SPURS WILL ONLY GET BIGGER...
Pochettino makes a promise
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has insisted that Tottenham will become one of the biggest clubs in Europe, despite their exit from the Europa League and their failure to win a cup since 2008.
Many had hoped that this season’s Europa League campaign might have matched the famous UEFA Cup wins of 1972 and 1984, but the 3-2 elimination by Belgian side Gent means the FA Cup now seems to be the only realistic chance of winning a trophy.
And with chairman Daniel Levy’s revelation, in a leaked email to the London Mayor’s office, that the club is under pressure from potential lenders to provide guarantees for the new stadium, Pochettino is urging supporters to remain patient for success.
With Tottenham’s Premier League campaign resuming against Stoke City today, the manager admits the team is not yet where it needs to be, but insists in time they will win trophies.
‘Going out in the Europa League is big, big disappointment because it was a competition which excited me,’ he said. ‘I think that we have pushed the expectations higher but that is normal because last season we were second, third in the league. But maybe we are not ready. It’s like the stadium, if we want to move 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.
‘But the important thing is the club. Our chairman has built the foundation: new facilities on the training ground, a new stadium to be better team and a bigger club.
‘We’re on the way to build one of the best clubs in Europe. But now we have to have patience to build and try to work hard and try to find the players that we can add to achieve that.’
And Pochettino insists that the club will move in the summer transfer market to strengthen, though the size of his budget is likely to be constrained by the financial pressures of building the new stadium.
He said: ‘Football is always about quality. And being clever. That is what we find in a player. It’s always about improving. We must add quality to fight for big things. And we will try, like always in football.’
Spurs will be without Danny Rose and Erik Lamela again for today’s visit of Stoke.
Rose is out with a knee injury, meaning Ben Davies is expected to continue at left-back, while Lamela is still recovering from a hip problem.
Pochettino must decide whether to rotate his squad after Spurs were forced to play 51 minutes with 10 men against Gent following Dele Alli’s red card.