Are Tottenham capable of performing at the top?
A second North London football team were taught a harsh lesson once again on Spanish soil in the Champions League on Tuesday. Like Arsenal a few weeks ago at the Nou Camp, Tottenham were shown what true champions are made out of after a 4-0 thrashing in Madrid.
Fair enough, Tottenham were a man down after only 15 minutes, and this did not help their bid to win in the slightest, but even before this they were 1-0 down and being dominated by a Real Madrid team who have potentially the best home record in Europe of the past few years. This said, are Tottenham players and fans too over expectant of their team, and are they able to cut it on the big stage like the usual ‘big four’ have showed us several times over the years?
Now don’t get me wrong, Tottenham Football Club as a whole can be very proud of their achievements so far. They have beaten both Inter and Ac Milan during their Champions League campaign, who are both very good teams, and have been perfectly able of competing well with the top teams in England. However, compared to last season, both of the Italian sides were considerably weaker, and were neither the side they were a year back. This said, when it comes to playing top teams in Europe as a whole, are Tottenham a bit naïve and inexperienced to really compete? I’m not writing off Tottenham as ever being able to be up to the challenge, but are they perhaps not ready enough, like most people have said they are, to really challenge.
At the beginning of the season, there was much propaganda about how Tottenham can win the league and also the Champions League. Now however, they’re completely out of the race for the Premier League, and have an extremely steep hill to climb to regain any hope in Europe. Teams like Arsenal and Chelsea have also flopped several times, but both do still however have a good chance of winning something. Is their lack of pulling through because of the expectation that surrounded them, or because at this moment in time, they’re simply not good enough? The later sounds the more realistic considering football players should usually be able to cope with pressure.
Crouch was a prime example of the naivety within the squad. Before the match in many newspapers, the towering striker spoke about how he and Tottenham were going to cause a major shock in Europe. Ironically, he then got sent off for two silly challenges in the opening 15 minutes.
Tottenham undoubtedly have the ability to test big teams, but it will have to be a combination of experience and talent that will help them achieving bigger and better. The next few seasons should be interesting for the North London side.
