Tottenham Hotspur vs. Juventus: Flying Too Close to The Sun
We’ve been here before.
The final whistle blows as Paulo Dybala, arms in the air, runs over to Miralem Pjanic to celebrate his side’s victory. As the whistle blows, the away side’s travelling support bellows a large roar as the home fans descend into a deafening silence. A teary eyed Son-Hueng Min falls to the ground as Harry Kane looks up at the sky, fatigued, yet bewildered as to how such a great performance could end up in defeat.
When the groups first came out, Tottenham (via SportBet) were labeled as having just a 17% chance of emerging top of their group, yet they did so with a game to spare. This Tottenham team up to this date had been defying all expectations as the underdogs. First handling a Dortmund team before gliding past Real Madrid on their way to what was looking like their season. Heading into the first leg against Juventus, Tottenham let themselves buy in to their hype. They fell asleep almost immediately in the first ten minutes, conceding twice and looking absolutely shambolic. However, the ensuing 80 minutes saw some of the best Tottenham Hotspur football in years. With the help of Dembele and Eriksen, we handled the thirty-time Italian Champions once the damage had been done, leveling the match at 2–2.
Going into the second leg, Tottenham was in the driver’s seat, tied at 2–2 but with an away goals advantage; surely the team who had picked up the most points in 2018 were going to be off to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011? It just wasn’t to be. This match came down to experience. That was evident Wednesday night. It is no secret that Tottenham were the better team over the course of the two legs but inexperience at the highest level showed. After dominating Juventus, Gonzalo Higuain turned up at the far post just as Tottenham’s defence fell asleep. Just three minutes later, Trippier failed to play Dybala offside as the Argentinan jogged past to smash in his side’s winner. As the saying goes, “It is simply better to be lucky than to be good.” Creating ten more chances than your opponent coupled with more shots on target certainly makes for good stats, but Tottenham let the occasion get to them.
Our best player on the night was by far Son-Heung Min. He played blindly, running past defenders as if they weren’t there and carving chances for himself until they came to fruition in the 34th minute. This match epitomized exactly the mentality that Tottenham simply do not have, a blind mentality. Looking back at big matches the past few seasons, Tottenham have allowed the occasion to get to them. Rather than playing blind to the occasion like Son today, it seemed as if every move, pass, shot and tackle was made with the thought of playing the thirty-six time Italian champions. We were nervous. Just as we were nervous against Chelsea in the League Cup Final three years ago, just as we were nervous in the final four games of the 15/16 season where we conceded 10 times, just as we did in the group stage of last year’s competition and just as we crashed out to Gent in the Europa League, when faced with adversity we froze.
Simply stated, Tottenham lack the ability to be blind to the big occasion. Playing with implications in mind leads to lapses in concentration which allow Dybala to hit home, or for Hazard to hand Leicester the title, or for Hazard again to hit it in to end your FA Cup dream. This is where Tottenham need to learn from the greats. The winning teams are often times never the best team, just the luckier team, but it is experience and hard work that allows you to recognize that luck and captalize on it.
Juventus are no stranger to the big occasion. Having made last year’s final and being an ever-present late stage force for half a decade, Juventus are a side chock full with league winners, cup winners and of course a World Cup winner in goal. This team was pushed to the edge by a young Spurs team yet exposed us when it mattered most. Sure, one can argue they only turned up for 20 out of 180 minutes, but it is those twenty minutes that make champions. Further inpsiration is seen with Germany’s 2014 World Cup winning squad. Germany did not have Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben, or Neymar to call upon. They played a large portion of that final with Christoph Kramer, a 35-year-old Miroslav Klose and Benedikt Höwedes playing left back. On paper, they were not the strongest team at the tournament but experience on the big occasion gave that team the tools to succeed. That team was filled to the brim with players who had played on the largest stages (Champions’ League, DFB Pokal, World Cup, Euros) and lost. Thomas Müller is a great thought experiment on the mentality of a champion. He is evidence that you don’t need to be the flashiest, the most skillfull or have the most Instagram followers. At the end of the day, you need to be the guy who scores a 92nd minute tap in to give your team the victory, otherwise it is all for nought.
Three years ago, Tottenham went into the season as the youngest team in EPL history. Wide-eyed and hungry, Mauricio Pochettino (then in his first year at the club) guided the kids out of the banter era to where we are today. Facts are facts, this is the best Tottenham team I have seen in my lifetime. We are the team I thought we would be two years ago, yet our lack of experience has begun to show. Experience is being built the hard way, but that is because we cannot bring in players who can give us that experience.
Heading into the 2018/19 season, Tottenham have quite a few question marks that need addressing. Toby Alderweireld (one of the few Tottenham players with big game experience who was also absent from today’s match) is in a contract standoff as our wage structure cannot allow his demands to be met. This is of crucial importance as his current contract sees a 25 million release clause kick in at the end of the transfer window. Surely every club with a pulse will be eager to land the Belgian who has easily been one of the top defenders in world football over the course of the last few seasons.
This failure to pay top players is why Tottenham have flown too close to the sun. We’ve gotten too good, and our players want to be paid accordingly. (see Danny Rose’s interview with The S*n) However, with resources that already are not comparable to our rivals coupled with an expensive new stadium, we cannot afford to pay players such as Eriksen, Kane, Son or Alderweireld (honestly list the whole 30 man squad here) what they deserve. In this modern game where finances determine everything, Tottenham might see themselves falling down a well.
I remember when we were a perennial Europa League team thinking “I can’t wait to see who we’ll sign with all the Champions League money!” Since then, I’ve had to watch as a 5th placed United sign Paul Pogba, a 6th placed United sign Romelu Lukaku and a 6th placed Arsenal sign Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. In this time, we have gotten 3rd and 2nd with just Lucas and Aurier to show as “big name” signings. Why? Money. We can’t afford to sign top talent and I’m getting worried that we can’t afford to retain top talent that we’ve groomed over the years.
We have never had a better striker than Harry Kane, never had a better provider than Christian Eriksen, never had a better ball retaining midfielder than Mousa Dembele, never had a better defensive pairing than Vertonghen/Alderweireld and certainly never had a better goalkeeper than Hugo Lloris. This is our time to shine and we so nearly grasped it with both hands this time around. As Vertonghen/Dembele are getting older, time is running out for our slice of success. It has now been 10 years without a trophy and considering spending trends, could be ten more if we do not act quickly. We must focus on the FA Cup to establish a winning mentality if we hope of righting our wrongs this season, or we risk becoming a club chasing tantalizing dreams.
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