Cup competitions take on added importance for Tottenham Hotspur now

With UEFA’s decision to forfeit Tottenham’s canceled match with Stade Rennais, Spurs are out of the Conference League making the cups all the more important. 

Having already announced the match would not be rescheduled, we always knew it would take some creative interpretation of the rules to award Spurs the win. Thus, UEFA’s decision ultimately comes as little surprise, despite the dangerous precedent the decision makes. Regardless, the removal of one competition from Tottenham’s future footballing calendar as well as a realistic chance to win a trophy makes the cup competitions that much more important for the Lilywhites.

Conference League was a distraction for Tottenham

Spurs were in a tough position with the Conference League as the potential prize money if they had won would have added close to 10 million Euros to the club. However, those matches, which would have numbered 11 had Tottenham reached the final, would put a ton of strain on an already thin squad.

Tottenham may get better performances from more players under Antonio Conte but the team still is only so deep. The fact Spurs would have to play a home-and-home series just to get to the round of 32 is a bit ridiculous, and the third-placed teams from the Champions League and Europa League should do the same thing that the third-placed teams from the Conference League do – go home.

With less concern for fixture congestion making a deep run in the domestic cup competitions, becomes that much more important. As much as anything Conte needs those matches to make more decisions about his team moving forward and the team, this team, this group of players need a trophy.

Spurs path to trophies is shorter via the domestic route

At this point, Tottenham is only three games away from the Carabao Cup final. Additionally, the FA announced today, that both the third- and fourth-round matches would be decided without replays. That means Spurs could get to the finals of the FA Cup in as few as five matches.

That is two cup finals in the same number of matches Spurs would have had to play to reach the semi-finals of the Conference League. Although winning both competitions would not bring as much money as winning the Conference League, Spurs winning either, let alone both would be more important to the club and the fans than winning Europe’s third-tier competition ever could be.

Ultimately, we can all be upset Spurs are out of a very winnable competition but if the tradeoff is more of a focus on the league and winning a domestic cup or two, fans will all for it in the end.