ROBBIE SAVAGE: Trophies or bust for Tottenham

Mr Marmite.. Love him, hate him, you can’t ignore him

TOTTENHAM didn’t bottle it when their Champions League dream expired against Juventus – but they did blow it.

Just as they blew it when Leicester won the title in 2016. Just as they kept blowing it when Arsenal kept finishing above them in the Premier League for 20 years until they finally claimed the bragging rights in north London last season. Bragging rights but no trophies.

As Roy Keane said on TV, Juventus didn’t find a way to win at Wembley on Wednesday night... Tottenham found a way to lose.

Spurs are a fine team and enjoyable to watch, but I find the tidal waves of sympathy for them a bit patronising.

To turn the corner, and make the step-up from contenders to winners, Tottenham need to put trophies in the cabinet.

Spurs have won one this century – the League Cup in 2008 – while Arsenal have won eight (two titles and six FA Cups). It is 10 months since the Gunners lifted a trophy but it is 10 years since Tottenham collected winners’ medals.

So why has Arsene Wenger been getting pelters at the Emirates while Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino is getting linked with Real Madrid?

I like Pochettino (left, with Harry Kane). I like watching his teams play and I think he’s done an excellent job at Tottenham.

He has one of the lowest net spends in the transfer market over the last three years and a crop of young, home-grown players has flourished under his tutelage. It would be interesting to see what he could achieve with more spending power.

But I don’t understand how Spurs are flavour of the month when yet again they have failed to last the course. Make no mistake, if Jose Mourinho or Wenger had presided over a team that went 1-0 up at home against Juventus, only to blow it, they would have been hammered for it.

Mourinho gets slaughtered for allegedly parking the bus and yet Manchester United have scored more goals and conceded fewer than Spurs in the Premier League this season.

Oh, and Mourinho won two

trophies in his first season at Old Trafford, which is more than Spurs have won in 19 years.

Where Mourinho can sometimes be prickly and confrontational, Pochettino is always friendly, personable and co-operative in front of the cameras. Maybe that’s a clue to their contrasting profiles in the media.

But football is about winning – and Pochettino has won nothing.

How do Spurs make that final step from pretenders to lifting trophies?

This is clearly a pivotal time in the club’s history – they will move into their new stadium at White Hart Lane later this year and it goes without saying they need to keep Pochettino and their best players.

But it’s time for Spurs to pay their A-listers the going rate, and that means making Kane one of the top earners in Europe, not just one of the top earners in north London. It means paying top dollar to the likes of Hugo Lloris and Mousa Dembele.

Kane, who was agonisingly close to forcing extra time on Wednesday when his late header hit a post, is now the best No.9 in Europe.

That means pushing the boat out for him – and pushing the boat out to attract big-hitters to the club. Paris Saint-Germain have spent a fortune, and got knocked out of the Champions League at the same stage as Tottenham, but Spurs are a million miles away from signing a player of Neymar’s stature.

If Kane stays with Tottenham, and steers clear of injuries, he could overtake Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record and be a multi-millionaire. But if Spurs don’t win a trophy in the next 12 months he may decide it’s more attractive to be a multi, multi-millionaire at Real Madrid or Manchester City, where he could break records AND hoover up a large stash of winners’ medals.

There must be Spurs players who are envious of Kyle Walker after the England full-back left Tottenham last year... he could win three trophies with City this season just for starters.

It’s going to be a huge summer for Spurs. It could define whether they turn the corner and join the giants or are destined to drive supporters round the bend with more near-misses.

The best way to silence the doubters is to win the FA Cup in May.

Spurs players must be envious of Kyle Walker who could win three trophies