Harry Redknapp fearful of Europa League – EPL News
Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, believes that his team playing in the Europa League next season will hurt their chances of making it to the Champions League, in 2012. The Spurs boss believes that playing in the Europa League will demand hard work and
would also mean extra games. He added that it would not allow his team to focus solely on the Premier League and as a result, it will not be easy to finish fourth at the end of the season and qualify for the Champions League.
Spurs played in the Champions League for the very first time this season and surprised one and all, with their style of play in Europe. It is quite unlikely that the club will be able to make it to the Champions League, two seasons in a row.
Spurs were beaten by Chelsea last weekend under controversial circumstances and have now dropped down to sixth position. By the time they kick-off on the weekend against Blackpool, they may be ten points adrift of Manchester City, who are eyeing to secure
the fourth spot on the standings.
There are four games left for Spurs to play before the end of the season and the best Tottenham can hope to do, is to end the season in fifth place.
This will earn them an automatic spot in next season’s Europa League. Redknapp has never been a fan of the Europa League. Manchester City played in that competition this season and Redknapp was hoping that the distraction of the tournament will cause City
to drop points, but it did not happen.
Redknapp is aware of the fact that if his team manages to go on to the final of Europa League next season, they would have to play 17 games in the tournament. That would mean plenty of travel and extra games in the season. He is sure that the circumstances
would dent his team’s chances, of finishing fourth at the end of the season.
Redknapp, said, "Teams who get into the Europa League want to get out of it. Half of them put reserve teams out in the early stages and it's difficult to play every Thursday and Sunday. It disrupts things. We didn't have European football last year and we
finished fourth. That was a big advantage to us."
Redknapp added that Manchester City suffered a lot by playing on Thursday evenings and making long trips back home, to play the following weekend. He said that he would not want his team to go through that, as it does take a toll on the players.
Involvement in the Europa League is not the only concern for Redknapp. The Spurs boss believes that finishing fourth would be much more difficult, because Liverpool look to be on the verge of a revival and Manchester City will surely invest few more millions
over the summer, to strengthen their already star studded line-up.
Mathematically, it is still not impossible for Redkanpp’s team to make it into Champions League next season, but it would mean Manchester City would have to lose at least two out of their last two games. While Tottenham would have to win all of their four
matches, including the game in hand and the one against Manchester City.
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