Tottenham Hotspur embrace unlikely status as Europa League favorites despite inconsistent season

Doom and Gloom have followed Tottenham Hotspur as an annoying shadow this season, rightly or wrongly. The specific genre of despondency changes with the context – sometimes a injury crisis of epic proportions brought down the mood, other times the mallia was inspired by management decisions – but the feeling was inescapable. It is almost in direct conflict with the fact that Spurs arrives on Thursday when the favorites of the Oddmakers to win the UEFA Europa League, only three games removed from ending an 18-year-old trophy drought.

That was the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” quality of the season of Spurs that they have linked a comfortable place in 16th place in the Premier League with a trip to the semi -final of the Europa League. It is the type of situation that makes it difficult for some to put the team up and down season in the balance, a scenario that leads to many placing a noticeable asterisk on the performance of a team that have a demonstrated habit to perform. However, patenting traces is a too simplified approach, one that does not take into account the fact that several things can be true at the same time.

The feeling that a place in the final of May 21 is not certain that there is an honest; For example, the idea is that this competition offers a make-or-break-moment for traces and even more specifically, manager Ange Postecoglou. However, the cloud of pessimism that lingers on traces is eliminated with a legitimate sense of pessimism that is accompanied by the chance for them.

“What we have for us is a semi-final of a European competition with a chance to get a final, win a trophy, Champions League football,” Postecoglou said in his press conference for the game on Wednesday. “I just think for the players and everyone involved in the football club, it’s a brilliant chance.”

How to look at Tottenham Hotspur vs. Bodo/Glimt, Odds

• Date: Thursday May 1 | Time3 pm
• Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – London, England
• Live stream: Paramount+
• Chances: Tottenham Hotspur -370; Drawing +490; Bodo/Glimt +750

Favorites for a reason

An argument can be made that the status of Spurs as the choice of the oddmakers is helped by the fact that they ended up on the easier side of the Europa League bracket. Tottenham takes on Bodo/Glimt van Norway, a matchup with a very clear favorite and an equally clear underdog. Even with their bad form, the Tottenham team still consists of top talent that is the trademark of a well-funded Premier League side. Postecoglou rightly said that Glimt is on merit here and should not be underestimated – victories against Porto, Olympiacos and Lazio would prove it differently. It will still be difficult for a motivated shit to match an equally motivated track, especially with the Norwegian side that no fewer than five starters missed due to injuries or suspension on Thursday. If they even end up in North Londs, there is a reason why people would upset it.

Spurs will probably be on Thursday without son Heung-Min due to a foot injury that held him out of their last three games, but Postecoglou will still be able to select a strong setup. Center Backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are finally healthy and central in the tactical success of Tottenham, while the same applies to Dejan Kulusevski, who is in the middle of an impressive season in midfield. Tottenham can also brag that one of the many youth perspectives they signed last summer is good-the 19-year-old Lucas Bergvall came into his own in the second half of the season. It is enough to build a considerable advantage of the first leg in this draw and possibly enough to go all the way, given the other teams in the mix, a list of a Manchester United team that they have already defeated three times this season.

They have an inherent quality that they have not been able to show this season often enough, although that does not necessarily deserve a ridicule with their chances in the Europa League or the chance for them. The story about Spurs almost ensured that Postecoglou came as a combative in his comments before the match, although the argument he made is a good one.

“I had the feeling, which is not surprising because I have said before, that this is the way this club is observed. That people always try to reduce it,” he said. “I have heard people say, well, it is the equivalent of Man United who wins the FA Cup. No, it is not. I am sorry, it is not regret on a planet it is equivalent.”

There is a comparison between Postecoglou and Erik ten Hag, the manager who won the FA Cup last year and postponed his final resignation with a few short months, because he also enters the semi -final in the hot chair and without a guarantee that he will be in the neighborhood, even with a winner medal. However, that is where the similarities end. It is not easy to win the FA Cup or the Europa League, although the latter is undoubtedly more difficult. Even in its new format in which the UEFA Champions League rejects, it is not falling, the Europa League is the second best club competition in Europe for a reason. Opening the field for some of the European teams that just fell in the qualification for the Champions League creates an inherently difficult competition. Look at the path of Tottenham at the semi -final – it included competition games against Galatasaray and Roma, as well as a quarter -final draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Europa League would not only put an end to the 18 -year -old trophy -dried of Spurs from a technical point of view. It would mark a real achievement from a sporty perspective, even if it did not know the lows of this season or the improvements they have to make as soon as this summer. It is not important to scratch the surface about what the triumph for a fan base that not only experienced the trophy -dried first hand, but have had a lot of rubbing salt in the wounds of their trophy -free years. The same applies to a group of players – and a manger – who are now those who are responsible for reversing the course, somehow the pessimism that surrounds them, not with realism, but careful optimism.

The balance act of a complicated season

Spurs are not in delusion about how this season has gone so far.

“[Postecoglou is] The first person you tell and I will tell you that we have had a bad season in the competition, “gave midfielder James Maddison on Wednesday.” We have been very good in Europe, but the competition season has probably been unacceptable and we can all take a collective responsibility for it, but he is my manager, he is my Gaffer, and I respect him a terrible amount. “

Almost nine months after the season it is difficult to ignore Tottenham’s shortcomings. The injury crisis cost them a lot of competitions, but even when the team became healthier, Spurs became a error -sensitive side. Part of the error falls on Postecoglou, which has not always chosen its line-ups well or has effectively managed in-game situations. There is a reasonable argument that he did not do enough to save his job as soon as his first-choice players returned to fitness and it is honest to say that Spurs should continue, even if he wins the Europa League. However, the problems of this season are much larger than he is – there is an equally honest thing to make the sports department, led by technical director Johan Lange, wasted the opportunities in his first summer at work. She only signed one player older than 20 – Dominic Solanke – last summer and there is still a big summer for us to really bring the problems of this season in the past.

For some, those realities make the story of the season of Spurs, especially when considering their Europa League success. However, there are some unique silver rans – this is actually Tottenham’s second semifinal of the campaign, which previously achieves the penultimate phase of the EFL cup before losing Liverpool. Deep Cup runs are real achievements, especially for a team whose trophy-dried is well published and is perhaps the right approach to finally get the monkey off their backs. Those deep runs also talk about the intended goal of cup competitions-it offers an opportunity for unlikely teams to lift silverware and to embrace the so-called “magic” of those tournaments.

Perhaps the largest silver lining of all is that Spurs are only three games removed from the largest prize package that is supplied with the Europa League trophy – a place in the Champions League of next season. A rebuilding is somehow necessary, but the chance and the money that is accompanied by a place in the European top club competition will undoubtedly make it easier to recruit talent. These next few games not only offer a long -awaited opportunity to end the drought of the trophy, but perhaps the most fertile basis for much needed renewal.