How Tottenham escaped mediocrity to become Europa League champions?

For a long time, Tottenham meant nothing. There were periods when they won a lot of games, but still came up empty-handed. And many times they reached the final, or the championship race, only to be defeated.

Looking back at what Tottenham have missed over the past 17 years, maybe they were unlucky at times, or maybe they weren't good enough. But when the "nothing" streak lasted for nearly two decades, the cause belonged to another factor, the so-called "winning spirit" or "big team mentality".

In a league as tough as the Premier League, Tottenham are listed as a Big Six club, have qualified for European competition 16 times and finished in the top five 11 times in the past 18 seasons. The problem is that Spurs are quite content with the status quo and do not crave much of a breakthrough.

Tottenham lost in the 2018/19 Champions League final.

In his autobiography, former Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris revealed that he was shocked to receive a gift from Chairman Daniel Levy, just 4 days before the 2018/19 Champions League final. It was a luxurious, expensive watch, and also had commemorative value. However, in addition to each player's name, it was also engraved with the words "2019 Champions League finalist".

Why just "finalist" and not "winner"? Apart from being insensitive, it also betrays an inferiority complex and considers reaching the final a great achievement. Lloris sees this as a harbinger of failure, which is why he never wears the watch he received from the President.

Lloris, who won the World Cup with France in 2018, was even more disappointed at the party in the hotel after the defeat to Liverpool in Madrid. No one seemed too upset and promised a strong comeback in the future. In that moment, the French goalkeeper wondered, did Tottenham really want to win?

Tottenham in their moment of glory on Wednesday night at San Mames, Bilbao.

Chairman Levy has a deep love for Tottenham and a desire to see his lifelong team win. But as a businessman, he prefers stability to venturing outside the comfort zone.

That's why he decided to sack Jose Mourinho right before the 2021 League Cup final. Levy knew the Portuguese coach was a cup winner and could solve the title drought. However, he chose Ryan Mason because he thought this was the coach who could help Spurs finish in the top 4 of the Premier League.

Coach Ange Postecoglou has also been troubled by the mentality of a small team, content with small joys at Tottenham. At the end of last season, many club staff were half-joking about Spurs dropping the match against Man City to prevent Arsenal, their north London rivals, from winning the title. He was extremely frustrated when one of them suggested he use a young player in that match, or when he saw fans celebrating when their team conceded a goal.

Coach Ange Postecoglou is being rewarded for changing the winning culture at Spurs.

Although his reputation was built outside Europe, in underrated footballing countries like Australia, Japan and Scotland, Postecoglou was used to lifting trophies (he had won 21 major trophies before arriving at Tottenham), so he constantly instilled in his players the idea of ​​fighting for trophies.

In January, with Tottenham derailed and drifting towards the bottom half of the Premier League, Postecoglou set his sights on winning the Europa League. With his old-fashioned mindset, many at the club were not keen on the idea. However, the Greek-Australian coach persisted, convincing his players to believe in the path to winning the Cup.

At the club’s training ground, Postecoglou has decorated the walls with black-and-white photographs of previous Tottenham teams that have lifted the title. There’s the 1950/51 and 1960/61 English Premier League sides, and the generations that have won the FA Cup eight times. His message is clear: “Make an effort to be on that wall.”

Europa League became the 22nd title in the Australian strategist's coaching career.

In the second half of the season, Postecoglou also tried to save his best players for the Europa League. For example, after hamstring injuries, Micky van de Ven only started 9 games in 2025. But 7 of them were in European competition. In the final at San Mames, Bilbao against MU, it was Van de Ven who jumped to clear the ball on the goal line, preserving the result 1-0.

Tactically, Postecoglou has been willing to ditch the aesthetically pleasing attacking football known as "Angeball". Instead, his Tottenham side have turned to a pragmatic style, one that values ​​results over performances. Against United on Wednesday night, they had just 26.6% possession and had just one shot on target, Brennan Johnson's 42nd-minute strike.

Postecoglou has been successful in getting his players on board, committed to the title-winning mentality. They have followed his tactics, even if they are negative, with absolute conviction. They have also been happy with his arrangements, such as captain Son Heung-min sitting on the bench until the 67th minute. They all believe that the path Postecoglou has laid out will lead to the title.

Indeed it did. Tottenham, who had “nothing”, now had what they had been waiting for for 17 years, after months of failure and constant ridicule. No one was sure whether the Europa League would be the premise for a brilliant era for Spurs, but from now on, they certainly began to fight the mentality of the trophy hunters.

Thanh Hai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tottenham-da-thoat-khoi-su-tam-thuong-tro-thanh-nha-vo-dich-europa-league-nhu-the-nao-post1744627.tpo