Tottenham Hotpur must prioritize the league above all else

20th May 1967: Dave Mackay, the captain of Tottenham Hotspur, celebrating with his teammates (left to right) Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean, Pat Jennings, Terry Venables and Jimmy Robertson, after winning the FA Cup. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)
20th May 1967: Dave Mackay, the captain of Tottenham Hotspur, celebrating with his teammates (left to right) Jimmy Greaves, Alan Gilzean, Pat Jennings, Terry Venables and Jimmy Robertson, after winning the FA Cup. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images) /
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Tottenham Hotspur have all but ruined their chances of a strong European showing in their first season at the new stadium.  It is because of this they must focus on the Premier League.

This is a response to a previous post on this site that can be seen here.

If there’s someplace for Tottenham Hotspur to focus their attention now that their time in the Champions League is all but over then it is on the Premier League.  In my colleague Aaron Coe’s piece he made a good and strong case that Tottenham should focus on the Carabao Cup.  Respectfully I have to say that would be a mistake.  If Tottenham were to focus their attention on the Carabao Cup in lew of other competitions it would be an embarrassing and small-minded move.

It is true that Tottenham haven’t won a trophy in a peculiarly long time.  That does not however mean that they’re not a proud club who deserve more than that.  They have a strong support, excellent team, fantastic manager and a wonderful history.  To bend the knee and focus on a pony trophy like the Carabao Cup would be to bend to the criticism of others. Spurs should be bigger than that shouldn’t they?

HULL, ENGLAND – MAY 21: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur is presented the Premier League Golden Boot award by manager Mauricio Pochettino after the Premier League match between Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur at KC Stadium on May 21, 2017 in Hull, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
HULL, ENGLAND – MAY 21: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur is presented the Premier League Golden Boot award by manager Mauricio Pochettino after the Premier League match between Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur at KC Stadium on May 21, 2017 in Hull, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /

Focusing all of their resources and attention on a trophy as small and ridiculous as the Carabao Cup which already has it’s name changed every five years depending on which beverage company is willing to pay for it’s attention would be absurd.  If Spurs are really the club that they say they are then they are bigger than focusing their resources on that trophy.  Birmingham City can focus their attention on the Carabao Cup.  Winning it is a good thing but to pretend it is anything more than a practice run towards important and more pressing things is ridiculous.

If Tottenham won the trophy that would be wonderful for them.  But to make the Carabao Cup the focus of your attention is to degrade your club.

Tottenham should focus on the league.  They have the squad to do it and the manager to do so. Despite their early season form, they haven’t fallen entirely out of it and the other clubs competing for it are all distracted by European competition.  Manchester City and Liverpool are both trying to win that as well and have their resources split on multiple fronts.  Chelsea are playing in the Europa League and will suffer all the difficulties provided by it’s Thursday matches.

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Tottenham should be entirely focused on ending their peculiar drought with a real trophy.  That would be historic.  Winning the league in the first year in a new stadium would be the sort of thing that people tell their children about for years to come.  It’s not so far out of reach that Tottenham should already be resigned to the impossibility of doing so.  If they are then that is the real reason for this drought in the first place.

For success to happen first must come the ambition to make it so.  The league should be without a doubt the focus of every single drop of sweat, blood, and anger that Tottenham can muster this year. That is all.