Tottenham Settle for the Premier League

After seven months of fighting valiantly on multiple fronts, Tottenham seem to have finally settled for just the Premier League.

While Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Dortmund isn’t exactly the end of the road for Tottenham in the Europa League, the prospects of being able to overcome such a deficit on the round’s return leg next Thursday seem pretty dim. Dortmund are too good a side, and Tottenham – specifically Mauricio Pochettino – aren’t willing to meet them toe to toe.

As much was evident by Pochettino’s team selection for the night. While each of the starting XI had played at least some meaningful minutes for Tottenham so far this season, as a whole this wasn’t the strongest team that could have been mustered.

Despite what many might claim, it wasn’t that Pochettino felt that such a squad would be sufficient against a team like Dortmund. The Bundesliga side are arguably one of the best teams in Europe even if an off season last time out obliged them to settle for the backwaters of the Europa League.

In many ways, these two matches against Dortmund were set to be some of the most trying and most telling matches of Tottenham’s season. Where else was Pochettino going to get the chance to go up against such formidable opposition, especially one that plays in a style so similar to his own? This – on paper – seemed like a chance to not only grow, but prove to Europe exactly what Tottenham will be bringing to the Champions League next season.

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Unfortunately these matches aren’t occurring on paper. Indeed, they might be coming at one of the worst moments in the season for Tottenham and Pochettino. The club has just finished a run of nine matches since the beginning of February – or one match every four days.

And it wasn’t as if the schedule was particularly kind to Tottenham before that either. This season as a whole has been a strain on the limits of the squad, particularly Pochettino’s preferred starting XI. A rash of injuries toward the beginning of the season and Pochettino’s own reluctance to rotate meant that a small handful of players featured in virtually every match right up through February.

The results of that consistency were perhaps unexpected. Tottenham ascended the Premier League table and now comfortably sit second, just five points behind Leicester City. It’s safe to assume that Pochettino – and his borderline reckless rotational policy earlier in the season – did not incorporate a late title push into his long term plans. No one inside or outside the club was prepared to believe such a thing was possible. Now that it apparently is, Pochettino and the team are forced to make some sacrifices.

Chief among them appears to be the Europa League. While Pochettino has taken the competition seriously all season, the calculus of the situation was always going to tip toward Premier League glory over anything else. What meaningful benefit there would have been to sustaining Tottenham’s Europa League campaign – specifically meager prize money and a guaranteed chance at the Champions League next season – pales in comparison to the reputation and coffers boost of winning The Best League in the World.

All of that being said, from a fan’s perspective, there is something deflating about witnessing a loss like Thursday’s. Beyond the exceptional nature of the scoreline or the general inability of Tottenham’s offense to click in any real way, this felt like gamesmanship.

Though Pochettino had named weaker squads for the cup competitions before this season, such an obvious act of capitulation against such a worthy opponent as Dortmund felt anathema to what Tottenham or perhaps football as a whole are all about.

Next: Conversation Corner: Tottenham Easily Defeated by Dortmund

Yes, it allowed Pochettino to give desperately needed rests to his best players. That is vitally important with two full months still left in the season, not to mention not doing so might risk the well-being of certain players. This was a practical and reasonable act, and one that Tottenham will likely reap benefits from.

Still, on paper, how does it look for Tottenham to shrug off a chance to rub shoulders with Europe’s best in favor of being able to name the strongest squad possible against relegation fodder like Aston Villa?