LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has revealed how Ryan Mason kick-started his spell as Tottenham manager and changed his own career with an important goal two-and-a-half years ago.
On Thursday, Pochettino visited the Hull City player in hospital, where he is recovering from emergency surgery on a fractured skull following a clash of heads in the match at Chelsea on Saturday. Before the visit, Pochettino described his concern at watching the incident on television from Barcelona, and described Mason, 25, as "a person we love."
Pochettino's team are title challengers now but back in Sept. 2014 they were struggling badly and the manager owes a debt of gratitude to the midfielder for a brilliant 30-yard strike against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup.
Spurs were winless in four matches -- including a 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, which laid bare how far Pochettino's project had to come -- and Forest came to White Hart Lane on top of the Championship and celebrating the achievements of Brian Clough on the 10th anniversary of his death.
Mason had impressed in preseason but an injury ruled him out of Pochettino's first eight matches, and he made his return in an under-21 match at Sunderland two days before Forest's visit.
"After the game we called [academy director] John McDermott and John said, 'Oh, he was fantastic. In 90 minutes, he fought, he showed character in a very difficult pitch, very cold and not good condition to play.' I said to him, 'OK, tomorrow morning, he is training with us.' After training, [he was] in the squad and on the bench," Pochettino revealed.
After an hour Forest took the lead and the mood inside White Hart Lane turned grim, not least because Spurs faced a trip to North London rivals Arsenal three days later.
"It was a difficult game," continued Pochettino. "I turned to [assistant manager] Jesus [Perez]: 'Say to Ryan be ready.' And the first touch of the ball he scored an unbelievable goal. It started to change his present and it was fantastic.
"For me, he is a very special player, a very special person. Not only because he scored against Nottingham Forest but from day one, when we arrived at Tottenham, the way we saw him was a player with big talent but with a bit of bad luck in his career.
"In that moment it was a challenge to try to provide him the tools to be a first-team player. I think we were right to believe and trust in him."
Spurs went on to beat Forest 3-1 and afterwards Mason was a Pochettino favourite, making his first league start in the spirited 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
But it was in November's 2-1 win at Aston Villa, the turning point of Pochettino's first season at the club, that Mason really earned his manager's trust, racing to defend Erik Lamela after the winger was clattered by Christian Benteke and squaring up to the striker, who was sent off for pushing his face.
"It's true [he was] a little bit naughty in the Aston Villa game, but his contribution on the game, because we were in a very difficult position. ... He deserves a lot of credit because he helped us a lot. For that, he is a special player for me and will always be special."
Mason formed an impressive partnership with Nabil Bentaleb for the rest of the season but Eric Dier's move into midfield, the emergence of Dele Alli and the form of Mousa Dembele saw him lose his place last term, and he made only eight league starts in an injury-hit campaign.
Mason wanted to play more football, and in the summer Pochettino and Spurs received an offer they could not refuse -- a bid of around £11 million from Hull City.
"I cannot lie, I cannot keep a secret -- he is special," Pochettino said. "I feel when he took the decision to move to Hull it was a very tough moment for me.
"It was very difficult but you know that is football. We can split now but I think always the love that will always be there, impossible to ... you can split physically but the emotion you keep inside always."