NORWICH: Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 loss at Norwich City on Sunday was a major blow to their Champions League hopes next season, manager Tim Sherwood said.
Sherwood refused, however, to blame Spurs’ midweek trip to Ukraine in the Europa League for the defeat.
Robert Snodgrass’s calm finish early in the second half was the difference between the two sides, and despite a flurry of chances for Tottenham the result could have been worse had the Scot’s long-range free kick not hit the crossbar late on.
Spurs are fifth in the Premier League standings, six points behind Liverpool who occupy the final Champions League qualification spot after they defeated Swansea City 4-3 in a thrilling match at Anfield.
“That’s the first really major setback that I’ve had (since taking the job) and we need to be spirited and show what we’re made of,” Sherwood, who took over from Andre Villas-Boas in December, told reporters.
Asked about the six-point gap to Liverpool, he said: “It looks big. It’s a real blow to us but we’ve got to bounce back and we need characters in the dressing room to be able to do that.”
Spurs have lost five of the nine matches they have played after a Europa League outing, the latest on Thursday against Dnipropetrovsk, but he did not use it as an excuse for Sunday’s defeat.
“The result was very disappointing,” he said. “The first half performance was disappointing, the second half wasn’t but too late and if you don’t take the chances which we clearly had you aren’t going to win many football matches unfortunately.” (Reuters)
