So since it is all about the champions league...and that is why we fight tooth and nail..not to win the league but to just sneak into 4th place...since we don't splash out 60million on a Di Maria etc, which i think our owners can afford by the way.Failing on all but two occasions..toiling for 38 games.....buying 'potential' stars and usually getting frustrated because no one becomes a major star etc etc...why not just sack all this crap in and concentrate on the Europa league? half the amount of games...championship standard teams up until the knockouts...and a champions League spot at the end of it. Yes I understand the prestige of the league....winning it..purchasing and keeping stars in order to challenge for it...however I don't think the club does...because we don't keep stars or purchase true quality..not for me anyway..for the club its all about getting into the CL....and the financial windfall it may generate..so why not stick to the Europa and save us all the false bravado...its not happening....the fans agenda is not the same as the owners..so why not just look for the easy option and take the Europa seriously and win that 'league' instead and achieve the same thing? do that for a few years because the other route is not working so let Poch mastermind a route to triumph in the Europa..im sure we would still finish top 10 or 12 in the league...for me that's as good as 5th and 6th every year.
I'm all for the EL. In order for us to do it for a "few years" we would need to mastermind our exit from the CL in the group stages in order to drop back into the EL to win it again.
I've always sort of liked the EL. Sure the group stages are a bit dire, some of last year's group stage matches were the only time I've ever actually switched off a Spurs match at half time and walked away while apologising to my housemates for wasting 45 minutes of all our lives. But the knockout matches are exciting, especially the big ticket games like Benfica last year and the year before that when Bale was pulling us through them. Its not up to the CL in terms of sheer excitement at times but the latter stages of the competition provide a good ride. Plus, although getting into the CL is good for us as a business and a club in the long term (if we can ever keep doing it) nothing matches the feeling of winning a trophy. And with the EL we now have the opportunity to combine the two endeavours. So I'd prioritise the EL out of the cups, and probably even over some league fixtures, as long as they're not derbies or other bigger games.
In cups one bad match can send you out. If we don't win our next 2 then I think we'll have to take it more seriously to avoid going out but at this stage it's a good opportunity for the manager to test ideas out and play some of the players that aren't starting in the league. Ultimately, what I want to see from Spurs is good attacking football and giving the best teams a game. CL would make things easier money-wise but I'd rather trophies. I guess winning the EL would be the ideal in that sense, good league performance can take a lot of pressure off the manager and squad though.
I think we're capable of maintaining a top 6 finish while also going pretty much all out for Europa. We've got a big squad with good/ great players. Of course there are things that need to be worked on but hopefully that'll come with time, I have a lot faith in Poch and his philosophy/ ideas and I also have faith in most of the players. I still think we'll be in for a good season. I'd also say we're one good/ consistent goal scorer away from something special. If we bought a Pelle/ Sakho in the Summer or Ade/ Soldado were producing the goods, I'm confident in saying we wouldn't be far off Chelsea and City right now points-wise.
I agree with you in a sense - on paper we have a strong squad but we don't have one reliable striker, let alone enough to cope if we have a couple of injuries in that position. Pelle/Sakho/Enner Valencia may look good buys now but Michu, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse all looked good for short amounts of time and where are they now. I think its a bit of a leap to call them out as consistent Prem strikers when the season is still in its infancy. They have all started well though, there is no denying that. For me, on paper we have a strong squad but many players in there have it all to prove at this level and there is no guarantee that this year the likes of Soldado, Kane, Stambouli, Fazio or any of the others in that category will be sufficient. There are even question marks about the effectiveness of Townsend and Lennon in Pochettino's system. Top 6 and a strong push for the Europa, while maintaining good domestic cup runs too, might be a stretch if we have serious injury troubles or some of the players don't perform again. I think we'll have a 'good' season too, depending on people's definitions of what is 'good' for Spurs this year. In terms of being something special, we would need a striker or two to fit Pochettino's way of playing as you say (could that be Kane?), we need the midfield to up their consistency levels especially in terms of chance creation and to be more effective when we are in long-term possession of the ball - we generally look effective on the break and are starting to press effectively in some games, but I still feel we do and will continue to struggle to break teams down when they just sit deep with a packed midfield. We also need the defence to sort their game out, there are some very good defenders in there but again, consistency is key.
The Europa is a tease. The next round always seems doable, but there's only one winner out of the, what, 736 teams that start, so the odds are 735 to one against winning. I'm not prepared to wait 3/4 of a millenium (even if we can finish in fifth or sixth place for seven centuries in a row, plus change) so I'd rather it not top our priority list.
That's one of the major problems with the Europa League. Fight your way through various rounds to get to the dropdown, where you'll face a team reinforced by Champions League cash who are looking for silverware. It's a ludicrous way to reward failure and punish success.
Europa is a waste of time. We won't ever win it as we aren't good enough so for me I'd happily see us go out as soon as possible so we don't have to always play on a Sunday and just concentrate on playing once a week with more training as we won't be travelling from Tuesday-Friday.
Not to say they'll come off, but my big hopes are that we can continue to play more adventurous, exciting football, and that the core of 19-23 year olds we have can improve over the next three years or so playing this style. It does look like a striker is the big missing piece at this point, but it's early. I still think one of our three will start scoring regularly (and wouldn't be surprised if we have other, bigger problems.)
We don't have a first 11, that have any chance of winning it. The board are quite happy for us to mess around in the top half while picking up the huge TV money . If they were serious they would invest but have shown many times this is not their policy. They are the root to our poor return in what used to be known as " Glory".
