Spurs must make Wembley home or it will cost them
TOTTENHAM must get over their psychological problem of playing at Wembley or it will cost them this season and the next. Spurs have the second leg of their last-32 Europa League tie against Gent in the national stadium on Thursday and it will be understandable if past failures are still on their mind.
They lost two Champions League group games there this season, which is the main reason why they dropped into the Europa League.
It looked as if being at Wembley was a burden for them, but this has to change because they are set to play all their ‘home’ games there next season while work on the new stadium continues.
As a player, it’s vital you make a ground your home. You have to find your comforts and get accustomed to the surroundings.
The more time you spend there, the better. If you win games it obviously becomes a happier place to be. At the moment I wouldn’t imagine that’s the case for the Tottenham players at Wembley.
The biggest difference I can see is that White Hart Lane feels like a tight little pitch because the stands are close. Wembley is suchuch an open stadium but the playersyers have to get that out of their heads.eads.
I do have some sympathympathy for them. I remember playingaying at the old Wembley for Englandngland and then going to the new Wembley and thinking,ng, “Oh, this is a bit differ-rent”. It took some timee to get used to.
Right now, the qualit y of Tottenham’s performances there isn’t the most important thing, the priority is just g e t t i n gg results in the bag. Thenn the c o n f i d e n c e w i ll ll start to come.
Tottenham could be back at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final and Final this season, so if they can improve here it will give them a big advantage for those huge fixtures because it will feel like their home ground.g
At least SpursS are going into the second leg against Gent,G who beat them 1-01 last week, havinghav secured a
convincingco 3-0 victory over Fulham in the FA Cup. I heard Mauricio Pochettino suggest there had been a few meetings with his players after their successive defeats to Liverpool and Gent.
Those kind of talks can be seasondefining. You have to nip bad results in the bud. That comes from the manager and the leaders in the changing room speaking up and making sure that people grasp the moment they’re in; that they understand all the hard work could go to waste. Those honest words can shake up the back end of the campaign.
The good news for Spurs is that Harry Kane is full of self-belief with that fine hat-trick on Sunday.
The timing of Kane getting back among the goals couldn’t be any better. This is the business end of the season and if he is hitting form now, it’s perfect.
Dele Alli provided another assist and Christian Eriksen looked good, too. Hopefully, the hangover of those Liverpool and Gent defeats is out of their system and they will get through to the last 16.
BT Sport is the only place to watch all four major football competitions in one place, with exclusively live coverage of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and Emirates FA Cup.