Another season of no trophies - Pochettino's tactics questionable in big games for Tottenham Hotspur

Add as a preferred source on Google

Bengaluru, May 1: It was for the third time this season that Spurs gave away their lead in a crucial knockout match when they conceded the equalizer against Manchester United in the FA cup semifinal last Saturday.

Football fixtures | Recent results

Spurs had dominated the opening exchanges, pressing incessantly, playing a high defensive line and dragging the United players out of position. This resulted in the first goal of the game when Dele Alli scored from an inch perfect Eriksen cross who had initially received a brilliant longball from Davinson Sanchez.

What followed was the relapse of a disease that even this Spurs side, one of the club’s best in the modern age and certainly in the Premier League has failed to shake off. They turned 'Spursy' once again. One moment of pressure by the opposition, and this team crumbled like a pack of cards. The unshakable and unbreakable, and on his day the finest midfielder in the league Mousa Dembele was dispossessed by Paul Pogba, who then crossed for Alexis Sanchez’s headed equalizer.

Spurs shoulders dropped as United shifted gears to take hold of the game. Ander Herrera later got United into the lead and honestly Spurs never looked like coming back.

In losing this game, Spurs failed for a record eighth time at the penultimate stage of FA cup, in the final of which they last featured in 1991. They also failed similarly against Juventus in the home leg of their last-16 Champions League tie leading 1-0 (agg.3-2) at half time, only for the Italian champions to snatch a win with late goals from substitute Paulo Dybala. This time the failure to progress was even more painful given the outstanding performances in the 1st leg as well as in the group stages against the likes of Real Madrid and Dortmund.

Spurs also succumbed to such a fate earlier this season in the Carabao Cup, giving up 2-0 lead against West Ham and lost the game 3-2.

In the 2015/16 season when Spurs were into the thick of a title race with Leicester, they had that brawling draw against Chelsea, after which their form went south and Spurs finished the season at 3rd, they gave up on the title. What followed were infamous memes stating, only Spurs could come 3rd in a two-horse race.

The last title Tottenham won was the 2008 League Cup in a side that had the likes of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. In contrast, Manchester United, though not as pleasing on the eye as Spurs but certainly more efficient, would win a third major title in two seasons under Mourinho if they beat Chelsea in the FA cup final.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino has certainly turned this earlier huff and puff of a club into a sheer dominant force in his tenure. The club profile has risen globally and there are certainly much more positives than negatives like the St.Totteringham’s day hodoo was burst last season when Spurs finished above Arsenal.

However, in the big games his tactics and management at times have been a bit naïve. It’s not a question of talent or quality as the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli can slot into any team in the world. Pochettino himself has admitted to his side’s inability to pull off victories in knockout games will affect them in the future.

The time has come now for this Spurs side to win the trophies they deserve. But if they fail, a threshold may be reached as soon as the next season, when Tottenham return to the New White Hart Lane. With the players and the manager in demand all over Europe it could turn out to be a sad case of what could have been for Tottenham, where today’s potential winners would go on to become winners tomorrow but somewhere else.