We should have watched last night in the happy knowledge that either Chelsea or Arsenal would not be playing in European football's elite competition, but we weren't. We blew a 13 point lead over our
Last night wasn't the match that lost us qualification, it was failing to hold a two-goal lead at a dejected Arsenal, needing a last minute goal to equalise at home to Stoke, rolling over and letting Norwich take 3-points at the Lane, and bringing on Scott Parker for Rafael Van der Vaart in the 89th minute when we needed a win to put ourselves in pole-position for third place.
Some are blaming Redknapp, others the team, and some have even turned on our Chairman, Daniel Levy. I'm going to refrain from abusing the strict financial regime that Levy runs, and instead point my finger at players and coaches. In January, Redknapp was speaking about how we should push for the title, and now he has been speaking about how fourth place is punching above tottenham's weight. His decision to bring on a defensive-minded player for an attacking one when we needed a winner at Villa showed a lack of courage, and also that he was accepting fourth, in the hope that Bayern would do us a favour. Redknapp also must be blamed for some poor tactical decisions, especially in the second-half of the season. An example of this is when he played our best centre defensive midfielder, Sandro, on the right-wing against Arsenal when there was a wealth of better options on the bench. Or even worse, playing our back-up goalkeeper in a Wembley FA Cup Semi-Final against one of our biggest rivals.
In Redknapp's defence, he wasn't brought in to win us games through shrewd tactical decisions, he was brought in to motivate an under-performing set of players, and he has done that. As much as I dislike some of his decisions and the way he spouts off to the media, I highly doubt that there are any better options available to us. Look at Villa, look at Liverpool, and to some extent Wolves; they got rid of their managers in the hope of better things and they're searches for new managers have been farcial, we don't need that. It looks like he is staying, and we should all get behind him.
The Chairman, up until recently, he has been very highly regarded amongst Tottenham fans. Some fans see other teams spending tens of millions each window on world-class players, and then see us bringing in players such as Friedel, Gallas, Nelsen and Saha. Although we should be signing bigger players than these, people have to realsie that our stadium is small compared to other clubs, and our owner's resources are nowhere near as large as other team's owners. Levy runs the club in a way that ensures we don't do something akin to what Leeds done. I believe Levy was right not to spend on big-players in recent transfer windows, as there was massive uncertainty about Redknapp's future. Now it looks like he is staying, we should back him.
Now, the players. Rafael Van der Vaart recently said something along the lines of 'if we don't get Champions League we shouldn't look to leave, because it will be us, the players' faults'. That is the attitude I adopt, and I love Rafa for saying that. However, I would rather see someone fully committed to playing for Spurs and playing for the team, than someone who is only playing to get his next big move. If we get offered ridiculous money for Bale or Modric, which I doubt we will, sell them. Bale finished the season awfully, and Modric has been quiet as well in many games.
Rant over.
On the positive side, I hope we can now spend as it looks like Redknapp is staying or the considerable future. Jan Vertonghen of Ajax would be a wonderful addition to the team, and it should only cost £12 million to bring in one of the best defenders in Europe. Adebayor coming back now looks impossible, but we are rumoured to be close to Loic Remy of Marseille, and he was scheduled to come over here for talks before he picked up an hamstring injury last weekend. Big players will still come if the money is offered, as we are still the fourth-best team in the best league in the world.
The Europa League. As much as we all hate playing on Thursdays, and hosting teams we have never heard of before, and will never hear of again, I would like to take it seriously. As always there will be some minnows in there, but looking at the teams in there it could be a good ride. Alongside us, there will be Athletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Bayer Leverkusen, Lyon, PSV, Sporting, Newcastle, CSKA Moscow, Liverpool, Inter, Marseille, Besiktas, Genk, Hannover 96 and more. I for one would like to see us have a serious go at it, and we would only need to sign an few squad players together with some big players, to allow us to challenge on both fronts. The final is also in Amsterdam, so would be a great day out.
I am currently devastated, this is what being a Tottenham fan is all about. I am raging that we went from having title aspirations only few months ago, to playing in the Europe League next season but this is Tottenham Hotspur, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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