Former Spurs Star Urges Team to Focus on the Champions League Over the Premier League
Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Darren Anderton has suggested that the club ought to prioritise the Champions League over the Premier League this season as it is a more prestigious competition, while he also feels domestic glory will be difficult playing 'home' games at Wembley.
"It's got to be the Champions League over Premier League, it's a great competition," Anderton said when speaking to betsafe.com.
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"It's so difficult playing at Wembley, it really is a completely different stadium," he added.
"For me, it's too far from the pitch, the atmosphere is tough. And away teams love playing there, I bet every player in the Premier League this year, the first fixture they look for is Tottenham away and playing at Wembley - and that makes it tough.
"The Champions League, they've done so well, of course it's a knockout competing so fingers crossed they get a good draw in the next round."
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Having found it difficult to play there in the Champions League last season, Spurs initially struggled at Wembley once all their 'home' games were temporarily moved to the venue for the duration of the 2017/18 season, particular in the Premier League.
It doesn't seem to have been as much of an issue in Europe, with a momentous 3-1 win over Real Madrid following an earlier Wembley victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Harry Kane was in fine form that night against the back-to-back reigning European champions and Anderton found it remarkable the way that the home-grown hero was able to 'bully' Real and Spain superstar Sergio Ramos.
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"Kane is an unbelievable player. He has no flaws, he can run, he can hold the ball up. The performance against Real Madrid against Ramos, I think he embarrassed Ramos," the retired 45-year-old commented.
"He absolutely bullied him, he ran him into areas, he was strong - he's an unbelievable player. He's come on leaps and bounds. Mentally he's very strong - as a centre forward he's going to get whacked. But he's strong, he doesn't let anything affect him. People keep talk about him not scoring in August, he doesn't worry about it, he doesn't even speak about it - he just gets on with it."
A lot of the credit for Kane's emergence as a genuine star go to manager Mauricio Pochettino. For Anderton, the Argentine's influence on the whole young team cannot be understated.
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"You only have to look at the players that have come from under Pochettino's guidance at Southampton as well as Spurs, who are now in that England squad," he said. "It's amazing what he's done not just as a manager but as a coach in the way he brings along these young players."
The key thing for Spurs moving forward will be to ensure that they can keep hold of players like Kane, like Dele Alli, like Christian Eriksen, who are young and will be the future of any success the club might have in the coming years.
"The most important thing is to keep players," Anderton explained.
"Apart from Kyle Walker, that's exactly what Spurs did and the way it's got to stay. There's going to be offers sniffing around for Harry Kane or Delli Alli, for ridiculous money - probably world record transfers, they're that good. It's difficult to turn down that sort of money I'm sure, but fingers crossed they do."
