Hotspur HQ
Fansided

Tottenham must play without fear

By Barrett Rouen

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 24: Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 24, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 24: Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on prior to the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 24, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tottenham put in one of the best performances by any team in the league against any opponent against Chelsea on Sunday.  It says everything that one needs to know about the team.

"“No time like the present, a thousand unforeseencircumstances may interrupt you at a future time” – John Trusler"

If Tottenham can play the way that they did against Chelsea on Sunday for the rest of the season then they can win the league.  There’s no reason that they can’t and there’s no reason that they shouldn’t be trying.

Sarri’s new style of football at Stamford Bridge is just Tiki-Taka with an Italian accent and a cigarette.  The only team in the league who are actually better than Tottenham in terms of talent are Manchester City and on their day even they can lose.  If Spurs play with the same sort of fire and buccaneering attitude and take it to City the same way they did Chelsea then there’s not a single reason they can’t beat them.

Beating City will be the first step because they’re five points ahead at the top of the table.  But after that Tottenham will need to make sure that they maintain the attitude they showed against Chelsea in all the other matches. That is what champions do.  It’s easy to get excited about a London derby.  The battle for supremacy in England’s crowded capital is one of the most interesting things in British football.

Tottenham though need to find a way to make the other matches matter just as much and that begins with bravery.  It shows exactly what’s wrong with Tottenham that they’re able to play this well on some days and not on others. It stems from a lack of belief.  A lack of true and honest faith in what they’re doing.  They know they’re good, but they don’t think they can beat City to the title and that’s the wrong attitude.

That’s why they drop points against teams like Watford and Crawley Town. They don’t take those games as seriously because they believe they have a buffer between them and the true top.  They’re good but not great and that needs to change.

The best believe that they are.  They don’t ask permission, or apologize, or wait.  They chase their future’s and they take them.  Tottenham showed against Chelsea that they have the ability to do that.  Some pundits had Chelsea pegged as title chasers.  Now that may have been an early infatuation with Chelsea’s charismatic new Italian coach but that does show there’s an agreed level of quality does it not?

Chelsea are good.  Tottenham are better.  Tottenham should have beaten Liverpool this year but their attitude failed them then.  Their attitude is what failed them in the Champions League against Barcelona and Inter Milan.  That is what needs to change and when it does a trophy will come home with it.

There’s not a single reason in the world for Tottenham to wait.  The season is still young.  Anything can happen in football.  But the first thing that has to happen is belief.  It’s the first step in any achievement and for Tottenham it will be the first one in the pursuit of something historic.