Just look at the list of scorers at Fulham today. Kane, Kane and Kane. And Kane lined up alongside Alli, Vertonghen, Son and a good number of first choice players. Mauricio Pochettino clearly realises a number of things. Firstly, that he believes in winning things and secondly he believes winning things can best be achieved by fielding many of your key players. More than that, winning is a good habit. It gives hope, it breeds confidence, it adds belief. And in the FA Cup, now bereft of many top teams who, in my view disrespect the tournament, Spurs have a terrific chance of winning things.
Liverpool will not win anything this year because Jurgen Klopp picked weakened sides in both the League Cup and FA Cup. That’s just a matter of fact. Klopp has concluded it’s more important to get in the Premier League top four and so qualify for the European Champions League. For the life of me, I do not understand this. Above all, players like to win things. It’s why they play football. It doesn’t matter if it’s “only” a cup medal. Leicester’s logic is even more swivel-headed.
Claudio Ranieri made 10 changes for their home tie against Millwall, who finished with 10 men. And they lost. They’re out of the Cup against a team from two divisions below. Next week, they play in the Champions League where, one suspects, they may again field a weakened side. Only the Premier League matters. Maybe it does, but losing yet again does not build confidence.
Ranieri was known as the “tinker man” at Chelsea because of his constant tinkering with his team, with the inevitable result that they kept dropping points. He shed that nickname last season when Leicester won the league, but it’s back with a vengeance this year.
If I was a betting man, I’d have had a bet last summer on Leicester going down. I just felt they might lose their hunger because what else was there for that team to win? For once in my life, I was proved right. I still think they will go down and worse than that they might keep going down.
Winning the FA Cup would not have been an unnecessary distraction: it would have given the entire club a boost. Players love to play and when you are winning, you do not get so tired. A thumping win against Millwall could have changed the entire psyche for Leicester, but the tinkering has probably made things worse.
Spurs plainly see the FA Cup as an opportunity to give themselves a lift. Kane, if he needed it, will have gained huge confidence from his hat trick, the team will feel good tonight. The next game will not come soon enough. If they end up both in the top four and winning the FA Cup, will that have been a bad season? As bad, maybe as, getting dumped out of all the cups and then getting relegated?
For all manner of reasons, the FA Cup does not matter as much as it once did. I have argued elsewhere how we could save it – stop having semi-finals at Wembley, have a Champions League place for the winners; that sort of thing – but more than anything else, it’s silverware.
Spurs are showing us the way ahead. Leicester are showing us the way to the Championship.
