After last weekend’s cruel defeat away at Chelsea, Spurs were left languishing in 6th place after a resurgent Liverpool leapfrogged them into fifth place with just four games left to play. The holy grail of the Champions League now looks a distant dream after they fell 7 points behind Man City and what was once destined to be the start of something special is beginning to feel just like another false dawn – to put it quite simply, without securing Champions League football for a second successive season, Spurs season will ultimately go down as a failure.
It will seem odd to most calling Spurs season a failure, but let’s attach some perspective to proceedings shall we. Barring the club’s entertaining run in Europe, they’ve flattered to deceive for the majority of the campaign and only their exploits in Europe and manager Harry Redknapp’s status as a media darling have ensured that their season hasn’t come under closer inspection until now.
The league, as the time honoured tradition dictates, is your bred and butter. The soiree into Europe should not have been seen as an opportunity for a jolly around the continent, rather the establishment of the club among the European games’ elite – without 4th place this season, Spurs will be confined to the dark depths of the Europa League and channel 5 for another season, a dauntingly poor prospect for most fans and a big comedown from this season‘s exalted company.
At home in the Premier League though, is where Spurs have failed to catch fire on a consistent basis. Last season, Spurs finished the campaign with 67 league goals to their name; from 34 games this term they’ve registered just 50 league goals. They also managed to make White Hart Lane into a fortress of sorts last campaign, winning 14 and drawing 2 of their 19 home fixtures. This season, however, they’ve won just 8 of their 17 fixtures in North London and drawn a whopping 8. They’ve already conceded 2 more goals than they did the whole of last season in the league too.
Despite looking like a club that is just a player or two in the right areas short of truly challenging for the title, in reality, they’re a lot further away than that. Since the end of February, they’ve been in quite rotten form. While Man City have churned out the points needed to secure the coveted 4th place, Spurs in the meantime have drawn against Wolves, Wigan, West Ham and lost to Blackpool, four sides currently battling for their Premiership lives and ones which they should be dispatching with ease.
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In the domestic cup competitions they’ve sorely disappointed too. An extra-time defeat at the first hurdle to rivals Arsenal 4-1 in the Carling Cup was only topped by a humiliating 4-0 away defeat in the FA Cup third round away to Fulham.
Talk of a power shift in North London has been greatly exaggerated too. Redknapp has often talked about Spurs closing the gap on their neighbours, particularly in the wake of Spurs’s 3-2 victory over Arsenal at The Emirates back in November. However, last season Spurs finished just 5 points behind their Arsenal in the league whereas this season they’re already 12 points behind them with tricky away fixtures against Man City and Liverpool still to come.
Yes, the games against Inter Milan, AC Milan, FC Twente and Werder Bremen were great. Yes, the Champions League has been enlivened and enriched by their presence in this year‘s competition; their youthful naivety to has been like a breath of fresh air at times and they are most certainly detached from the boring, predictable, humdrum affairs we’ve been accustomed to seeing in the group stages. But much like Gareth Bale’s farcical victory in the PFA Player of the Year Award (surely awarded more for his performances in Europe than in the league – why oh why do they bother voting as early as February every year), Spurs have been characterised by their exploits and performances in Europe rather than their excellence across the board.
Spurs are undoubtedly a great side to watch. They have also coped admirably with a considerable number of injuries at the back for much of the campaign, yet the feeling lingers that without that crucial 4th place in the league to validate their progress, this season on a whole will have to go down as a missed opportunity.
Europe has saved Redknapp’s season this year, for without it, there has been little else to shout about on a consistent basis – there have been dropped points against lesser teams, a chronic lack of goals up front and a squad that doesn’t quite boast the strength in depth that it appeared to have at the start of the season. They are inconsistent beyond belief domestically and are a constant source of frustration for their supporters.
The crux of the matter is that Champions League qualification should not be seen as a bonus, rather an achievable goal to aim for each year; Redknapp raised the bar last season, but this term Spurs have fallen short this term of what’s required of them and that’s why ultimately, despite their entertaining exploits in Europe, this campaign will ultiamtely go down as a failure.
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