Spurs Should Prioritize Carabao Cup Now
By Aaron Coe
When ranking team trophy aspirations at the start of the season, the League Cup, is not at the top of Tottenham Hotspur’s list. Now with the Champions League Dream all but over and a lot of the season left ahead, Spurs should prioritize the Carabao Cup now.
This article is Part 1 in a debate series concerning where Tottenham should focus their efforts.
Yes, Tottenham Hotspur play what is really the biggest game of their season to date tomorrow “hosting” Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Win, lose or draw in that game; Spurs should be preparing for City all the while thinking about how to best win their next biggest game of the season on Wednesday at Olympic Stadium, where Spurs face West Ham for the second time in less than two weeks.
Yes, after another opportunity on Monday to demonstrate Spurs standing in the league, the afternoon battle in west London with the Hammers really is a huge game; because at this point in the season the Carabao Cup is a hugely important. Let me explain.
A Realistic Shot at Silverware
Unless January brings some additional magic to the team, I don’t think I’m being negative to say Spurs shot at the Premiere League crown is not great, I’m being realistic. Off to the best start points wise in club history, a loss to City would leave Spurs 5 adrift of first place, at 5th in the League. Just as important there are two more teams, not including Manchester United who currently sit in 8th, within a game of Spurs chasing for a Europa League place in Bournemouth and Watford.
Can Spurs win the league, sure they can. Will they? Well…a LOT has to go right to make that happen. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but realistically speaking working to maintain a top four place in a season this competitive seems far more likely as far as the Premiere League is concerned.
So if Spurs are not winning either the Champions or the Premier League, where is some silverware coming from?
Yes, a thin Tottenham travel to West Ham for Round 4, but that is precisely it. It is already Round 4, a win on Wednesday and Spurs are in the Quarterfinals. Including Round 4, that is only 4 games to the finals with the finals being the 5th game. Only 5 matches to some silverware, that sounds doable for a squad that has been beset by injuries and already lacked depth.
There are nearly 30 league games left, Europa League requires home and homes and we will begin in the Round of 32, not 16. Bottom line, the League cup and the 5 games it would take to win, is not over taxing the squad and is the most realistic path for a thin squad like Tottenham. NOTE: The FA cup doesn’t count here as it hasn’t even started for Spurs.
Spurs Benefit from Any Silverware
Again, yes, as a fan do I want Spurs to win the Champions League? Of course, I do. As a fan do I just want them to win any silverware at this point? Of course, I do. Silverware is silverware and winning the League Cup, counts and does benefit the squad.
A HUGE strain would be lifted off the club and the people within to produce any silverware at this point. No longer can Mauricio Pochettino be called the best coach in Europe without a Cup. Not to mention nipping those articles beginning to surface asking if Poch has taken Spurs as far as he can. We really don’t need that at this point in the squads development.
No longer can Arsenal, Chelsea, and other London rivals jeer Spurs for not winning anything. And while the links to Madrid for Kane, Eriksen, and others likely will never end given the Spanish media, at least saying that top players have to leave Spurs to win a trophy would have to stop too. Suddenly Spurs could be the place for others to come to win some silverware.
Did I mention Spurs would also likely garner a league game in hand making the finals? Most of the time, the League Cup finals are on a Premiere League weekend, meaning when everyone else was playing Spurs would not be. Now sometimes a game in hand can hurt when the schedule gets congested, but when counting points in the closing weeks of the season, knowing your club has one more game to play than everyone sitting around them in the table is often a comforting thought.
Finally, I see any success for Spurs that ends with: the players receiving medals, sliding across the pitch as a group on their knees, and standing as a whole cheering as the captain lifts a large silver goblet with the fireworks and the crowd on the platform; as a major step in the development process for this team.
With the stadium build bordering on catastrophic at this point and a ton of pressure each summer for players to bolt for other top-tier clubs, the door could shut on Spurs before they walk through it. Whereas a Cup win, could just be the push the club needs to kick the door wide open. If Spurs are to win the Champions League, they need to learn how to win. Maybe the Carabao Cup is the place to do that?