V WE ARE GOING PLACES
TOTTENHAM STOKE Poch: Spurs building something special
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has likened his Tottenham team to the new stadium the club are building at White Hart Lane.
The foundations are all there and something great is coming – but for now it is still not ready.
Poch saw his men crash out of the Europa League against Belgian side Gent and the Argentinian’s disappointment was evident because it was a competition he wanted to win.
But as he prepared to pick his boys up for the Premier League run-in he insisted he was happy with the performance and stressed the need for patience with his young stars.
Pochettino said: “We have pushed the expectation higher but that is normal because last season we were there – second, third in the league and that is good.
“But maybe we are not ready. It’s like the stadium, if we wanted to move into it today we are not ready to play there. “We need to wait, build the foundations. “It’s a problem always – to be patient, to arrive at the right time. Our chairman has built the f oundation – new f acilities on t he training ground and new stadium to provide for a better team, a better club, a bigger club. “We’re on the way to building one of the best clubs in Europe but now we must be patient.
Patience
“We must have patience to build and try to work hard and try to find the players we can add to achieve that.
“Work hard and be clever – that is very important.
“We must add quality to the team if we want to fight for big things and we will try, like always in football. It’s our job as a club to find the right profile and player that can play for us, and try to help the team improve.” Midfielder Mousa Dembele, like his manager, was downbeat that their Europa League hopes had fallen at the first hurdle, after a disappointing Champions League campaign. But he insists there were positives from Thursday’s Wembley performance that they must now take into the remainder of their Premier League games, starting today against Stoke. Dembele ( below) said: “It’s disappointing. We worked hard, we played as a team and even when we had a man less we played even better. “Of course we’re disappointed we’ve gone out. “Now it’s the FA Cup and Premier League and we’ve just got to focus on that. “We played so well with 10 men and if we can bring that sort of mentality, spirit and attitude to the Premier League and the FA Cup we will do very well. “We must just stay positive to continue to have this good feeling.”