Same Old Tottenham, Always Bottling It

Sean_RedDevil

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Vedran Corluka: Tottenham will miss out on Champions League

Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka fears the club will miss out on Champions League qualification, blaming their slide on a lack of squad rotation.

fter spending much of the season in contention for the Premier League title, Harry Redknapp's men have fallen to fifth with three wins from 14 games.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they finished sixth," Corluka, on loan at Bayer Leverkusen, told BBC Sport.

"They didn't rotate enough, they don't have depth on the bench."
Redknapp has used 47 players across 49 matches in four different competitions this campaign.

Tired Tottenham? (Appearances in all competitions in 2011-12)
Kyle Walker: 43 appearances
Benoit Assou-Ekotto: 40
Gareth Bale: 38
Younes Kaboul: 37
Luka Modric: 37
Jermain Defoe: 36
Rafael van der Vaart: 35
Brad Friedel: 34
Scott Parker: 33
Emmanuel Adebayor: 33

But 10 players have made more than 30 appearances, right-back Kyle Walker leading the way with 43.

"He didn't rotate enough," said Corluka, who joined Leverkusen in January until the end of the season. "That's the main problem.

"I watched almost every Spurs game and they played them all with the same 11, 12, 13 players and that's why the players now are really tired."
When Tottenham beat Everton on 11 January they moved to within three points of then leaders Manchester City.

But they were rocked by defeats at City and Arsenal, with their last eight matches including four losses and three draws.

Spurs are now six points behind third-placed Arsenal, three adrift of fourth-placed Newcastle and one ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea.

But if Chelsea win the Champions League final and finish outside the top four, only the top three Premier League clubs will qualify for Europe's elite club competition.

"Tottenham, for me, had one of the best teams in England and of course it will be an unsuccessful season if they don't go to the Champions League," Corluka commented.

"I don't know what the chairman will do if they don't qualify. I know only that it will be an unsuccessful season."

When asked if missing out on a Champions League place would constitute failure, Corluka added: "Yes, especially because three months before they were in the title race challenging City and [Manchester] United.

"Now they are three points behind fourth spot. They are fifth and it's going to be really difficult for them."

BBC
He's obviously a little bit bitter about not featuring enough for Tottenham but he's 100% right.

The players are tired because Redknapp has only 13-14 league players.

His team-selections are poor too in the last months (but that's another topic).
 

Lance Uppercut

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Anyone seen AsstonSpud lately? He vanished like a fart in a tornado.
 

Plan M

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As predictably as Spurs will choke at the end of the season, so will Glaston disappear when it happens.

Don't worry, he'll be back at some point in July full of false hope.
:lol: So true. We need a boom bust cycle image just for Glaston!
 

NM

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Terrible for Spurs fans tbh. Hope they can keep their team together..
 

kouroux

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They only got themselves to blame just like United lost the title.A nice gap at an important moment cannot be surrendered and lost completely
 

AlwaysRedwood

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They only got themselves to blame just like United lost the title.A nice gap at an important moment cannot be surrendered and lost completely
Oh, bullshit. They finished 4th. They finished in the spot that is 99% of the time a CL spot. They did what they were supposed to do.
 
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I feel sorry for Spurs fans. I know a few of them and they will be absolutely devasted. Their overall performances in the league should have got them there but it clearly wasn't meant to be, yet again. Football is cruel.
 

africanspur

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Devastating. Truly. I'm not even sure what to say to be honest, other than football is losing its allure season by season.
 

alastair

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Actually feel sorry for them. What's the point of playing 38 games if your league position is then compromised by something completely out of your control?
 

africanspur

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We've been so shafted by the two billionaire clubs since their entry into the league. :lol: All you can do is laugh.
 

Agent Red

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Sorry for Spurs, they played well all season and deserved CL football in my view. Though much like the disappointments of ourselves and Bayern, it's another of 'themselves to blame' situation given that they allowed such a gap to slip.

Going to be very hard to for them now to keep their key players. Modric will surely be pushing for a move and Bale made similar remarks recently, though I think he's more likely to stay.

On a personal level I find them a much more likable club than Chelsea as well, so it's a disappointing result aside from the unfairness of them comfortably beating Chelsea in the league only to have that effectively ruled out.
 

humdinger

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It is a crap rule. I'd be gutted if I were a Spurs fan, especially as Chelsea were dominated for the entire match.
 

dev1l

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when it comes to bottling it, they re up there with coke and pepsi..
 

Randall Flagg

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My best pal is a spurs fan. I've texted him twice since full time, but as yet no reply.

Poor fella is probably feeling like I did last Sunday
 

Ole's_toe_poke

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They only have themselves to blame. 30 minutes into the derby they were potentially 13 points clear of Arsenal for 3rd.

Redknapp hasn't managed his squad well.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Feel sorry for Spurs... but in a totally sick way, take some comfort in knowing there are another set of fans out there that are almost as gutted as us lot by the end of this season!
 

africanspur

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Feel sorry for Spurs... but in a totally sick way, take some comfort in knowing there are another set of fans out there that are almost as gutted as us lot by the end of this season!
The worst will be Bayern. The fans (and the players) will be reminded of what happened tonight every single time they have a home game.
 

Count Orduck

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It's not a shit rule, really. It's a real kick in the teeth for the team that came fourth, but it's not a shit rule.

If a club wins the Champions League, they should be able to defend it. They certainly have a greater right to be there than a team whose only achievement of note is finishing behind three others in their domestic league.