League is deteriorating, Europa is positive, and we are still in the League & FA Cups. Match Report: Spurs 3 Elfsborg 0
League is deteriorating, Europa is positive, and we are still in the League & FA Cups. Match Report: Spurs 3 Elfsborg 0
With Everton beating Leicester City, we dropped to 16th in the league, seven points above Leicester, who are third from the bottom. However, in the Europa League, everything is Hunk Dory.
Yes, we’ve just beaten Elfsborge, a very poor side, to go through the knockout stages… and we are still in the FA and League Cups… while everything seems to be crumbling around us in the league, there seems hope in other directions. So, we could be in the unique position of winning the Europa League (we are favourites after all to win it), which could lead on to Champions League football, in the comfort of the Championship… now that would be a novelty!!!!!! But I don’t think we will get relegated… just dance near the fires of hell. It would be even more ironic if we went on to win the FA and League Cups, along with the Europa Trophy.
It is never easy at Spurs when Levy and Co. are the puppet masters… pulling the strings of their marionettes while they dance above the hot coals of hell.
To the Elves of Sweden…
Yes, we overcame yet another injury setback to reach the last 16 of the Europa League as our teenage record-breaker Mikey Moore sealed victory.
We were without 12 players because of injury and ineligibility. We lost Radu Dragusin, who came on as a substitute when he went down and got hurt in the second half.
Then Dane Scarlett, who was bought on, only 20, lifted the mood by heading us into a 70th-minute lead before 19-year-old fellow substitute Damola Ajayi made it 2-0. What was interesting about those two scorers was that they never even had their pictures to go up on the scoreboard when they scored. That was poor planning… why name substitutions and not even have their photos ready to put up?
Then, seventeen-year-old winger Moore got into the act by scoring his first goal for the club in the fourth minute of stoppage time. What a wonderful low finish after a powerful run. They did have his picture to put up on the scoreboards.
Moore’s goal broke Jimmy Greaves’ record (17 years and 245 days in October 1957; this was before he joined Spurs) to become the youngest-ever English scorer in major men’s European competition.
We struggled to find a way through the Swedish team’s stubborn defence in the first half. Even though it was a determined defence, they were poor. We had about 85% of the game and more hits on target than they did. Thank God they were inadequate; otherwise, we might have been looking towards the playoffs.
The Elves did come so close themselves in the second half before Scarlett set us on our way.
We finished the league phase in fourth place with 17 points and can now concentrate on domestic matters.
Next in the competition, we will face one of Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, AZ Alkmaar, or Midtjylland.
Next up will be Brentford, away. As this is the league, I can feel disaster looming. Brentford are 11th in the league, and there are worse teams below them who managed to humiliate us.
I am not predicting, but I hope we can turn a possible disaster looming into a positive event (whatever a positive event is…? Anything other than disgrace, I suppose!).
God knows what the team will be, either.
Up the Spurs!
Glenn