North London side Tottenham Hotspur have already crashed out of the Champions League this season after their away defeat against Monaco last month. At the end of 5 games, Spurs sit 3rd in their group, a point above CSKA Moscow. It really felt a bit strange when Pochettino rested his key players in the game against Monaco to prioritise their Premier League game against Chelsea 3 days later.
Unfortunately, the decision backfired as Tottenham lost both the games crashing out of the Champions league and losing ground in the Premier League as well. With the clash against CSKA Moscow coming up tonight, Pochettino has got a decision to make on something which will affect the club’s immediate future.
First and foremost, Tottenham just have to win their next game against CSKA Moscow and get into the Europa League. Europa League can appear a bit dull with some of the teams in the group stages being absolute unknowns but it isn’t a minnow pond and it becomes a lot harder and tougher as one progresses through the rounds.
For the last few years, the English teams have learnt how tough it is to make inroads into the final stages of the competition. Liverpool found it out last season when Sevilla, a team who have become Europa league specialists, outwitted them in the finals.
In fact, the Spanish teams have dominated the competition for a long time now. In the last eleven years, the Europa League has been won by a Spanish clubs 7 times. Sevilla alone has won it 5 times with their last year’s triumph making it thrice in a row since 2014.
Over the last few years, as the intensity and competition in the Premier League increased it became harder for the English teams to challenge realistically in Europe after their weekend exertions in the league and lack of recuperation time being some of the reasons behind them. This is exactly where Pochettino has got to make a big call with the future in his mind. The Argentine manager must now prioritise the Europa League for some very significant reasons.
Firstly, we all know that this year’s Premier League is going to be the toughest in its history where realistically 5 teams can win the title. Tottenham are one of the contenders and Pochettino is determined to make his mark after the disappointments of last season where they lost the title, despite being the most likely to win it, in bizarre fashion finishing in the 3rd spot behind 2nd placed Arsenal which just rubbed salt into their wounds.
By resting his players in a crucial Champions League game, the Tottenham boss has made his intentions clear about the Premier League but this time he should be wise enough to treat the Europa League as his contingency plan of sorts if they face an unfortunate turnaround in their title race.
Tottenham are a club which is heading in the right direction after years of stagnation and inconsistencies. Pochettino’s arrival seems to have brought about a certain kind of stability previously missing at White Hart Lane. The club has revealed that they will soon be moving into a new state of the art 61,000 seater new stadium within a couple of years which will elevate the stature of the club further. However, it has to be said that while the infrastructure and new stadium is fantastic, attracting top talents into the club along with retaining the best players in the squad, will always depend on the performances on the pitch.
As an Arsenal fan myself I know all too well about it. A good manager with an attractive philosophy can add a lot of weight regarding the transfer of a player but a continuous appearance in the Champions League is what on most cases sets the benchmark for many players who are heard to express their desire of playing for a club who can offer them Champions League football.
There’s absolutely no doubt that Tottenham are capable of winning the league, if they can keep up their fitness right to the end. I have always said that with coaches like Klopp and Pochettino, who like to employ high-intensity pressing game of the mould of the legend Marcelo Bielsa, it is impossible to keep up the highest levels of fitness and intensity throughout a whole season. That is why the teams managed by them have always suffered in the 2nd half of a season. Spurs’ capitulation of last year is a very big example.
Pochettino can provide a solution to that problem with the intelligent rotation of his squad. Adding more options in certain areas will offer the provision of that (something which will make me nervous also, as a Gooner). However, at the top level as a manager you always need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Pochettino can easily find himself in a difficult situation in the Premier League as the Lilywhites can find themselves fighting for the top four places at the end of the season from contesting for the title after a couple of defeats and injuries. In the Premier League things change very quickly and you can never take anything for granted until the final whistle is blown.
Spurs should have a plan B as after two years of good work. Both Tottenham and Pochettino cannot afford a slip up which might derail them from the already set path towards a better and brighter future. A team which is capable of winning the Premier League is without a doubt capable of winning the Europa League, so if Spurs can go all the way the Europe’s 2nd tier competition it will help the club in not only adding a piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet, which desperately needs some additions, but also to an automatic qualification for the Champions League of next season.
Winning the Europa will increase the London club’s UEFA coefficient ratings which currently at 22, needs to be better. Chelsea are the only English club in the top 10 with Arsenal in 11th. Spurs can make the table look a lot better, thus. To put things into perspective, Sevilla were in the 23rd place of the UEFA coefficient ratings table in 2012/13 but in 2016/17 they find themselves in the 10th place.
A similar thing can happen with Tottenham in the next couple of years. Winning the Europa can bring the same sort of change at the club. It has been proved before that doing well in the Europa League helps a team to make a deep impact in the Champions League as well.
Juventus, who were the semi-finalists in the competition in 2014, went all the way to the finals of the Champions League in 2015. Atletico Madrid Europa champions of 2010 and 2012, reached the finals of the Champions League twice in 2014 and 2016. Pochettino should think on the same lines and try to emulate the feats of the teams mentioned above.
