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Mauricio Pochettino has been talking about his ambitions at Tottenham Hotspur and the success he wants to bring to the club.

The Spurs manager has been heavily linked with Manchester United since Jose Mourinho's departure last month, but he certainly seemed to be thinking about the future in north London ahead of Friday's FA Cup third round tie at Tranmere Rovers.

Pochettino has always made it clear that he places the FA Cup and Carabao Cup lower in his list of priorities than the Premier League and Champions League.

When asked whether the winning of a domestic trophy might provide an important psychological step up to the other targets, the Argentine spoke at length about his thoughts on the subject and his ambitions at Tottenham.

"I think the people want trophies and [think] that it means you are very successful," he said. "Of course, in some projects, in some clubs, if you don't win a trophy, you fail. But in our project at Tottenham we are completely different – if you say if you don't win a trophy, it's a failure … we have bigger things than to focus on than only to win a trophy.

"But that doesn't mean that we are not focused on trying to win against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup or in the FA Cup. But you need a lot of coincidences to win sometimes.

"There are a lot of examples. Swansea won the Carabao Cup when we arrived at Southampton and today they are in the second division. Wigan won the FA Cup and they are in the Championship. What is success? Of course we are the first that we want to win a trophy but that doesn't mean that it is going to be a successful thing or put Tottenham in a different level.

"Putting you in a different level is when you win the Premier League and you are capable to challenge every season for the title and if you play Champions League and you really believe and you are a real contender one day to win the Champions League. That is my objective in Tottenham."

Pochettino expanded further on his ambitions and the club's ambitions and added that had he won a domestic cup or two with Spurs but had not achieved what he has in the league itself, with three consecutive top three finishes, then Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy would have sent him packing.

He added: "If my ambition in Tottenham is only win the Carabao Cup or FA Cup, with all the respect for that, I think my ambition does not match the ambition of a club like Tottenham.

"My ambition is to win the Champions League one day with Tottenham or the Premier League. Sometimes the people take it wrong, my words. 'Oh the manager doesn't want to win the FA Cup or disrespects the competition the Carabao Cup or FA Cup.' No, no, no, no, no. It is the opposite.

"I respect a lot, but my ambition is to win the Champions League one day or the Premier League. But we need to create the structure or the basis to be one day a real contender and we are in that way but this is only the objective.

"To win the Carabao Cup and be in the middle of the table in the Premier League I think today we are not talking how we are talking here. I think I would have been sacked a few years ago, with two or three Carabao Cups or FA Cups!

"If you don't finish how we have finished in the last three seasons and [win] the FA Cup, I don't know if Daniel would have too much patience with me or is very nice to say 'ok you're tenth in the Premier League' and give you a new contract."

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