After some reflection following Tottenham’s recent defeat to Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first leg in the round-of 32 of the Europa League, I began thinking about the clubs form in Europa League competition. On Thursday, Spurs lost 1-0 in tough conditions in Ukraine. With the quality of the squad the North London side possess they should not be losing games like this. I know this is only the first leg and Tottenham are more than capable of still progressing to the next round but I feel everytime I watch Spurs in the Europa League that I have wasted a couple of hours of my time.
Tottenham: Europa League Nightmare
When the Lilywhites kick off in this European competition, they seem a completely different team to what you would see in the Premier League and in fact any other competition. It could be seen right from the beginning when we faced Georgian minnows Dinamo Tbilisi. Tottenham won 5-0 away from home and 3-0 at home, however the team did not play with real effort which is understandable considering the difference of ability between the clubs.
It was the in group stage games though that the the difference in quality from the Premier League squad really showed. Tottenham had Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala, Norwegian club Tromso and Moldovan champions Sheriff in their group. It was a relatively simple group and Tottenham were expected to breeze through these games. The squad did exactly that. Tottenham won every game in their group and conceded only twice but the performances were simply average. They were at times very lucky that their opposition for the night would be so poor themselves. Spurs squad often looked like they lacked desire and no-one in the starting eleven cared at all about the Europa League.
I recall a game against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League at White Hart Lane where the Lilywhites prevailed by a score of 2-1. However it was one of the most dull, slow, and average games I had ever seen. Erik Lamela had a stormer but that was the only thing to take from the game. There were a number of times were Sheriff Tiraspol should have scored and tied or even won the game. Spurs held on for the victory but their performance was uninspired. The squad showed no real enthusiasm and many players looked uninterested on the pitch. This is a side who could have two different starting 11’s and have the majority if not all of them be international calibre players. The manager at the time, Andre Villas-Boas always said that he treated the Europa League very seriously and wanted to win it again as he did with Porto when he won the treble. But his words and what one could see on the pitch made me think he was not all that bothered at all and it would have been a little bonus if Tottenham were to lift the trophy.
Another thing I have noticed this season is that Spurs seem to keep this mindset to play slow, unattractive and boring football in the first Premier League game after a Europa League game. This season the club have lost three and drew one in the games straight after Europa League group stage games and all of these games were at White Hart Lane. This poor statistic shows that Tottenham have suffered from a “European hangover” while they are retaining the rigid and unattractive style of play from the Europa League clashes.
Tottenham have been very good away from home in the Premier League this season. The team has been playing nice flowing football and have been nowhere near as good at home considering the 1-5 loss to Manchester City last month and the 0-5 thumping by Liverpool in December, Villas-Boa’s final game managing the club. Most players starting the team for the league campaign have been involved in the Europa League campaign as well. However, the comparison between Tottenham in the EPL and in Europa is like watching two different squads.
If winning the Europa League is something the club does not wanna concentrate on, then our managers should do what Harry Redknapp did and stick the reserves and under-21s out on the pitch to improve themselves and gain experience while letting the first team players rest. Spurs just don’t look impressive in Europe and it isn’t nice football to watch even if they win.
I thought this might change after the group stage as Tottenham are now into the serious part of the Europa League but Spurs were awful again and subsequently lost 1-0 to Dnipro, managed by Carling Cup 2008 winning coach of Tottenham Juande Ramos. This must have been a sweet moment for him and a real wake up call for the squad that they should play like they want to win or not play at all.
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