiriting after a run of poor form that he was sacked by Spurs, even though the memory of their maiden European Cup final was still fresh in his and the club’s memory.
On Wednesday night, for his debut as coach in his new job, he oversaw Saint-Etienne 1, Paris Saint-Germain 1, a flat evening for the Paris club who finished second in their first-ever Champions League final last August.
So far, so similar. But the sport in which Pochettino, 48, has risen so far, so quickly as a coach has transformed since he was cultivating his strong emotional bond with the supporters of Spurs. Nearly 60,000 witnessed the last match of his five-and-a-half years there, in a brand new stadium built for noise and big numbers.
Now welcome to the new normal. Nobody other than support staff, substitutes and a few reporters saw PSG hang on for their point at Saint-Etienne in a stadium that prides itself on its rousing atmosphere, an arena so quiet under Covid-19 restrictions that even the soft-voiced Saint-Etienne head coach, Claude Puel, can make his instructions heard in both penalty areas.
Puel, whose team lag in 14th place in Ligue 1, might have spoiled Pochettino’s debut night even further had striker Denis Bouanga’s second-half shot not ricocheted off the PSG crossbar.
“Saint-Etienne deserved their point,” said Pochettino, “we struggled to finish, and we were up against a well-organised side.” Pochettino would expect that from Puel. They know each others’ methods and styles well enough, from three seasons as adversaries in the Premier League.
Puel’s Leicester City and the Argentinian’s Tottenham once shared in a nine-goal thriller, Spurs edging it 5-4. Both men used to manage Southampton, where Puel learned fast how respected Pochettino had been there.
The Frenchman never quite matched popular Poch’s legacy. But in French football, Puel is a seasoned expert and he set up his Saint-Etienne shrewdly for the newcomer to Ligue 1 management. PSG wobbled against set-pieces and in the face of focused pressing, conceding a goal before they registered the first of the Pochettino era.
To the new head coach’s relief, Moise Kean, on loan at PSG from Everton, equalised Romain Hamouma’s opener quickly. Pochettino was pleased with application of the Italy striker, as he was with Kean’s compatriot Marco Verratti, whose more advanced position in midfield looks like a point of difference between Pochettino and his sacked predecessor Thomas Tuchel.
“Marco has the freedom and the ability to play a number of roles, because of his ability to read a game,” said Pochettino. “He gives us a lot, and, given the circumstances, he was a positive influence.”
Those circumstances are not so much the hurried adaptation of a new coach, who only signed his 18-month contract with wealthy, ambitious PSG four days before the trip to St-Etienne, but the long injury list that greeted Pochettino.
Neymar is still recovering from an ankle problem, and PSG missed the injured Pascal Kimbembe from a central defence that looked anxious and relied on two excellent saves from Keylor Navas. A further six senior outfield players were also ruled out with fitness issues.
Nor, on the night, did Kylian Mbappe find his match-winning panache. Pochettino had close-up sight of Mbappe’s searing pace, and the striker helped set up Kean’s goal, but the France superstar was not in his best groove. L’Equipe, the sports newspaper, gave Mbappe a three-out-of-ten for his performance.
PSG, French champions seven times in the last eight years, moved up to second in the table with their point, but have slipped further off the lead with Olympique Lyonnais’ 3-2 victory over Lens, Lyon moving three points ahead.
“There is a lot of work to do in defence and in attack and not a lot of time,” said Pochettino, looking ahead to Saturday’s hosting of 10th-placed Brest. “But I am not worried.”
He relished being on a touchline again, though he misses an audience watching it live. “It’s nice to be back after 14 months without being involved. But it’s a strange feeling without fans, without any public. I hadn’t experienced that before. You miss the warmth.”
