Even Jose Mourinho admitted that his Tottenham players are not exactly motivated to play in the group stages of the Europa League after their 3-3 draw against LASK Linz yesterday (SkySports).
His statement might have gotten some Spurs fans worried as they want their team to win that competition.
However, I don’t think they need to panic, and our performance last night or in the group stages, in general, will not determine if we are going to win the competition.
This is because the group stage and the knockout stages are two different parts of the competition.
It is hard to see a top team that takes the competition’s group stage that seriously, but when they get into the knockout phase, they take it much more seriously.
Jose Mourinho has won several trophies including the Europa League, and I trust the Special One to get his plans for the knockout stages spot on.
We have used players that we haven’t fielded in the Premier League for much of our Europa League matches so far, the knockout phase will see Mourinho field the likes of Harry Kane, because it is the business end of the competition.
While motivation might be an issue in the group stages, I don’t see that happening in the business end of the competition, so no need to panic.
I wouldn’t say panic, it may well be only December but we are still competing on four fronts, yet this place is already a ticking time bomb.
100% 👍