Tottenham and Everton have both struggled to get results after being involved in Thursday night action in the Europa League this season. Who will have the better of it when the two teams meet on Super Sunday?
Sunday 30 November 2014 07:25, UK
After another busy night of Europa League action for Everton on Thursday evening they embarked on the flight back from Germany in the early hours of Friday morning. Such is the relentless world of football that they now make the trip to Tottenham for Super Sunday.
Everton have won just one of their four Premier League matches played immediately after a Europa League game this season. Opponents Spurs have at least been fortunate enough with the fixture list that they follow up European commitments with a home game for the seventh successive occasion. Not that it’s helping much. They’ve lost four of the previous six.
While Spurs fans are exasperated, head coach Mauricio Pochettino is unlikely to be too surprised. “In my opinion the Europa League is not an attractive competition,” he told the Southampton Daily Echo in February. “That is my personal opinion, I'm not talking about anyone else, it's my personal opinion and as Mauricio Pochettino there is no interest in the Europa League.
“I think it is a competition that kills you in the sense that there are a lot of mid-table teams that put a lot of effort into the Europa League and then are not able to do anything in the league. They are not able to compensate for that bad run of form in the league so it brings them down.”
Prophetic stuff from the Argentine and while his counterpart at Everton, Roberto Martinez, has a more upbeat demeanour his reservations are clear. “We see it as an interesting experiment for the squad with staff and players and it will be important to have those games,” said Martinez. “It is more about the mental fatigue and having to cope with travelling and playing on a Sunday.”
It’s often suggested that squad rotation means the physical demands of the Europa League can be overplayed. However, it’s worth noting that six of the Spurs starting line-up from their 5-1 win over Asteras were in the team for the subsequent 2-1 defeat against Newcastle at White Hart Lane.
There is more to the challenge of the Europa League than the exertions of the players in action. There is also the issue of travelling as a squad to the away games. Moreover, the disruption to the working week can be a factor in what the fans see on the pitch at the weekend.
Even the Champions League, which can throw up a Tuesday fixture ahead of a Sunday game and thus allowing significantly more time than the Europa League permits, brings its difficulties. In his post-match press conference at the weekend, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers bemoaned the fact that there is now “less preparation time in terms of coaching” for him to work with his players.
The advantage of being able to focus on the weekend game – mentally, physically and tactically – was surely a significant factor in Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League and Louis van Gaal will undoubtedly be hoping the additional training-ground time at his disposal this season could be crucial in Manchester United securing a top-four finish.
With both Everton and Tottenham having picked up 17 points from their first 12 games, there is a danger that the two teams could become locked in a battle for fifth once again. The reward for that, of course, is a place in the Europa League. Although how much of a reward that truly is remains a matter for considerable debate.
Watch Tottenham v Everton live on Sky Sports 1 HD this Sunday from 3.30pm
