Is Spurs failure in home leg down to Wembley a curse

Last updated : 15 September 2016 By DSG

With White Hart Lane currently under development as the club sets about constructing a new stadium, Spurs will move to north-west London for all their home fixtures in Europe's elite competition.

However, a 2-1 defeat to French League leaders As Monaco means that the start of their Champions League campaign has hit a stumbling block in Group E and with tough opposition in Bayer Leverkusen and CSKA Moscow, who drew 2-2, this could be a stumble that costs Spurs dear.

It was a similar problem for their arch rivals the Gunners back at the end of the 1990's

Arsenal struggled when they played Champions League games at Wembley for two seasons

They never progressed from group stages between 1998 and 2000 despite having a brilliant squad that had done the 'Double' in 1997-98.

Former Gunners defender Martin Keown has regrets " Visiting teams often struggled to cope with the tight pitch and the fans being so close in, and the talent in our squad was such that I think we could have gone deep into the competition had we played there instead of Wembley."

But it seemed Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino believes that the small pitch at White Hart Lane, the second-smallest in the Premier League at just 100 x 67 metres, has a negative effect on the sides style of play

“Our style means that we need a bigger space to play, because we play a positional game,” commented Pochettino “It is true that White Hart Lane is a little bit tight, no? It is better for the opponent to play deep.”

So it was hoped that the more expansive Wembley turf would allow them to play their natural game

The full-backs will have more space to push into, making the pitch big, giving the creative players more room to pick their passes.

Spurs dominated at the start of the match and even with the atmosphere and expectation in front of a record-breaking crowd of 85,011, the highest ever home attendance for an English club, Spurs paid the price for first-half sloppiness in defence.

So maybe there is a Wembley curse, not just for the Champions league which also affected Arsenal but Wembley curse, with Spurs winning on only one of their last five appearances there before this demoralizing meeting with Monaco.

But in all fairness, the fact that they are playing away from their real home ground, despite being small it is a pitch they are used to playing on week in week out

Truly a home ground and in fact playing their Champions League games at Wembley has actually taken away that home advantage

Is it really worth the extra gate receipts if they are effectively playing 6 away games? Time will tell if Daniel Levy's gamble was worthwhile

But it hasn't started well for Spurs.

Source : DSG

Source: DSG