Arsenal won the FA Cup again this afternoon and the consequences for that victory will now impact Spurs own European ambitions. Because of the way the Europa League tournament is structured, Tottenham suddenly have to enter the Europa League at the second round qualifying stage which commences on September 17th.
But the real joy is that we will now have to win three one-off games in order to get to the group stage of the competition. Keen eyed observers will be aware that the Premier League starts on September 12th. These additional games within just days of the new season getting underway will be enough to place unwelcome pressure upon any squad failing to have the sufficient strength and depth to it.
Spurs are infamous for getting deals done late in transfer windows, but surely the threat of losing out on European football’s prize money will hurry Daniel Levy along a little this time around? That remains to be seen. The odds of fans coming back to English stadiums in any meaningful numbers before Christmas, are far from certain, and Jose Mourinho might well prefer to concentrate on domestic competitions, while he continues his salvage work.
Arsenal fans would have said the same though. Even with their wheels falling off they still managed to win 4 recent FA Cups. In hindsight Poch needed to take the League and FA Cup more seriously, but he was like Klopp, had an eye on bigger prizes. It goes to show, to win big you need to spend big. For the League Cup and FA Cup you can win it with a couple of good performances when needed.
I made this suggestion a couple of days ago for those very reasons.12 months+12 if he stays fit.He’d be the same age as Llorente I believe and is more mobile.They don’t like it up ’em.
We could benefit from his captaincy and wily experience!
On reflection perhaps it is an intelligent move where his no nonsense feisty nature on and off the pitch could be a welcome attraction to the team!
Smacking of desperation I see we are linked to the Hornets 32 year old stocky striker, Troy Deeney as a back up for Kane.Well passed his best. Really??
Absolutely.
How many Spurs players would get into the current Liverpool side?, 1 possibly 2. Their lies the root problem of our weakish side.
I am Happy to eat humble pie if wrong but only delusional Spurs fans think we shall be winning silverware anytime soon under ENIC. Our 2 moments of destiny in 2016 (when the Foxes won the PL title) and our failure beat Liverpool in the CL final have come and gone, difficult to say for ever but it looks that way!!
True, most of them do. Squad numbers they tell me, lack of churn, injuries, all takes it’s toll on a small squad.
Unless I am mistaken, coming close and labeled the nearly side Poch promised to deliver silverware during his reign as all Spurs managers do when taking the hot seat but failed!!
You what for Arsenal, so that we now have to play 3 play off matches around the start of the season.
Poch’s biggest mistake was not having a squad big enough to compete in all comps. Which lead him to prioritise , what Levy wanted first then whatever.
Forget rebuilding team spirit! Starting from scratch, overhauling the whole side is what is required. Ok we have some good players but the rest of the side and turgid style of football is pretty average at best!!
Poch was asked to deliver top 4 and UCL every year and did that, people are making excuses for Jose already.
Presumably Arsenal will be favourites to lift the trophy??
Late to the show I congratulated some of my Arsenal friends on their fully deserved FA Cup triumph ultimately resulting in our archest rivals having a better season than Spurs.
The winners of the Europa League get €8.5m next season. Hardly a king’s ransom. Who can we buy with that? It won’t even buy Ndomfatbele’s protein bars! We’ll lose out on stadium revenue, which let’s be honest, would see far from full attendances. All in all, not much money in this at all. Poch was right to prioritise the Prem and Ch Lg because that is where the big teams compete. However, Levy liked the idea without committing to it. Poch overperformed, Levy loved it, he thought he’d found a ‘new order’ and that he had outsmarted all the big boys. In reality he got lucky and we, as fans, look back with a sense of regret and frustration. Europa League may well be another competition, but look who has won it in the past. Are we seriously thinking we are capable of winning this? The League Cup and FA Cup are more realistic because of the number of games, but the worst team in the Prem beat us in front of a full house this season. We had injuries, but Levy could have sorted this with investing in a decent squad. Investing in players might not always work, but show me who has won without buying anyone.
His whole reputation is based on what a tough negotiator he is. Alas, for Levy, his reputation has preceded him. He is now seen as the unacceptable face of THFC because his old style methodology of bullying clubs in financial difficulties does not work any more due to Sky’s TV money. He tried it with Villa over Grealish, and previously with Crystal Palace over Zaha. I can imagine when another PL CEO gets a phone call from Levy, he knows exactly what is coming. He must be the only PL chairman who waits by his phone during the last hours of the transfer market waiting for a bargain. Properly managed clubs without an anally retentive dwarf running them get their transfer business done quickly and on time.
I cannot bare the stupid champions league losers trophy. If Maureen takes it seriously it would be no surprise to me if it slowly strangles our chances of top 4 next season. Trying to win it because it’s winnable is fine, if you’ve got the squad to nearly win it and finish top 4, but I’ve no reason to believe we will have. If he proves me wrong I will very happily buy Jose a very expensive bottle of Portuguese wine. Wait ……correction; I will very happily buy myself a very expensive bottle of Portuguese wine.
Levys dithering, low balling and moving of the goals posts gets confused with ‘toughest negotiator in football’
All too true mikey I,m afraid. It was a criminal offence not winning any form of silverware in our pomp under Poch, but our club stemming from the chairman has a losers mentality and top players outside the club know it, and top players inside the club soon discover it. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker knew it 4 seasons ago and spilt the beans on the eve of a fa. Cup semi final , that is unheard of anywhere else in football. Levy is not interested in the team winning but doing enough to keep the fans happy ish and the MONEY coming in , which he is very good at. Shame that money is not given to the team to invest in top top proven players aka Bruno Fernandes, instead of a hopeful punt on someone Gedson Fernandes !
That’s where he gets his kicks, long drawn out negotiations where he saves tuppence halfpenny.
We need to rebuild the team spirit and the Europa League can be used for that. We better drop the idea that we’re too good for it. That’s the kind of soft headed delusion that played a big part in never winning anything when we were for two years as good as any team in the country.
The Cup Final today showed what team spirit can do, the better squad man for man lost. One of Pochs biggest mistakes was treating the cups too lightly, he was interested in the big picture building a lasting legacy, but it has to start somewhere.
I was hoping there was some way Arsenal and Chelsea could both loose but on balance I plumped for Arsenal, money wise and board room wise they are in the same boat as us. That Chelsea sense of entitlement to all the goodies and their easy access to money made up my mind.
So Blue Scum get CL/Red Scum win FA Cup I feel like we are the filling in a *hit sandwich.
Come on Tight Purse deliver PEH on Monday. Why can other clubs sign players in days but negotiations involving you go on & on & on.
When the semi final draw was made I think most people thought it would be a Manchester final and we rightly laughed at the ar$e for finishing below us and out of Europe.What a joke that turned out to be.
Now we have to travel to the back of god knows where for some meaningless games just to get to the group stages of a competition Mourinho thinks we can win.
Yes Levy really needs to wake up and realise that right from the off next season our threadbare squad will be overplayed.Kane will probably get injured before the end of September.
Mourinho will start throwing his toys out of the pram because he can’t get the players he wants knowing full well that was how it was going to play out.He will make it known through the media that he is not being backed and will likely talk himself out of the job by Christmas.But he will walk with 30M.And we think it’s painful now.
I can’t see fans being allowed back until next year at the earliest, this virus is far from finished with us yet. Not that I would want to go along and give discount Danny any of my money anyway. What’s the point he doesn’t use it on the squad does he? He finds the cheapest crud that can kick a ball, and that unlike Ceballos and Willian don’t realise how playing for ENIC fc is the best way to stall your career and win nought, and the rest gets siphoned off to the management company, much of it ending up in the chairman’s bulging bank account as a reward for annual failure on the pitch, but great success in the bank balance.
Funny how all the other so called big clubs win trophies for fun but we find it impossible even when we’ve got the best managers around. What’s different about us and them? Oh of course it’s ENIC and discount Danny.
The reason Levy took the government loan was to avoid at all costs Lewis or himself having to pump their own money into the club….we now have people taking the p@ss out of our “recycled kit”….yes, recycled by the same 8 year olds that made them the first time round, yet this time they are now 9…
It IS embarrassing be a Spurs supporter..