Tottenham Hotspur Must Regroup to Finish Memorable Season Strongly

WHITE HART LANE, London — There is an episode of Friday Night Lights where the protagonist team’s coach Eric Taylor is tasked with raising his players after a particularly hard-fought and crushing defeat. To put into context the achievements of a memorable season ended in agonising fashion.

“This is the game that people are gonna talk about for years to come,” he tells his team. “This is the game you are gonna talk about. There’s not a single person in this room that’s ever gonna be the same.”

Tottenham Hotspur are a world away from a fictional high school American football team. But you hope their coach Mauricio Pochettino had similar words for his players after Monday’s 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

For Tottenham, it was not so much the match itself, more that it represented the likely denouement of a pride-inspiring Premier League title challenge that looks set to fall short to a relentless Leicester City. They produced a slog of an effort on a cold, dispiriting night, which they must now recover from to fulfill the additional ambitions that remain.

Pride, optimism and pragmatism. All three were on offer in different forms from Pochettino in his post-match press conference.

The optimism part was understandably a bit half-hearted. Rightly pointing out his team can still mathematically win the league but also admitting this was “a game we must win” to really have kept the hopes alive.

They are now seven points behind the league-leaders after a second-half Craig Dawson header cancelled out his earlier own goal. Leicester can claim the crown with one more victory.

The pride in his team Pochettino spoke of was legitimate. A feeling shared by a White Hart Lane faithful who knew at the final whistle their team could not have given much more (see below).

A chorus of ‘We love you Tottenham, we do, we love you Tottenham, we do’ rings out around White Hart Lane. #COYS …

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