How Capital One Cup Final Win over Chelsea Can Transform Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur have plenty going on besides their Capital One Cup final date with Chelsea.
Their Europa League campaign continues on Thursday night (though it could also end). The resumption of Premier League duties against Swansea City almost immediately follows Sunday's final.
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The chance to win their first silverware since 2008 obviously offers the most immediate reward. However, victory also brings with it the potential long-term effect of transforming Mauricio Pochettino's young, aspirant team into a major player in English football.
As cautioned by Bleacher Report's Sam Rooke, failure to deliver in what is essentially a season-defining week would leave Tottenham facing an uphill battle to leave 2014-15 having achieved anything tangible. Barring a catastrophic series of failures, though, Pochettino and his players will remain in a generally healthy state.
More optimistically, victory would allow them to embrace the examples seen in Italy and Spain in recent years of clubs' fortunes being boosted by a cup win.
Napoli's 2011-12 Coppa Italia win was their first trophy since 1990. They had also reached the Champions League by that stage, but the defeat of Juventus confirmed their return among Serie A's elite. Second place in the league a season later was followed by another cup success in 2014.
Atletico Madrid's Europa League victories in 2010 and 2012 re-established the Spanish capital club after similar years of mediocrity. The 2012-13 Copa del Rey defeat of rivals Real Madrid confirmed Diego Simeone's team were on the right track. A year after, they won La Liga itself.
Spurs approach their upcoming final in different circumstances to Napoli and Atletico. The result of a positive outcome will not necessarily follow a similar pattern to those sides.
Becoming the best of the rest in the Premier League is trickier than doing so beneath the Juventus hegemony in Serie A. In Spain, Atletico were further along as a team by the time their cup success propelled them on towards even greater glory.
Nonetheless, Spurs do share some attributes that make a Capital One Cup final win being turned into more success for the club a possibility.
It has taken time this season, but their own bright, young head coach, Pochettino, has got them matching some of the division's best (as seen in wins over Chelsea and Arsenal)—on any given day, at least, if not yet over the course of a campaign.
The players instigating that progress are young enough that a trophy win this week can be regarded as part of their collective development, too, and not the culmination of a journey. There is also just enough experience at higher levels within the group—overlapping both categories in the case of Christian Eriksen—to help avoid the achievement being too much, too soon.
Crucially, their form over the last couple of months has emphasised the talent that underpins all this. Collectively, this is Spurs' best group since the squad Harry Redknapp brought together between late 2009 and 2012.
Harry Kane has led a return to goalscoring levels led by the likes of Jermain Defoe and Rafael van der Vaart back then. Eriksen is similarly leading a creative midfield renaissance that brings to mind what Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Luka Modric offered. Further back, Jan Vertonghen is playing his best football yet for Spurs while Hugo Lloris is arguably the club's best goalkeeper since Ray Clemence in the 1980s.
Redknapp benefited in inheriting the core of the squad—notably Michael Dawson, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone, Ledley King and Lennon—that won the League Cup in 2008. Indeed, around the time of that success, much was expected from the team.
"A sense of adventure has always shaped the dreams of Tottenham Hotspur, and a grand tradition is being thrillingly maintained by Juande Ramos," wrote The Telegraph's Henry Winter in his preview. "Spurs are clearly on the rise under Ramos, and the trophies will surely soon accompany the plaudits."
Winter's impressed evaluation of Ramos—shared by many following Spurs' 5-1 semi-final dismantling of Arsenal—was not to be substantiated beyond the final defeat of Chelsea that followed.
The Spaniard's strict off-pitch style did not mesh with Spurs' young, predominantly English players. Coupled with the disconnect between him and the club's hierarchy (notably in terms of who was bought and sold), it led to poor form and his sacking.
Redknapp eventually harnessed the squad's potential, memorably taking them (with some smart additions of his own) to the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. In the meantime, though, a season in which Spurs should have pushed on was wasted.
In the present, things appear a lot more harmonious around White Hart Lane and the Hotspur Way training ground.
The situation could change, but Pochettino's early work appears to have earned him a satisfactory level of influence. His colleague from Southampton, Paul Mitchell, joined as head of recruitment and analysis in November, appearing to strengthen his power-base.
Just about everything is in place for Tottenham to harness a Capital One Cup final victory. Now they just have to go and win the darn thing. Easier said than done against Jose Mourinho's Premier League leaders, Chelsea.
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