Former Tottenham captain Ledley King doesn’t think the club has to win a trophy this season to be judged as “successful”.
Despite overseeing four consecutive top-four finishes, Mauricio Pochettino is yet to deliver a piece of silverware in north London and even suggested last season that finishing in the top four is “more important” than lifting trophies.
Do Spurs need a trophy? Five key things to know…
- Spurs haven’t won a trophy since 2008, losing the UCL final last season.
- But Pochettino has overseen four consecutive top-four finishes.
- Since 2008, rivals Arsenal and Chelsea have won a combined 14 trophies.
- Pochettino says it is time for Spurs to finally deliver silverware this season.
- But King doesn’t think a trophy is “important” this term.
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More recently, the Argentine tactician has admitted he would only deem this season a success if he got his hands on a trophy but King doesn’t see it quite as plainly.
“No, it is important just to improve,” he responded when asked if it was vital for Tottenham to break their trophy duck.
“We all want to win trophies, every team wants to win trophies, but it is not a given. It is very difficult and no-one has a given right to win anything.
“The team will be trying to compete on all fronts to win anything, but I don’t think you can judge the season on not winning a trophy.
“We will be able to look at the season as a whole and see what we have done. Last season was great for the club but we didn’t win a trophy, so I don’t think it can be judged like that.
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“We all realise how difficult it is to win trophies at the moment – Manchester City won three last year, so the competition is very tough.
“The players want to improve and they will be looking to try and compete and, until they are out of a potential title race, they will believe they can be right up there amongst it.”
Spurs kicked off their 2019/20 campaign with a 3-1 comeback win against Aston Villa on Saturday but face the tough prospect of travelling to defending champions Manchester City this weekend.
And King feels that is a game for both sides to lay down a marker and show they mean business this season.
“It is very early in the season, but it is a big game for both teams,” King added.
“Both will want to lay down a marker to say ‘this is where we are at this season’, but, of course, we all know there is such a long way to go, so many twists and turns. But in terms of trying to show you mean business this season, both teams will want to do that.”