Huge game in their season, but which Spurs will show up?

That Spurs have kept in the Premier League's top three for much of the season has been down to their rivals' weaknesses rather than their own strengths

Tue, 01 Nov, 2022 - 07:30

Gerry Cox

Remember Kaiserslautern 1999?

Tottenham supporters and observers of a certain age may recall a situation at the tail end of the 20th Century when Spurs found themselves in a similar situation to now.

And – spoiler alert – it did not end well for them.

Just as today, Tottenham had a highly successful manager about to mark a year in charge, and needed just a draw away on the continent to progress to the latter stages of European competition.

On Tuesday night, Antonio Conte will be hoping to celebrate his first anniversary as Spurs manager by getting at least a draw in Marseille and thus reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.

It was not so different 23 years ago when George Graham took a Tottenham team containing Sol Campbell and Tim Sherwood to Germany to face Kaiserslautern, whom they had beaten 1-0 in the first leg.

With the scores level 0-0 at the end of 90 minutes, Spurs needed only to ride out a few minutes of stoppage time without conceding a goal in order to win the tie and mark a successful first year for Graham, who was still trying to win over supporters after his long association as player and manager at Arsenal.

All was going well until Steffen Freund, who had kept Kaiserslautern's playmaker Youri Djorkaeff under wraps for most of the previous 180 minutes, decided to break from his defensive duties and wander upfield, perhaps in search of a rare goal as a show of defiance to those German fans who had been jeering their compatriot.

Unshackled, Djorkaeff ran through Tottenham's defence twice in as many minutes to set up the two stoppage time goals that meant a Spurs exit and hasty rewrites for those of us in the pressbox.

It was one of the results that led to a new but unwanted adjective that opposing fans love to label the Lillywhites, and Tottenham supporters simply hate - 'Spursy'.

And Conte was supposed to be the man to rid Spurs of this reputation, for being flaky and managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The impression was entrenched in emphatic style a couple of years later when the side, now under Glenn Hoddle's management, cantered into a 3-0 first-half lead against the mighty Manchester United only to blow it after the break by conceding five goals. Thus, Tottenham were henceforth seen as unreliable, a soft touch, a team lacking any killer instinct, and worst of all totally unpredictable.

A succession of managers failed to eradicate that unwanted reputation until Mauricio Pochettino turned Tottenham into genuine challengers for trophies, domestically and in Europe. But since the high-water mark from June 2019, when they reached the final of the Champions League on the back of a string of resilient and gutsy performances, the soft underbelly has returned and no-one knows which Spurs will turn up at any given time.

Jose Mourinho was a serial winner when he replaced Pochettino but his teams were inconsistent. Nuno Espirito Santo had a brief and forgettable spell in charge before Conte, another proven winner, took over last November. Conte said at the time it would take time to take Tottenham back into the top four from their mid-table position, but he achieved it ahead of expectation on the back of a fine run of form, losing just six out of 28 games in the league and finishing fourth.

With the addition of more experienced players in the summer, Spurs were expected to make a decent challenge to Manchester City for the title, but it has proved to be the red half of North London that has done that, with Arsenal leading the table for much of the season so far.

That Spurs have kept in the top three for much of that time has been down to their rivals' weaknesses rather than their own strengths, and there is a nagging feeling around London N17 that Tottenham have been playing with the handbrake half-on, and certainly not got into their high goalscoring stride of last spring. While it has been business as usual for Harry Kane with 11 goals in 18 games, last season's top scorer Heung Min Son has scored in only two games, a hat-trick as substitute against Leicester, and two against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Dejan Kulsevski was the third leg of what became England's most dangerous front three after joining from Juventus last January, but the Swede has missed most of this season with injury and Spurs have missed him badly.

Having managed to get to October unbeaten in the league, Spurs lost three of their next five games, and only returned to winning ways by a whisker on Saturday, coming from 2-0 down at lowly Bournemouth to win in stoppage time.

The positives for Conte were that Spurs had the spirit and fortitude to fight back, as they did in the Champions League against Sporting last Wednesday. Having gone a goal behind, they equalised and would have won – and gone through to the last 16 - but for Kane's late 'winner' to be ruled out after a VAR review.

So the game in Marseille on Tuesday takes on huge importance for Tottenham's season. A draw would be enough to qualify for the knockout stages and allow them to focus on the league – and World Cup – before next February. But everyone in football knows how dangerous it is to aim for a draw. In his pre-match team-talk, Conte certainly will be urging his men to go all out for victory.

But the Italian will be unable to influence events from the sidelines because of the suspension incurred when he received a red card for railing against the decision to rule out Kane's effort against Sporting.

His assistant Cristian Stellini took over press conference duties in Marseille on Monday night and will be in the dugout at the Stade Velodrome, an intimidating arena at the best of times.

With Liverpool to come in the league on Sunday, and a gap growing between Spurs and the two teams above them, Conte could do with a confidence-boosting result.

The big question is: which Tottenham team will show up?

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