Should Tottenham give up on Europa League?

Pursuing Europa League glory may be unwise for Tottenham Hotspur this time around.

“It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.” That famous quote associated with Tottenham Hotspur pops up every season at one point or another, usually when Spurs are just on the cusp of doing something special only to eventually crumble apart because, well, Tottenham.

More from Europa League

Don’t look now, Tottenham supporters, but you are about to relive that mantra via Internet memes and other social media posts. A winnable Premier League game separates a pair of Knockout Round Europa League contests for Spurs between February 19 and February 26, with the League Cup Final versus Chelsea following those three matches on March 1.

The Mauricio Pochettino Blue and White Army will have several opportunities to achieve results that would be deemed to be glorious by the Tottenham fan base over the next couple of weeks.

Perhaps one echo of glory is good enough for Spurs as the end of winter draws near.

The realistic goal for Tottenham back at the beginning of the campaign was for the club to chase after one of the four Champions League spots available to Premier League sides. Spurs are right in the thick of the hunt following the Valentine’s Day holiday weekend, sitting in sixth place in the league table and only two points off of that coveted fourth place position.

Spurs are only four points from third place in the table, but that is about as optimistic as one should get regarding Tottenham’s Premier League hopes. Spurs will not be catching Manchester City (nine points ahead of Spurs) this time around.

With that negativity out of the way, Tottenham will have plenty of opportunities to pick up Premier League points from now through the end of April:

Tottenham vs. West Ham on February 22 – winnable for Spurs.
Tottenham vs. Swansea City on March 4 – winnable for Spurs.
QPR vs. Tottenham on March 7 – winnable for Spurs.
Manchester United vs. Tottenham on March 15 – count this as a loss for Spurs.
Tottenham vs. Leicester on March 21 – winnable for Spurs.
Burnley vs. Tottenham on April 4 – winnable for Spurs.
Tottenham vs. Aston Villa on April 11 – winnable for Spurs.
Newcastle vs. Tottenham on April 18 – winnable for Spurs.
Southampton vs. Tottenham on April 25 – should be a battle.

Being as glass-is-half-full as possible and also possessing the knowledge that Tottenham could either punch above their weight and/or slip against what is, according to the league table, lesser competition, Spurs are in a position where they could have 60+ Premier League points with four league matches left on the schedule. That would put Tottenham right where the club sits as of the morning of February 19; in the battle for a Champions League spot but with nothing guaranteed to Spurs heading into a May 2 showdown versus City, one that will occur at White Hart Lane.

As is often the case as it often pertains to anything Tottenham related, points may only be worth so much regarding the club’s pursuit of a return to the Champions League. No team in the top-seven spots of the Premier League table has a lower goal difference than Spurs (+5), and only Liverpool are in the single-digits (+7). Chelsea, City, United, Southampton and Arsenal are all at +19 or better, meaning that Spurs will likely need to leapfrog at least two of those sides in the table to be in the top-four when all is said and done.

Such concerns about where Tottenham will sit in the Premier League table on the afternoon of May 24, Survival Sunday, bring up what have become newer discussions about the Europa League. The winners of the Europa League earn more than just an impressive cash prize this spring. A Champions League berth will be on the line on the night of the Europa League Final. Logic suggests that the most-direct route back to the top competition in club football for Tottenham is to win on Thursday nights. Cut and dry, done and done.

Not so fast. The Europa League is the hardest club competition in the world to win, and not just because of the midweek international journeys that must be made in order to complete the objective. Those Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday schedules are absolutely brutal for sides that are not filled with depth and an abundance of talent, two concerns hovering over this Tottenham squad. Sure, Tottenham have been on a solid run as of late minus that heartbreaking defeat to Liverpool back on February 10, but Spurs supporters have seen this movie before: A streak of wins that offers hope is followed by a spring swoon that sinks Tottenham’s Europa League run and the club’s Champions League dreams when all is said and done.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

It is easy and even somewhat lazy to remember all that former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp got wrong in his final season at the Late. To his credit, Redknapp treating the Europa League as a nuisance and not a competition worth winning technically worked out in his favor. Spurs finished fourth in the Premier League in May of 2012, only to lose out on the desired prize when Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich on penalties in the Champions League Final. Redknapp did not have a Cup Final on his plate that spring, but that is neither here nor there.

Which of the two routes toward a Champions League spot that Pochettino selects matters not so long as he chooses correctly. Returning to the Champions League would keep the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris and Jan Vertonghen with Spurs for at least another season. Therein lies the glory for Tottenham in the first half of 2015. Anything else, including a League Cup victory, would be icing on top of the sundae.

Home/Europa League