Mauricio Pochettino says when Sergio Aguero plays 'it is like classical music in my head' as Spurs boss hails Manchester City striker as 'the best striker in the world'  

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What starts as classical music in the mind of Mauricio Pochettino could morph into death metal if Sergio Aguero, the striker he considers the best in the world, ruins another day for Tottenham.

Curiously, the Spurs manager might still find a way to enjoy it, judging from the praise he shovelled on the Argentine in his pre-match briefing. 

Perhaps flattery is the only way to disarm a finisher who Pochettino rates higher than any other and whose three goals contributed to the two drubbings handed out by Manchester City to Tottenham last season.

VIDEO scroll down to watch Mauricio Pochettino: Previous Man City results are just history 

When Sergio Aguero plays football it is like classical music according to Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino

'Everything you have to have as a striker, he has,' says Pochettino of the Argentina forward

Those 5-1 and 6-0 beatings, inflicted on Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, have come to embody Tottenham’s desperate weakness against the top four sides of the Barclays Premier League.

Pochettino, sensibly, cites that those debacles did not happen on his watch, but his significant task at the Etihad Stadium today is ensuring that the striker who evokes Mozart in his mind doesn’t make a fool of him in the way he has Tottenham’s previous two managers.

‘When Aguero plays it is like classical music in my head,’ Pochettino said. ‘It is unbelievable. I think he is the best striker in the world. For me, he is. I love Aguero.

‘It’s like Mozart. Seriously. It is positive. Beethoven is too crazy.

Aguero scored three times in two games against Tottenham last year as City took Spurs apart twice

Pochettino says neither Lionel Messi (right) or Cristiano Ronaldo (left) are strikers like Aguero

‘For me, Aguero is the best. (Lionel Messi) is not a striker striker, Cristiano Ronaldo is not a striker striker, but Aguero is a striker. For me he is the best. Everything you have to have as a striker, he has.

‘He is Argentinian like me but I am not biased. He is the best. We need to make it difficult for him, to make the game difficult, to avoid the possibilities of him scoring.’

Aguero has already notched five in the Barclays Premier League this season, only four less than Tottenham’s entire squad. 

Other numbers are equally grim for Spurs, not the least of which is the statistic that shows they have taken only two points from 10 games against last season’s top four sides.

Aguero has already scored six times in just nine games this season as City seek to retain their title

Pochettino says Spurs have not watched last season's defeats, when Aguero helped put them to the sword

It is, perhaps, why Pochettino referenced the primary ‘need to show we can compete with a team like Manchester City’, though he has deliberately avoided all video evidence of their failure to do that last season.

‘You need to keep the good memories and good feelings and put the bad feelings and bad memories away,’ he said. ‘That is important. We need to keep the good feelings to improve. The past is the past.’