Is pressure mounting on Spurs to land silverware?

Tottenham Hotspur are under enormous pressure to win a trophy this season.

The North London outfit have failed to win a major trophy since their 2008 League Cup triumph over Chelsea.

Since then, the club have only reached two cup finals – the 2015 League Cup final and of course the unforgettable 2019 Champions League final.

But for a club that has high ambitions going forward with some of the best resources available, there shouldn’t be any excuse to not win a major trophy within the next two seasons minimum.

For the first time in their history, Tottenham reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2019. Despite losing on the night 2-0 to Liverpool, the achievement of finishing runners-up was arguably one of the best achievements the club has had in recent years.

Considering they hadn’t reached the Champions League until the 2010/11 season, to go on and reach the final is an extraordinary achievement that should never be forgotten, despite losing.

But in football, winning is everything. The winner is always remembered, whereas the loser often sits in their shadow.

For Tottenham to reach the next level in their development, trophies are essential.

Monkey comes off the back – Club Mentality

For Tottenham, winning trophies seems as if it’s a monkey on their back. They can’t shrug it off. Whenever they get close, they often just fall short.

No doubt this affects the Club’s and the players’ mentality.

Take this analogy for example:

You’re a highly-rated striker with loads of potential to be great in a talented team playing a game of football. It’s the 60^th minute, and you’ve had five shots on goal with none of them finding the back of the net.

Then soon after, the defenders make a mistake, and suddenly you’re one-on-one with the keeper. The shot gets saved. At this point, you’d be thinking that scoring a goal is impossible.

Let’s compare this with Tottenham.

Tottenham is the striker. They are highly rated and their squad has loads of potential. They’ve had many chances to win trophies or achieve levels of success. But just like the striker, they’ve missed their opportunities.

On the two occasions that Tottenham made a cup final post-2008, they’ve fallen short both times – just like the striker; they had a clear-cut chance one-on-one against the keeper, but failed to take the chance.

However, once they win one trophy, it could unlock their ability to go on and win even more trophies in the future. By breaking their stunning trophy drought, it could pose a swing in momentum that could serve as a major threat to opposition clubs.

Having something to show for success

Without a doubt the past few years have been some of Tottenham’s best in decades. They’ve consistently finished top-4 in the last four seasons and have been on the cusp of challenging for the title.

Despite their degree of success and progression under Mauricio Pochettino, the Club has nothing to show for it.

No trophies. No titles. Nothing.

Ignoring the fact that they haven’t won anything, there is still a strong ability to persuade big-name players to join the club – such as Tanguy Ndombele who recently was transferred from Lyon.

But if they want to continue being able to attract top players, they need to win trophies. Otherwise, players will simply leave for pastures new.

The current Spurs squad is full of talent. It demands glory. But failure to bring silverware back to North London could tear the team apart.

Going back to mentality, for the club to shift from a ‘small club mentality’, the club must obtain trophies.

Tottenham now have a brand-new stadium, some of the world’s best training facilities, and arguably one of the best managers in world football at the moment. But if they do not win with all the resources at their disposal then maybe the club will never be as big as it strives to be.

SpursWeb Opinion

With the addition of Tanguy Ndombele and presumably more to follow, its hard to see Spurs not winning a major trophy of some sort next year. I believe that a League Cup or FA Cup is certainly possible. At this stage, a Premier League title is probably out of the question, but the Club is making strong strides to reaching that level.

As for the Champions League, it would be a monumental task to repeat last season’s result. But nothing is impossible. Who knows, we might get an easier run and may indeed make our second appearance in the final.

But if the club is to live by its club moto ‘to dare is to do’, then they must start doing more next season in the form of lifting some shiny silverware.

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