Tottenham Hotspur's Season Is on the Line in League Cup Semi-Final

Tottenham Hotspur have made significant progress in their first season under new manager Mauricio Pochettino. 

After a rocky start they have become more entertaining than Andre Villas-Boas' team and have produced better results than when under Tim Sherwood. 

One criticism of Pochettino, his seeming inability to extract results from matches against the top clubs, was swept away when the whole country watched his team dismantle Jose Mourinho's Chelsea. 

Tottenham are looking up the table, not over their shoulders, and they have been doing so for months. 

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His team is not far behind where AVB's Gareth Bale-fuelled side was at the same point in 2013 but looks far less fragile. Not dependent on just one man, except maybe the astonishing Hugo Lloris, the 2015 vintage appears bound for big things. 

Despite the optimism that has seeped in around White Hart Lane, Pochettino and Spurs need to beat a League One side. Sheffield United, the unassuming team in question, stand between Tottenham and Wembley. A reunion with bitter rivals Chelsea in a replay of the 2008 League Cup Final beckons. 

More than the chance at the heavenly glory of winning a trophy and seeing off Mourinho's Blues again, Spurs need to beat the Blades for more earthbound reasons. 

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Pochettino needs this win to reinforce his position as Spurs boss because times will not always be so good. 

Last weekend's FA Cup fourth-round defeat to Leicester City is instructive. That game was seemingly meandering to a routine Spurs win, and yet Tottenham joined Chelsea and Manchester City on the scrapheap. 

The same could so easily happen in a season that promises much but necessarily has yet to actually deliver. 

Tottenham are well in the race for the top four in the Premier League and face a tough but winnable Europa League tie against Fiorentina. Two potential routes to the Champions League shine as far richer prizes than the League Cup. 

Manchester United were in a similar position at this point 12 months ago. They failed to see off a seemingly inferior rival in the League Cup semi-final and, in so doing, missed the chance to take a tilt at their city rivals. Their European campaign came to a reasonable end. Defeat in Munich is no embarrassment, but their League campaign only delivered disappointment. 

If Tottenham slip up against Sheffield United, can they reasonably be expected to avoid doing the same in the league or in Europe? 

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Pochettino has done much to erase some of the negative aspects of the culture at Tottenham. In his early days he was critical of a tendency to accept the mediocre.

As some players struggled to adjust to his demanding game plans, they were removed from the team. He told them that they must suffer, per ESPN.

His players are the fittest in the country and continue to win him games so late that some fans have already left their seats. 

Three times though, Spurs have let a lead slip. Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Leicester all emerged victorious against Tottenham this season when they should have been beaten. If Sheffield United add their names to this list it will undermine much of that apparent progress. 

After AVB took Spurs to fifth place and helped Gareth Bale to become the world's most expensive player, he was seemingly untouchable. But three months into the next season, he was sacked. 

Tottenham's trigger-happy chairman showed his ruthlessness with Pochettino's predecessor. The Argentinian does not need to give him a reason to reveal it once more. 

In the buildup to the previous round against Newcastle, Pochettino admitted to BT Sport he would take all blame for a defeat. His willingness to rotate his squad loomed as a noose above his head should Spurs have failed to progress.

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That same willingness to rotate arguably cost Spurs their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Deputy goalkeeper Michel Vorm was singularly responsible for the Leicester defeat. Pochettino defended him when talking to the media, observing that all players make mistakes, but if a similar mistake from a squad player proves the difference, Pochettino will take a beating from the press. 

This is the biggest game of Spurs' season. If they win here, there will be far bigger games. If they lose, it could be the start of an all-too-familiar new-year collapse. Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas and even Tim Sherwood saw their teams slip away from glory with spring on the horizon; Pochettino will be hoping to buck that trend. 

In truth, the final is the more significant game, but Spurs aren't there yet. Pochettino must navigate past this tricky tie and then set sights on Chelsea. Victory there would earn him a place in Tottenham's rich history. Defeat does not bear contemplation.

For many fans, there is a lack of cynicism around Pochettino. 

His willing cultivation of young players and academy lads have won him a deeper support than some of his more successful predecessors. Harry Redknapp, for all his achievements, was always viewed with some suspicion by a section of Tottenham fans. 

Many believe that Pochettino is the man to build a consistently competitive Tottenham. However, defeat in a semi-final to a team so demonstrably inferior would test that faith.