Still plenty more to play for

The morning after a cup final defeat is never a bright one. And with Spurs bowing out of two cup competitions within the space of a week, the first Monday in March was always going to be especially dark. But to claim, as many have, that the season ‘is over’ is a farce.

Spurs will not lift a cup this season. We will not win the League this season; we may not finish in the Top Four. But to suggest that this writes the season off is reactionary nonsense.

So let me react, in turn, to that view: anyone who thinks a season is a failure because their club will not win a trophy, or secure an obscene financial advantage for next year, will be miserable supporting 99% of England’s clubs. Those people may like to head to west London, where racist chants spill out of the pubs and tourists in replica shirts swarm the high roads, because Abramovich’s Chelsea is more or less the only place to find that kind of solace.

[linequote]This season we’ve already taken 4 points off Woolwich, 3 off Chelsea, 1 off a ludicrously reinforced United and 3 off Southampton when they were flying high in second[/linequote]

For Spurs, the season is not over, nor is it a failure, and to justify this just recap on the season’s objectives. Rewind to August, after the appointment of Pochettino, and there was an air of uncharacteristic rationality around the club: this was a season of rebuilding everything Gareth Bale took away with him in 2013, of righting the many wrongs of last season, and of building a new ‘philosophy’, even a new culture, within the club. Recruiting from within, not sending Baldini to Rome. And as far as I can see, none of this has been undone in defeat to one of the richest and strongest clubs in the world.

The Final

I won’t dwell on the specifics of the game too much, but I will highlight the context within which both teams entered the match. Chelsea, an incomparably wealthy club and League leaders, fielded five defenders to deal with a 21-year-old Spurs Academy product who many people, quite possibly Jose Mourinho included, wouldn’t have heard of 8 months ago. Chelsea, who had over the past 3 games put 10 past us, lifted the cup off the back of a deflected scramble and an own goal.

True, we offered little in the final third, but in many ways we were the victims of our own success: had we lost to Chelsea on Jan 1st, or at least beaten them by a less humiliating scoreline, it’s unlikely Mourinho would have set one of the strongest defences in Europe out against us quite as stoically as he did. A win may have been season defining; the loss is not season ending.

The aftermath

Returning to the season overview, and to the premature questioning of its success. If, as I have alluded to, there was an emphasis on qualitative progress on the field above ultimate league position (though naturally the two are related), I cannot see how the months since August have been any form of let-down, or how we may judge them till May. Our principal, and most demeaning, on-field weakness last season was our consistently ‘gutless’ displays against the teams above us, especially the Top Four.

Well, this season we’ve already taken 4 points off Woolwich, 3 off Chelsea, 1 off a ludicrously reinforced United and 3 off Southampton when they were flying high in second, along with redeeming, if less crucial, fixtures against West Ham. And though these are tempered somewhat by our continued poor results against Liverpool and Manchester City, it is hard to argue that we are not showing up more for the big games. That we have achieved this step up with a core of spirited young academy products makes it all the more gratifying.

Yes, we lost to West Brom, Stoke and Newcastle at home. And those dropped points could reasonably be seen as the ones that will see us miss out on the Top Four in May (turn even one of those into a win and we’d be 4 points off 3rd). But those were very early days, and, looking forward, the equivalent fixtures next autumn will not see a Spurs side struggling to adapt to a new style of play or formation – hopefully quite the opposite.

Cup exits

Mingled in amongst my happy-clapping I concede that our shows in Europe and the FA Cup have been weak. Fielding second-string sides to go out to lesser opposition in two unarguably more valuable competitions does grate, but viewed in wider context, still do not represent inexcusable failure, and certainly not in Pochettino.

The issue when fighting on numerous fronts is always pragmatism, and our manager has shown much of this. Had we been in, say, Everton’s position – without a hope in the League – we may have stuck with our European and FA cup runs wholeheartedly, prioritising both over the League (indeed I’d written a piece on The Fighting Cock saying as much in summer). But back then I’m not sure anyone, myself included, expected us to be quite so competitive in a League topped with such hugely reinforced United, Woolwich and Liverpool sides – even Martinez’s Everton, who had already finished above us last year, spent big.

[linequote]There are 11 games left of a season in which our primary aim was to improve. As it stands, an average of 2 points per game will see us break our League points record[/linequote]

In the event, we’ve found ourselves in firm contention for 4th pretty much since November, and with this in mind, Pochettino would have had no choice but to go with the Premier League, even if cups had been mooted as the target in summer. In English football, Sky make the rules, and its associated media would never have allowed a manager to choose any other competition but theirs to take centre stage, so fielding heavily rotated sides and struggling in the cups was not too great a surprise, or crime.

In summary, there are 11 games left of a season in which our primary aim was to improve. As it stands, an average of 2 points per game will see us break our League points record, which may not be totally unrealistic given that the majority of those games are against bottom-half sides.

And even if we don’t make the points total, few would argue that what we’ve seen this season, both in terms of quality and effort, has been leagues above what we were put through last time around. Of course, losing the rest of our games would change this perspective, but that is true of any team in England, so just enjoy the rest of the season, cos it isn’t over till it’s over.