The Capital One Cup final represents and opportunity to pick up momentum in gaining the first major trophy of the season but this year’s runners-up Tottenham are already attempting to put it behind them.
Last week was their worst of the season – being knocked out of the Europa League by Florentina and losing the Capital One Cup final to London rivals Chelsea.
But according to quotes in the Guardian attributed to Andros Townsend, the loses have already been forgotten:
“We’re out of two competitions but that just makes us more hungry to fight for fourth.”
So is this likely to happen?
Since the League Cup started back in 1961 there have been over fifty teams disappointed at the final whistle of the Final. It’s one of the oldest clichés when players and managers tell the fans that ‘we can now focus on the League’ but do statistics actually show that teams are more focused on the League?
Or does the loss impact them more than they want to let on?
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Out of the 55 teams who have been runners up in the competition, 16 have either finished in the top 4 of the England’s top flight or were promoted in their Football League division. Nearly 30% of clubs have managed to continue or improve on their League form despite the loss.
Tottenham fans, I am sure, will be delighted to hear this as they have had their fingertips on 4th place for years. At the other end of the spectrum, there is only one team whose form slumped so badly they were relegated at the end of the season: Sunderland from Division 1 in 1985.
So what happened to them to make it all go so badly wrong for Sunderland?
For Sunderland, their season had started so well. After 13 games they had only lost three and the fans were optimistic. The downfall started with their loss in the League Cup final.
The Wembley final saw the game settled by an own goal and a missed penalty. After that game, Sunderland only managed to win five more games that season.
The 2015 League Cup final was Tottenham’s 8th time of reaching the last game in the competition, having previously won four and lost three. Tottenham lost the Cup final in 1982, 2002 and 2009, but it was only in 1982 did they manage to make the top 4.
The other loses were both followed by mid-table finishes. Don’t worry though Spurs fans, there is still hope, your season is nowhere near over yet!
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