UK Edition
Playing at Wembley is a 'big dream' not a problem, says Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino has described Tottenham Hotspur playing at Wembley as “wow, a big wow” – and harked back to his youth, growing up in the backwater town of Murphy in Sante Fe, Argentina, when such a stadium felt “like the moon. Another galaxy” to an aspiring footballer.
Warming to the theme, Pochettino reeled off Wembley memories including playing there for Argentina, against England, in a friendly under the old ‘twin tower’ stadium in 2000 before it was re-built, to dining out with compatriots Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa to hear their FA Cup exploits with Spurs in the 1980s. “They are like an encyclopaedia,” the Spurs manager said.
And even, going further back, and most iconic and vivid of all for Argentineans, Pochettino spoke about the World Cup quarter-final against England in 1966 when his nation’s captain Antonio Rattin was controversially sent off in the first-half for arguing with the referee.
As an exercise in dispelling the trepidation that is being felt around Spurs playing their home games at Wembley this season – starting with Sunday’s fixture against Chelsea – it was, therefore, utterly convincing.
But Spurs need to turn around a record of just two wins in their last 10 visits to the stadium – including last season’s disastrous Champions League campaign and losing the FA Cup semi-final to Chelsea – if they are to prevent it becoming an issue with some seeing it as a bar to them mounting a title challenge as their new arena is being built.
“Wembley is not the problem, we are the problem if we don’t win, like last season,” Pochettino maintained. “Wembley is the most important place in the world and if we are not able to win there it is not because of Wembley it is because of us.
“It is where football was born. For me, in Argentina and Spain (where Pochettino played), Wembley was a big dream and now a possibility to play there every two weeks, or maybe every week, or maybe three times in one week. A problem? Oh, come on, I love Wembley.”
In fact just how much the 45-year-old loves Wembley soon became apparent. “I played in 2000, a friendly game, England v Argentina and it was in the old Wembley before they changed to build the new one and it was a massive dream for me to play there,” he said of that goalless draw when the defender came on a first-half substitute. “When I grew up I saw, always, Rattin. Remember the World Cup of 1966, that was one player, Rattin, sitting on the red carpet? And that is in my mind always and Wembley was wow, a big wow...Wembley, Wembley.
“I was in Argentina I was so young but Wembley for me was like the moon. Another galaxy. It is in another world because it is England, Wembley. It was massive for me. And then one day you have the possibility to play. And now every week to spend time there.”
That Rattin incident. Rattin, one of the world’s best players, initially refused to leave the field, believing the German referee wanted England to win, when he was dismissed. Rattin even sat on the red carpet which led to the Royal Box. The official later accused Rattin of using “violence of the tongue” and the incident became mired in controversy and conspiracy with Sir Alf Ramsey describing the Argentina team as “animals”.
Pochettino will walk past the bronze bust of Ramsey on Sunday – and for every Spurs match this season – which sits in the players tunnel at Wembley but it will be flanked by the iconic golden cockerels which sat on top of the East and West stands at White Hart Lane.
Ramsey, of course, also played for Spurs and was a member of their 1951 league championship winning side but there is only a limited number of cosmetic things the club can do to make Wembley feel more like home. There will be flags distributed to all fans, to try and whip up the atmosphere, but that was not a problem last season either. The biggest shift for Spurs will be in having to make sure they get the results to gain the momentum especially having had such outstanding home form, winning 21 and undefeated in 23 matches in all competitions, last season.
Much has been made of the Wembley pitch being bigger than the one at the Lane and the dimensions are different with an extra 440 square metres of turf. Wembley is marked out at 105 metres by 68 metres – the Lane was 100 metres by 67 metres – but that is the same as 15 of the 20 pitches in the Premier League and is the standard size unless a club’s stadium is too small to allow it as is the case with Everton, Chelsea, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and newly-promoted Huddersfield Town. And Spurs only won at Palace last season.
Pochettino argued that the recent win at Wembley when Spurs beat Juventus 2-0 was a better indicator. “I think when we played Juventus it was a little bit like ‘we are going to play at Wembley and it is a massive test for us’,” he said. “Against the runners-up in the Champions League and after the game we knew we could do well, play well.”
That was only a friendly, however, and now they are up against the former Juventus coach Antonio Conte who, Pochettino said, had sought him out at the recent Premier League launch to attempt to clarify his comments when he appeared to question Spurs “expectations”. “If they don’t win the title, it’s not a tragedy,” Conte had said implying there was less pressure.
Pochettino said Conte had argued the headlines around his comments had been misleading and added: “What he said did not upset me, it is only that he wanted to be sure that I had got the right message, not the wrong message. For me, it is not a big issue.”
A big issue for Spurs is recruitment and Pochettino said he wanted four new players before the transfer window closes. The first of those will be Ajax defender Davinson Sanchez with a fee of £42million - £28million plus £14million in add-ons – a deal announced for 21-year-old Colombian.