Swansea City, the next step



There are people out there who will tell you that belief isn't important, I'll tell you now these are the people who strive to keep you from achieving what you want to achieve.

Anyone can achieve whatever they want and nobody has ever been successful who has not had to go through pain and failure, they have simply got on with achieving each individual small step until they achieve something extraordinary.

The same applies to team sports, Leicester City didn't win the Premier League title because they didn't believe they could, nobody else thought they could. But the Leicester players bought into Ranieri's belief that it was possible, that if we just win the next game, nobody can catch us. We can't change what other people are doing, we can only change what we are doing and if we pick up three points, then there is nothing anyone else can do.

That is, in essence, what he was telling his players, they understood it, bought into it and rode a wave of motivation to achieve what nobody thought was possible.

How does that apply to Tottenham? Well we can feel sorry for ourselves that Harry Kane is injured, that Danny Rose is injured, that Erik Lamela is in hospital, that Harry Winks is injured, that Victor Wanyama is injured, that Son Hung-min is tired, that Kyle Walker is tired, that Mousa Dembele is tired, we can take all that negativity and buy into defeat, or we can believe.

We can believe that if we stick to our system, stick to the way we play, stick to the movement off the ball, we can grab those next three points.

There are people in life who say I can't do that, they are wrong. What they are saying is I can't be bothered to do that, I don't want to do what it takes to achieve it. I don't want to define my goals, I don't want to break them down step-by-step and put the time and effort in to achieve one tiny step.

What happens when a footballer stops doing whatever it takes to improve? He stagnates, his mental approach stops him producing his best because he begins to settle for second best. That player is then just a squad player and regardless of who he is, if he doesn't regain his I can attitude, then he should be sold.

Moussa Sissoko is in that position right now.

But going back to our injury and fatigue situation, if players and staff believe that is going to stop us achieving anything, then it will, that belief will come true. We have gone two games now without Harry Kane and won them both, indeed we have played seven games without him and not lost any of them.

The last game is now history, all concentration goes onto the next game on Wednesday, not a future FA Cup semi-final, not on what might happen at Chelsea in midweek but on our game with Swansea City, once again away from White Hart Lane.

We can believe the media and a poor away record or we can dismiss what they say and believe we can win three points because that is all that matters. We choose what we want to believe and our players can't have the attitude of many of our fans. If they did then failure is the only option.

Our club is stepping forward step-by-step, despite what the failures will tell you Daniel Levy is building this club step-by-step. Mauricio Pochettino is a part of that and he is building the playing side step-by-step. Failures along the way is not an end, as Pochettino pointed out after the game, we must learn from last year and improve our end of season this year.

Our task is to win all the remaining games and see what happens and to break the FA Cup down we are in a two-game trophy. We have to win two games it is that simple so again the focus, when the time comes is, although the analytic staff will have already started, will be on the Chelsea semi-final and nothing else.

Right now we focus on Swansea City and the only objective that matters right now, three points.

Further Stories from THBN
Apply these four elements to each player
It takes hard work to become a Pochettino genius
Nothing concrete from Spurs for Özyakup
The Title Race is no over yet
Danny Rose off Man City radar?
Transfer News from France


Over 950 Spurs articles at Tottenham Hotspur News