Glenn Hoddle believes 'fans won't care' about Tottenham's Premier League season if they beat Manchester United in UEFA Europa League final
Published 21/05/2025 at 09:51 GMT+1
It a huge win-or-bust showdown in Bilbao on Wednesday night when Tottenham Hotspur face Manchester United at San Mames. Legendary former Spurs midfielder and ex-manager Glenn Hoddle highlighted the magnitude of the game in the context of the club's season, and believes their atrocious domestic campaign will be erased from the memory of the club's supporters with a win.
Postecoglou: Europa League win would be ‘enormous’ for ‘legend’ Son and Spurs as a whole
Video credit: TNT Sports
Glenn Hoddle believes that victory for Tottenham Hotspur in Wednesday’s UEFA Europa League final against Manchester United would save their season.
The former Tottenham midfielder and manager explained that the club’s domestic toils will all forgotten if they lift the trophy and end a 17-year wait for major silverware – live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Spurs have been beaten a staggering 21 times in the Premier League this season, but are incredibly just one win away from securing Champions League football next season.
When asked if winning the trophy would save their season, Hoddle told TNT Sports: "Without a shadow of doubt, they’re going to the Champions League as well.
"What a carrot on the top, going into the Champions League, and it would save Manchester United’s season too.
"That's the intriguing thing. There's so many reflections that mirror each other as clubs. The tactics of both teams are questionable at times, but then they have their moments.
"I think it's 39 [Premier League] games between them that they've lost this season, but they're in a final.
"It's incredible really. It would save Tottenham's season. Those fans won't care about the losses if we're carrying the cup round the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday in the final game of the season against Brighton."
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Highlights: Spurs battle into semi-finals with Frankfurt win
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Hoddle also assessed how Spurs have been tactically set up this season, and highlighted the 1-0 Europa League quarter-final second leg win over Eintracht Frankfurt, along with the 4-0 Premier League win away at Manchester City as blueprints to follow against United on Wednesday.
"On the tactical side, when we defend properly, and when we play our full-backs alongside our centre-backs, we're a hard side to play against," he explained.
"We've got enough at the top end of the pitch, whether the midfield is going to be missing and we've got enough creativity for tomorrow night, let's wait and see.
"When we defend properly, like over in Frankfurt, or up at Man City, we got great results. Also Liverpool at home in the League Cup first leg [Tottenham won 1-0] - we defended properly. When we defend properly, going forward, it gives them an allowance to express themselves.
"But you've got to be able to defend well against top teams and if you don't, you get punished. Especially if you want to win a cup against Man United here in a one-off situation."
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Postecoglou promises to ‘keep on winning trophies until I finish’
Video credit: TNT Sports
With the above in mind, Hoddle explained that some of the criticism levelled towards Ange Postecoglou has been justified and really hammered home the theme of defensive solidity as being the key to success in Bilbao
"At times, yes it's been slightly fair. I like the way they shape up with the ball, but there's two sides to football - there always has been. There's been certain games where they looked nice and tight and a been a good, balanced team, particularly at Man City, which was our best performance by a mile.
" We caused them all sorts of problems, scored four goals and defended as a team. You could see the team functioning and I thought we would go on from there. But there are certain games where we don't defend like that. The centre-backs were left isolated and that's been their problem.
"That's something Ange maybe had to change if the personnel wasn't quite right. That's maybe the only question I have over him, but against Frankfurt and in the other games, they defended as a four. They're hard to get through because of the pace of [Micky] van den Ven and [Cristian] Romero's experience. Once the two full-backs are there and the keeper, it's very difficult to get through Tottenham at times, but at other times, it's so easy."
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