Premier League
Can Spurs Bounce Back From Their Europa League Exit?
After Tottenham Hotspur’s exit from the Europa League on Thursday night, can manager Andre Villas-Boas rally the troops and guide them to a top-four finish?
AVB: Can he turn Tottenham’s season around?
Tottenham Hotspur’s final attempt of silverware this season was quashed by FC Basel on Thursday night. They were dumped out by the Swiss side after losing 4-1 on penalties. Spurs striker Emmanuel Adebayor blazed their final penalty of the shoot-out over the bar.
A number of questions have been asked about the morale in the Spurs camp after this defeat. The positive side to it is the fact that they can now focus on sealing a spot in next years Champions League. However, in my opinion, they will not get much closer to a European final in the near future, especially if they lose Gareth Bale in the summer.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas received criticism from a number of Spurs fans including Sir Alan Sugar. The ex-Chairman took to twitter to write:
‘AVB should be fired, no tactics. Been lucky up till now with results. how can he put Huddlestone as pen taker. Then Adebayor you knew would miss.’
The question now is: Can Spurs bounce back from being dumped out of the Europa League? With the end of the Premier League season fast approaching, Tottenham are in a 3 way battle for a Champions League spot for 2013-2014 along with Chelsea and North London rivals Arsenal.
Villas-Boas, sacked by Chelsea last season, had to face the dilemma of losing Gareth Bale to injury earlier this month in the first leg against FC Basel at White Hart Lane and Spurs have struggled without him, scraping a draw at home to Everton and being beaten by FC Basel on penalties on Thursday night.
With Arsenal beating Norwich City on Saturday at the Emirates, Tottenham are now down in fifth position in the table and could be as much as seven points adrift of their rivals if they win their next two games before Spurs next fixture at home to champions Man City next Sunday.
Spurs now must concentrate on raising morale among the players to have the best chance possible of confirming their place in the Champions league for next season, can it be done? Only time will tell.
Do you think Tottenham will be able to bounce back and claim a place in the top four? Get involved in the comments section below.
