Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tottenham move into UEFA Cup group stages

Struggling Tottenham drew 1-1 with Wisla Krakow here on Thursday to move into the UEFA Cup group stages but had to suffer an anxious final spell in the 3-2 aggregate win.

Pawel Brozek's lobbed equaliser with seven minutes to go, following Arkadiusz Glowacki's 58th-minute own goal for Tottenham, pushed Spurs into crisis defensive mode but they hung on grimly to go through, courtesy of their 2-1 win at White Hart Lane two weeks ago.

Spurs are bottom of the Premier League in their worst top-flight start since 1955 though they play promoted Hull at the weekend before the UEFA Cup draw is made on Tuesday next week.

But the win at least eased the pressure on under-fire coach Juande Ramos.

“The important thing is qualification,” said the Spaniard who led Sevilla to two titles in this tournament before switching to England.

“There was no euphoria at the end of the match, it was just a sense of getting the job done.

“In the last moments Wisla put four or five players in our penalty area. We needed to defend well, but I think we had control of the match.

“Two or three victories and I'm sure the mentality of players will change. It is difficult at the moment. We need to play each match like the last. Sunday is a new competition, we play Hull and we need to win.”

Tottenham skipper Ledley King added: “A lot has been made of our start and we've not been good in the league – but we've had a good result in the League Cup and now we are through in the UEFA Cup so hopefully things can pick up.

“We knew it was going to be tough coming here. The pitch wasn't great – a bit bobbly – and we had to fight for every ball. But we showed some character.”

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