Europa Hangover

Is it time for Tottenham Hotspur, the club, players and fans alike, to re-evaluate the much-maligned Europa League?

Whilst millions watched the Europa League Final between FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Sevilla FC live on ITV4 last week, a curious phenomenon occurred.

Watching Spurs fans took to Twitter and blogs to express disappointment that Spurs hadn’t made it to the final themselves and to air their impassioned views that Spurs should be taking the Europa League very seriously in season 2015/16, perhaps even prioritise it over the club’s perennial target of a place in the Premier League’s hallowed Top 4.

[linequote]Spurs fans have held an increasingly entrenched dislike of the Europa League, seeing it as an unwelcome distraction from the ‘serious business’ of the Premier League[/linequote]

For, as well as a trophy, a Europa League win now carries the extra prestige of qualifying the winner for a place in the following season’s Champions League. A double reward.

Over recent seasons, many Spurs fans have held an increasingly entrenched dislike of the Europa League, seeing it as an unwelcome distraction from the ‘serious business’ of the Premier League fixture list or viewing it as an unhappy marathon of a competition that simply cannot be won whilst trying to maintain a respectable place in the Premier League simultaneously.

“Too many matches” is often the cry of the disbelievers who feel that prolonged involvement in the competition results in Premier League burn-out as the season moves into the business end post-March and the Top 4 Champions League places are decided.

This seems to be a view supported by the media and some TV pundits too who have identified something of a trend in the league performances of British clubs following midweek matches in the Europa League: Play in Russia on a Thursday night and watch your team’s performance suffer in the Premier League or SPL on a Sunday. There is some sympathy for this view too, it must be said. The stats do seem to indicate a direct correlation between the two, and no mere coincidence. But perhaps this is more a mentality thing (in England and Scotland) than a scientific fact that cannot be reversed.

Indeed, do the clubs contesting in the Champions League not play Wednesday-Saturday?

What’s the difference with playing Thursday-Sunday?

Sevilla FC, who won this year’s Europa League Final in a keenly fought match in Warsaw, played no less than 59 matches this season including all domestic and European competitions. The La Liga side finished a respectable 5th in their domestic league (as did Spurs) whilst still negotiating their way to a memorable win in the final.

A mere fluke?

Absolutely not, for this was Sevilla’s 2nd Europa League triumph in successive seasons – an impressive feat of back-to-back victories. What other conclusion can we reach than that they have coped with the extra matches through a combination of fitness, rotation and those good old-fashioned sporting virtues of grit and determination.

Could Spurs, or indeed any British club not do the same?

Indeed, to win any trophy, even the hallowed Champions League, requires a sustained run of additional matches. And how many extra matches are we talking about here?

For a club like Spurs, who have qualified directly for the Group Stages of next season’s Europa, to reach the final would mean playing an additional two matches than a British Champions League finalist.

Spurs already played 57 matches this season, having advanced to the knockout stages of the Europa League, the final of the Capital One Cup and the Fourth Round of the FA Cup. If Sevilla can do it, why not Spurs? – A much richer club with far greater resources at their disposal.

So, as Spurs fans watched Sevilla lift the Europa League trophy, the call to take the Europa League very seriously in the 2015/16 season reached a crescendo.

[linequote]If Sevilla can do it, why not Spurs? – A much richer club with far greater resources at their disposal.[/linequote]

Surely now, with Mauricio Pochettino firmly established in the Spurs managerial hot seat and a respectable first season at the helm behind him, surely with the increasing number of youngsters now supplementing the first team squad, and presuming Pochettino gets a few of his primary transfer targets brought in over the summer, surely the squad will be equipped to mount a serious challenge in next season’s Europa League?

Imagine that – lift a European trophy for the first time since 1984’s historic UEFA cup win, and bag a coveted Champions League place too. Bill Nicholson would be proud to see that, wouldn’t he?

That’s better than finishing 5th in the Premier League. It’s even better than finishing 4th, 3rd or 2nd for you get no trophy for those placings.

After all, the game is about glory, isn’t it? Isn’t it…?