Pochettino: Regular Wembley games will help Spurs create home fortress

Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham will find it easier to make Wembley Stadium feel like home next season because they will not be switching between the venue and White Hart Lane .

Spurs will play their last ever match at the Lane this Sunday, after 118 years at the stadium, and Pochettino is expecting an emotional occasion, admitting: “Because I am very sensitive person and so emotional, it will be difficult not to cry”.

The Lilywhites have been in stunning form in N17 this campaign, and if can avoid defeat against Manchester United they will complete an unbeaten league season on home turf for the first time since 1964/65.

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Meanwhile, a victory would equal the club record of 14 straight home wins in the league, set in 1987.

The challenge is to replicate that success at Wembley next campaign, and it will be no mean feat. The Lilywhites have played each of their four European matches at the national stadium this season and have only won once.

Various explanations have been offered, including the larger pitch, but Pochettino feels it will be much easier when the club are playing all of their home games at the same place.

“When I arrived here, I made a lot of mistakes,” said the Argentinian. “One of the mistakes I made was that I said that the size of [the pitch at] White Hart Lane maybe doesn’t help us in the way we want to play.

“Remember three years ago? I received a lot of criticism for that. How it has changed! Three years later, now it’s ‘maybe Wembley is too big’.

“I think [the problem this season] was the different competition. We will make Wembley our home and start to feel very comfortable there. It’s about adaptation.

“When you are focused and you feel that your home is White Hart Lane , it’s so difficult to change. One week we played at White Hart Lane , the next week we played at Wembley. It’s so difficult to change your mind and be ready when you are so comfortable at White Hart Lane .

“But next season, there’s no excuse. Next season it’s Wembley or Wembley. There isn’t the doubt of having some games at Wembley, some at White Hart Lane .

“It was a great experience for us to learn. It was difficult but I’m sure that from day one next season we will be thinking about Wembley and it will be completely different.”

For now, Pochettino is aiming to finish the season strongly as Tottenham close in on a second-place finish, which would be their best ever in the Premier League era.

Spurs should have secured the runner-up spot last year too but, when their title bid ended against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in early May, they collapsed and lost their last two matches against Southampton and Newcastle .

Their supporters will be hoping history does not repeat itself now – especially given the historic significance of Sunday’s match at the Lane – and Pochettino is unconcerned.

“Last season we finished the last two games not so happy, but we move on and this season we’ve improved, and maybe we’ll improve a bit more in the next three games,” he said.

“In the first season when we played to be fifth, we went to Everton and we won and finished well.

“Last season our expectation was so high, to win the league, and when we dropped against Chelsea it’s normal to be disappointed. After that it’s so difficult, and then it was the European Championship.

“It’s normal for the players, with no big things to play for, to drop a little bit – but that season is completely different.

“In our minds it is completely different now and we are ready to compete. Remember the situation. Dele Alli was banned after West Bromwich, Mousa Dembele the same against Chelsea . Many things happened. I think this season is completely different.”

Chelsea have been attempting to wrap up the Premier League this evening, led by Antonio Conte, who only took charge of the Blues last summer.

For that reason, the Italian feels Tottenham have had “an advantage” in the title race – he said this week: “Mauricio Pochettino is a really good manager and is working with his team for a third year.”

Spurs’ manager responded: “I understand him. It’s difficult for him because I think he’s a manager who likes to work with and develop young talent.

“It’s difficult when you sign for a club like Chelsea and you have the pressure to win and you spend the money that they spent on David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, [Michy] Batshuayi, [N’Golo] Kante.

“I totally understand but I don’t know if I agree with him that it’s an advantage to stay [a long time] because, in the same way, the advantage of Arsene Wenger should be to win the league every season because he’s been in charge for 20 years.

“If that is the right way to measure our advantage, I think it’s not fair to measure with me, it’s to measure with Wenger – after 20 years, it’s a massive advantage. Why not win every season? It’s not a criticism [of Wenger], only to say I don’t know if it’s fair.

“Maybe it was not the best comment from him (Conte), but because I respect him and I love him – I shared five hours with him here, I opened my door – I understand what he wanted to say.”

Pochettino could have further underlined the extra resources at Conte’s disposal. But the Argentinian says he is enjoying the challenge of overseeing Tottenham’s development on a lower budget – and he is adamant he only wants players who feel similarly and can ignore the wealth of rival clubs.

“The easy thing is to arrive at some club and ask for players and to demand big money from the owner,” he said. “The difficult way is to try to develop talent and create a team and build a winning mentality, not only with the players, but the whole club’s belief.

“I think today we all realise at the club that we can build something special in a different way that other clubs are building. But that makes it special and an exciting project for us and we enjoy it a lot every day.

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“Yesterday we were walking around the training ground – John McDermott, Jesus Perez, Toni Jimenez, Miguel D’Agostino and the chairman. We enjoyed it a lot for an hour, looking at the new facilities, the project, how the training ground is – and we only enjoyed it because [the project] is special. If not, it’s difficult.

“Football is more than spending money or bringing in big players. Tottenham is creating a very special environment. It will only take patience to achieve the things we want to achieve.

“Now I think it’s about building a special feeling here at the club, and the players that want to share it with us and want to stay with us, they are welcome.

“Then it’s a decision that I explained a few weeks ago – the players that will go and the players that will come, it will always be a club decision. But I think it’s not a reason to be worried today, about all the rumours that there are [about players leaving]. The club is in a very good position.

“It’s true that we are building a new stadium, new facilities, but we want our players to feel proud to play for us, play for Tottenham, and have the ambition to achieve big things with us, not only [think] about money, but to try to touch glory, win trophies and be important in the history and write the history with us at the club.”

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