EPL 2014-15 season review: Tottenham Hotspur miss out of Champions League football… yet again

Tottenham Hotspur men missed out on Champions League football yet again. Ryan Wrenn reviews their Premier League season…

Another subpar season is improved by some encouraging signs that management might be embracing a new strategy. Rather than frantically reaching for the Champions League this season, Daniel Levy and the rest of Tottenham’s ownership are content to allow manager Mauricio Pochettino time to build a team of perennial contenders. How long that might take is debatable, but for now Spurs fans can at least be comforted that the club is not trying the same strategy and expecting different results.

For most Premier League clubs, a fifth consecutive season qualifying for the Europa League would feel like a real accomplishment. It suggests a level of quality and consistency that’s become pretty rare outside of the perennial top four. For Tottenham, however, it often feels like falling short. A run through to the quarterfinals in their last Champions League appearance in 2010/11 set the bar for Spurs ownership and fans’ expectations. Anything less than qualifying for the elite European competition has felt like a small failure.

In past years a fifth place finish would result in one of two scenarios, and perhaps both. Either club ownership would decide to sack the manager or the club’s best player would demand a move to greener, more reliably successful pastures. These transitions have been handled with all the grace and ability of a club desperately flailing for success. Outgoing stars have been inadequately replaced by overpriced and underwhelming players. Managers were thrust into teams built around dramatically different philosophies than their own and then were sacked when results didn’t come immediately. It’s no surprise that Tottenham has failed to find a way to improve.

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Encouragingly, the Tottenham boardroom seems to be wising up to the unsustainability of that model. Mauricio Pochettino, appointed manager last summer after a successful stint at Southampton, will keep his job despite yet another season in which the club failed to qualify for the Champions League. On a superficial level, there have been other failures. The defense remains the laughing stock of the Premier League’s top half and those uber-expensive signings have not impressed yet again.

There’s been some highpoints of course. Hugo Lloris had another amazing season in goal despite the porous backline. Spurs appeared in the Capital One Cup final. The club’s records against the top teams did improved slightly over last season’s abysmal tally, highlighted by the 5-3 victory over Chelsea in January.

Tottenham vs Chelsea 5-3 Highlight & All Goals

And there’s no forgetting the standout performer of that game. This season has seen the ascent of England’s Harry Kane, the brightest star in a relatively dull constellation of players.

Here’s the important part though: that is an entirely reasonable list of accomplishments for a manager’s first season. Fans of the Premier League so rarely get the opportunity to see what patience looks like from club ownership that we simply assume anything less than massive improvement is a fireable offense. What Spurs chairman Daniel Levy knows is that Tottenham is, quite literally, rebuilding. Everything from the new world-class training facility to a new stadium due in the next few years. It is very much a club in transition.

Arguably the biggest rebuilding project, though, is the squad itself. The club seems willing to cop to the failure of the last rebuilding effort after Gareth Bale’s departure two years ago and begin again. How many of the players bought in that splurge will be sold this coming summer remains to be seen. What is ensured, though, is most of those that remain will find it difficult to find a spot in the freshly revamped starting XI.

In the previously mentioned 5-3 victory over Chelsea, Spurs fielded six players in their starting lineup that had been with the club since before they were 18 years old, including Harry Kane. That impressive win wasn’t a one-off, either: Spurs frequently fielded the youngest XI any given weak and had the fifth youngest squad in the Premier League overall according to Transfermarkt.

Levy’s desire to keep Pochettino around is a testament to the fact that Spurs now value long term success over short term results. If nothing else, this season has laid the groundwork for what might just evolve into a better team than the one that qualified for the Champions League in 2010.

Next season

A year’s experience in the Premier League combined with some strengthening in the transfer window will make Pochettino’s boys more formidable than they were this term. Another fifth or sixth place finish is not inconceivable, but expect Spurs to at least stay in contention for longer.

Verdict

B. Tottenham is a work-in-progress, so while signs are good for the future, it has not yet translated into success.