Mauricio Pochettino tells Tottenham players they will have to play at Wembley in the Europa League games…whether they like it or not
Spurs boss revealed his club will go against the wishes of their stars and refuse to revert to White Hart Lane
MAURICIO POCHETTINO is adamant Tottenham will play any Europa League home matches at Wembley — and told his players they can like it or lump it.
The Spurs boss revealed his club will go against the wishes of their stars and refuse to revert to White Hart Lane after being dumped out of the Champions League with defeat by Monaco on Tuesday.
Spurs are due to play all home matches at the national stadium next season, while their new ground is being built next door to the Lane — and Poch says his men have to get over their Wembley hoodoo.
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Tottenham have lost six successive games at Wembley, including crucial Champions League defeats by Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen.
They must now avoid defeat against CSKA Moscow on December 7 to secure third place in their group and a Europa League spot.
But after Moussa Sissoko voiced the opinion of many Spurs players by saying he would prefer to abandon Wembley, Pochettino slapped down his midfielder.
The Argentine said: “The players need to be focused to play. Talk on the pitch is the most important. This decision is the club’s — the chairman, the board and me in this case.
“And if we are in the Europa League, we will play at Wembley and then we need to make Wembley our home.
“It’s a good opportunity to play the next games at Wembley in the Europa League because next season we need to play 19 Premier League games and cups and European competition there.
“We need to make Wembley our home and that’s a great opportunity to play.
“Never, never would we play Europa games at White Hart Lane. We will play at Wembley.”
Spurs had signed a season-long contract with the FA to play all of their European matches at Wembley, in whichever competition.
Yet Uefa would have allowed them to move back to the Lane for the Europa League.
But Pochettino added: “I’m looking forward to trying to get more possibilities to play at Wembley and that it starts to feel like home.
“That is the most important because we need to move to Wembley next season. We cannot complain next season. We need to start thinking of Wembley as our home and avoid all of the negative things about Wembley.”
Pochettino brushed off criticism of his controversial team selection in Monaco, where he rested key defenders Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen for a must-win fixture to prepare for tomorrow’s grudge match at Chelsea.
The Spurs boss said: “Football is about the quality of the squad.
“Sometimes you need to rest players.
“I think we struggled to be competitive in two tough competitions — the Premier League and Champions League.
“We struggled a lot and showed we don’t have enough quality to compete and to be in the top.
“We are unbeaten in the Premier League after 12 games and after five games in the Champions League we lose three.
“It’s obvious we don’t show enough quality to be competitive in both.”
Pochettino has denied claims that Spurs objected to Chelsea coach Steve Holland possibly combining his role with the Blues and a job as Gareth Southgate’s England No 2.
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Holland is likely to end up quitting Stamford Bridge anyway to take up a full-time role with the Three Lions.
But Pochettino said: “After Gareth Southgate got the job in the national team, we had some meetings with Steve Holland and we talked a lot about what happened (between Chelsea and Spurs) last season. I think we created a very good relationship.
“So it’s not important for me or Tottenham. It’s more a decision of the FA. I can say we have a very good relationship.”