Silver Lining...?

[miles_64]

Well someone bloody had to do it! So here goes - who thinks that defeat today will actually benefit Tottenham Hotspur and if so, in what ways?

I believe that this may not be all that bad:

In the 2005-6 season we played the minimum number of games possible due to our early exits in both FA and Carling Cups; this allowed our players to remain fresh and we nearly snaffled 4th spot.

At least we won't coast the rest of the season, resting on our laurels. Perhaps this will galvanise the squad.

Our other-halves will be delighted that we can take them out for dinner on Thursday nights instead of sitting in front of the telly with a pube-littered pizza, enjoying goalless-draws with sides such as Lech Poznan and IB Ljubljana.

Negatives - loss of revenue. No more Euro nights at the Lane for a year. Harder to attract top palyers.

 

[scat1620]

I'm looking forward to seeing all the players we have on our books (fitness and suspensions permitting, of course) be eligible to start every match for the rest of the season. It's been really frustrating seeing some of our best players have to miss out matches through being cup-tied or not registered for competitions: now we know that the whole squad is there to pick from in every game, and it will be a very pleasant change.

 

[dricha1]

How's this for optimism...win our game in hand and we are 5 points off 7th spot (which I think will be a European place)...so a good last 12 games can see us in Europe next season. After today's effort though, a victory on Wednesday is no way guaranteed.

 

[ILS]

I can't believe people on this board and other boards think top players give two craps about the Uefa Cup. Players like Modric will come to Spurs because we are big club with a massive fan base, steeped in history and based in London.

Top players want to play in the champions league and if they can't do that then play for a big club where they will get paid well.

I think it will benefit us next season. Ledley can play the one game a week we will be playing and we will games on Saturday again.

 

[lilywhitecurtis]

How's this for optimism...win our game in hand and we are 5 points off 7th spot (which I think will be a European place)...so a good last 12 games can see us in Europe next season. After today's effort though, a victory on Wednesday is no way guaranteed.

A like ur style, survival first, but we can finish 7th if we play like we did today against our upcoming fixtures. and Palacios is back:hump:

 

[duffman22]

I think a season without UEFA will help us I think.

We need to try and build again and aim for a solid top 6/7 finish similar to Villa or Everton, and I think not being Europe makes that more likely. Sure, it makes us less attractive but I don't think we need to be going for European prospects this summer, we need to be buying decent, solid, reliable players. Look at Villa's squad; Young and Barry aside it looks very average, but they're a solid unit who know their jobs.

I'll miss European games next year, but it doesn't get really interesting until the knockouts. Plus it means more Saturday 3pm games!

 

[lilywhitecurtis]

I can't believe people on this board and other boards think top players give two craps about the Uefa Cup. Players like Modric will come to Spurs because we are big club with a massive fan base, steeped in history and based in London.

Top players want to play in the champions league end of.

I think it will benefit us next season. Ledley can play the one game a week we will be playing and we will games on Saturday again.

I guess you could argue, that our best premier league season was when we had the fewest cup games. No UEFA next season without a doubt could be benefical.

 

[spurs]

Before the game, 1% of me wasn't sure I wanted us to win as I wasn't sure I wanted us to be in Europe next year. I love the atmosphere of european games and as a fan I can happily watch 2 games a week all season, but it definitely effects the league performance.

The UEFA cup is such a bad ratio of effort required compared to the chance of doing well. Playing twice a week, makes it very difficult to find time to spend on the training pitch as the players need to rest after a game.

 

[dontcallme]

I'll always want us to qualify for Europe, it's a mini-achievement whether we take the cup seriously or not. I'd like to see us qualifying but using the games to give our young players a chance to play.

It could be a good thing not qualifying though, full concentration on the league next season and rebuilding ourselves back up from the bottom might instil a harder working team ethic rather than this "we've finished 5th twice so 4th place is the next logical step" and then the players seem to take it for granted.

 

[spurdownunder]

How's this for optimism...win our game in hand and we are 5 points off 7th spot (which I think will be a European place)...so a good last 12 games can see us in Europe next season. After today's effort though, a victory on Wednesday is no way guaranteed.

Love the optimism, but really, after we treated the wafer with complete contempt over the last fortnight, does anyone really care if we don't qualify for it?

UCL or nuffin IMO.

 

[worcestersauce]

How's this for optimism...win our game in hand and we are 5 points off 7th spot (which I think will be a European place)...so a good last 12 games can see us in Europe next season. After today's effort though, a victory on Wednesday is no way guaranteed.

I thought that yesterday too but thought I'd wait until we win our game in hand, not as brave as you.


Funnily enough I think we'll be ok, like I am not really worried about being relegated I also see a year without European football as a blip, if we fail this year we will succeed again next year and we still have something to prove this year so the players will be up for a good run in.

 

[Mr Gamgee]

Personally I cant see any benefits from losing a cup final. If we have ambitions of being a top club you are consistantly going to play 50 games a season.

 

[DC_Boy]

I see the silver lining, I'd rather see silverware (tongue twister or what) but yeah we can do without the europa lge for a season

I doubt it will be the deciding factor whether a modric leaves or joins

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

The silver lining for me was the performance itself. We showed yet again that we can compete against better teams and are only a few pieces away from having a very good side. With the addition of players like Palacios, Keane and Defoe we are going in the right direction. If Modric and Lennon can consistently link up like yesterday some left backs a re going to be having sleepless nights.

 

[Paxtonite]

I can't believe people on this board and other boards think top players give two craps about the Uefa Cup. Players like Modric will come to Spurs because we are big club with a massive fan base, steeped in history and based in London.

Top players want to play in the champions league and if they can't do that then play for a big club where they will get paid well.

I think it will benefit us next season. Ledley can play the one game a week we will be playing and we will games on Saturday again.

I think you'll find that players like Modric could easily find a CL team to play for somewhere in Europe, but chose to come to us not only for the reasons you stated, but the fact that we start each season with "aspirations" of CL qualification and a crack at UEFA cup success or participation as a minimum.

We saw with Berbatov that once the CL dream became an unrealistic probability that he was off and as long as we cannot attract or RETAIN such quality players we will always shop in the "player with potential" shop where players not quite good enough for CL football are looking for a good pay day.

 

[TheBigMatch]

After playing 300 minutes against the world champions Spurs are down 1-2 to Man United.

After 750 minutes against the Top 4 clubs this season (ok ar5eni1 are no longer a Top 4 club Ha Ha but let's pretend that they are) Spurs are winning 12-10.

No bad for a "struggling" side.

Ironically, we are probably going to go into next season stronger than the last two seasons but hopefully without the top 4 hype and expectation.

Come on you Spurs.

 

[Hoowl]

I'd defintely rather have won yesterday and had the 'problem' of European games again next season. However, I do agree that having fewer games should give us the chance to focus on our 09/10 League campaign. If we can sign just a couple of players in the summer and build a consistent team we might be able to develop an improved understanding and perform better as a result.