Important but not that important, he reasoned. Nice for the fans but it won't tick the bigger box. Pretty on a shelf but Wigan still got relegated, right?
Never let it be said that Mauricio Pochettino's relationship with the FA Cup is anything less than complex.
In the space of a day at the weekend he orchestrated the brilliant demolition of Swansea in the quarter-final, then spent a reasonable chunk of time explaining, in essence, why winning this trophy would only be a brushstroke in Tottenham's bigger picture.
As he said: 'In the cups, you can arrive to the semi-final or final, and in the end maybe, like Swansea, win some cups, or Wigan, who were then relegated.