Spurs need ‘trophy in cabinet’
MARK HUGHES believes Tottenham may be the best team not to win the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have finished second and third in the past two seasons but they are currently in sixth place, 18 points behind leaders Manchester City, after failing to win in their past four league games.
Stoke go to Wembley looking to extend that slump today and the Potters manager, below, feels Spurs’ best chance to take the title may have already gone. “In the last two years a lot of people felt they were the best team even though they haven’t won the title,” said Hughes, below.
“They have missed out twice, and it might be beyond them because of the lead Manchester City have and the level they’re playing at. And teams above have recruited well. There is a danger that they may have missed their opportunity. But they’re still a very young team and if they keep that together they will go close again, I’m sure.”
Hughes, now 54, helped Manchester United lift their first trophy under Alex Ferguson – the 1990 FA Cup – after a four-year wait and he feels Spurs need to win a major honour to gain a winning habit.
“To get that trophy in the cabinet helps a team develop because then you understand what it takes to win things, and that adds a level of development to you as a player and as a group,” he said. “You understand what it takes to win.” United followed their FA Cup triumph with the European Cup Winners’ Cup a year later and the League Cup in 1992 before back-to-back league titles.
“Winning an FA Cup or a League Cup can help your league form because when you’re in a key league game, you can revisit those emotions of when you were in finals,” said Hughes. “That [winning the league] came after winning cups quite regularly. Maybe that’s the next step Spurs need to take.”
Stoke have lost 4-0 the past three times they have played Spurs, with Harry Kane scoring six times, and Hughes does not want a repeat. “They are the ones who we’ve struggled against the most and that’s been borne out by the margin of their victories,” he said. “So we need to improve and that’s our hope and intention this weekend.”
Meanwhile, Pochettino has warned Spurs chairman Daniel Levy he must heed the lessons of past transfer market failings.
Tottenham might have broken their transfer record in signing Davinson Sanchez for £40 million from Ajax, as well bringing in Fernando Llorente for £15m from Swansea in the summer window, but their squad looks light compared to their big-spending rivals.
Pochettino has already ruled out a January spree and is looking at long-term rather than short-term solutions.
The manager cited Dele Alli’s £5 million signing from MK Dons in February 2015 – when the player returned to Milton Keynes until the summer – as a blueprint to use again next month. “In January it’s so difficult to find the right profile of the player to help you achieve what you want,” said Pochettino.
“Dele is a good example that you need to anticipate, and today we are at a club that needs to anticipate. We cannot be reactive because if we are, we are going to lose. “Maybe we need to sign the player in January and they can join in the summer, so six months before. Because if we are going to compete in the same period with City, United, Liverpool or Chelsea, then we are going to struggle to bring the players we want.”
Spurs have already lost as many league matches as they lost throughout the whole of last season. But it was at this time last year when Pochettino’s side, fresh from being eliminated from the Champions League at the group stages, began to mount their charge to the top.
With Spurs not back in European action until February, Pochettino said: “Some difficult periods happen for all the teams. For us it’s happened now. I hope after the final Champions League game with Apoel, it’s changed the dynamic.
“Sometimes the dynamic changes and we are working so hard to try to change that and have a little bit more luck in different situations to win games.”