Aiming high?
I was a bit mystified by many of the reader comments on this article in the Ronny Gill last week, in which the Silver Fox suggested that Spurs are suffering the consequences of playing in the Europa League - and, by implication, that we're reaping the benefits of not doing so. Several commenters interpreted this as betraying a fundamental lack of ambition in focusing on the "dangers" of a decent league finish.
Yet surely our lack of ambition was already obvious from what happened last season: the short-sighted failure to strengthen the squad in the summer, followed by incessant moaning about how participation in the Europa League was stretching and exhausting the players. It really irritated me that the not inconsiderable achievement of qualifying for European competition in 2011/12 - something for which we fought very hard and ultimately deserved - was then presented as a curse and a burden.
If we were to qualify again this season - and that's a very big if, despite the promising signs of the last two performances - then you'd hope we'd show evidence of having learned our lesson by investing in reinforcements so we can celebrate and enjoy the achievement, rather than bemoan it.
Yet surely our lack of ambition was already obvious from what happened last season: the short-sighted failure to strengthen the squad in the summer, followed by incessant moaning about how participation in the Europa League was stretching and exhausting the players. It really irritated me that the not inconsiderable achievement of qualifying for European competition in 2011/12 - something for which we fought very hard and ultimately deserved - was then presented as a curse and a burden.
If we were to qualify again this season - and that's a very big if, despite the promising signs of the last two performances - then you'd hope we'd show evidence of having learned our lesson by investing in reinforcements so we can celebrate and enjoy the achievement, rather than bemoan it.
posted by Ben at 12:24 pm
2 Comments:
No. Qualifying for the Europa League (or even a domestic cup run)means more games and more chances for our thin squad to get injured. The aim is to stay in the Premier League (Kerching!) whilst spending the minimum possible on players. Why would Ashley even spend in January if we are comfortably mid-table? And with us at ninth, we are second in "our" division behind the excellent Southampton.
While staying in the Premier League is of course the most important thing, it's ridiculous to suggest that we should be actively aiming to avoid qualifying for Europe. Aspiration is vital. If we do qualify, then investment will obviously be needed to beef up the squad so it can cope with the burden of the additional games - and if such investment isn't forthcoming (as it wasn't in the summer of 2012), then that's Ashley's own stupid fault. I agree that he's unlikely to spend money in January if we're in the current position then - but that's not to say that he SHOULDN'T spend a bit, to help propel us towards the European places.
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