The Tottenham Hotspur boss says he noticed the Liverpool fans on Boxing Day.
Mauricio Pochettino feels Liverpool may have an advantage over Tottenham Hotspur in the title race thanks to the atmosphere at Anfield.
Few would have expected Liverpool and Spurs to be the top two in the Premier League at the season’s halfway point but back-to-back defeats for Manchester City has blown things wide open.
Liverpool sit in first, six points above Spurs, and Pochettino says he was struck by the atmosphere at Anfield during the Reds’ 4-0 win over Newcastle United.
“I saw the highlights from Anfield,” he said, reports the Liverpool Echo. “The fans are desperate to win and they’re showing their support to the team.
“Anfield was amazing. Every game Liverpool play at Anfield is a party and that sometimes makes the difference.”
The Argentine then contrasts that to the situation with Spurs – and you can understand why he’s so eager to move in the new stadium.
“Many fans that have come in this period have visited London and, like a theatre, they say, ‘Oh it’s a game at Wembley, I’m going to buy a ticket’,” he said. “It’s normal, but our fans feel and they try to increase the atmosphere — but we have a limit too.
“In a 90,000 stadium, we have a limit of no more than 51,000 and yesterday we had 45,000. That, in our stadium, means it’s very warm, the atmosphere, but in Wembley it’s impossible.
“That’s why when I’m asked, ‘Do you want to move [during the season]?’ I’ve said, ‘Of course, as soon as possible,’ because it’s going to be a massive boost for the team and for our fans.”
It’s perhaps underplayed just how well Spurs have done to progress and compete in a temporary stadium.
Pochettino has led Spurs into the Champions League consistently despite the upheaval but he’s clearly desperate to get back where they belong.
It’s certainly a handicap, as Pochettino says, and one that Spurs will hope doesn’t turn into an enormous regret.
This is currently their best squad in at least 30 years, perhaps even longer, and yet the change in ground leaves them unable to take absolute advantage of it.
If the atmosphere truly makes as big a difference as Pochettino believes, Spurs fans may look back at this period and wonder what might have been.
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