Mauricio Pochettino reminds the world Tottenham are swimming against the tide on mission to win silverware

In times gone by Tottenham Hotspur would be said to be “two games from Wembley”, although that does not mean so much any more. Their League Cup semi-final ‘home’ leg will be played in their rented accommodation, and so reaching the final in February would be special for plenty of reasons, but not for this one.

But the prospect of getting to the final, their first in four years, is obviously extremely attractive for a team that is still looking for a piece of silverware to add to its record of steady improvement and progress over recent years. Winning domestic cups has never been Pochettino’s top priority, that was to establish Spurs’ position among the top teams in the country, consistently in the Champions League, as Pochettino explained in his press conference on Tuesday. But now that he has done that, plenty of Spurs fans would love some tangible metal to show for it along with all those points, performances and wins.

Of course Spurs have two legs to play against Chelsea first and, most likely, a Wembley final against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Even now the chances of Pochettino holding the trophy on 24 February are not big. But as he explained in his press conference after the Arsenal win, winning a trophy in England is a strikingly difficult thing to do. Especially when there are five richer teams than Spurs throwing everything at the three domestic trophies and Spurs need to overperform just to keep their heads above water. “We are in the same race but not with the same car,” as he put it earlier this week.

This is why Pochettino does not see trophies as the be-all and end-all of his time at Spurs, especially when he is delivering more consistent and enduring performances than some teams that do lift silverware.

“Sometimes I think it is so unfair, to talk about winning titles in that competitive country is so difficult,” Pochettino said. “When you play against Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and United, the most important is to set the principles and create a competitive [team]. In the last few seasons, we are very competitive. Then, you need some luck.”

Pointing to how hard Spurs’ run in the Carabao Cup has been so far, Pochettino underlined how contingent winning a trophy can be, and how even being where they are today is an achievement in itself. “Look how we arrive, if we arrive to the final of the Carabao Cup. Playing against Watford, a derby, in Milton Keynes. Playing against West Ham at the London Stadium. Playing Arsenal at the Emirates. Now we are going to play Chelsea in the semi-final in two legs. You think it was easy? In case we arrive to the final, you think it was a nice way to arrive to the final? Maybe some teams arrive playing against one Premier League team in four games. How you arrive is completely different.”

Now Spurs are facing two more crunch games in a January that is already busy enough, and contains a home game against Manchester United. Then in February they have the resumption of the Champions League campaign against Borussia Dortmund. Managing the squad through this takes some doing, especially given that Spurs do not have the same strength in depth as their rivals, and Pochettino has already made clear there will be no money for reinforcements in January. It will demand so much from his thinly spread team.

“When you compete in the Champions League, want to be in the top four, then the FA Cup … the players are not machines. It is going to be crazy in January. Now we are in a crazy period, but January, I don’t want to think too much. People talk very easily about why does the manager rotate, why this or that decision, maybe he does not care about the cup or to win titles. The most important thing in this competitive country is to use all the squad, or you are going to struggle to compete. Or you are so, so, so good that you have 24, 25 players in the same level, maybe when you rotate you keep the level and it’s not a problem.”

That same message again: that simply being here with Spurs’ resources is an achievement. If they can keep this up, and even add a trophy, it would mean even more. “Sometimes it’s so unfair. It’s so easy to talk about winning, but it’s not easy to win. Look at the Carabao Cup. For us, we are suffering, because all the games were against Premier League teams.”