NORWICH, England // Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 loss at Norwich City on Sunday was a major blow to their hopes of Uefa Champions League soccer 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.
“We were stronger in the second period so you can’t use (tiredness) as an excuse. Second half we looked like we were the far better side.”
After going behind, Spurs showed more attacking endeavor with Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado and Nacer Chadli having opportunities, but overall they struggled for rhythm against determined opposition.
“We took a real blow early on in the second half going behind to a sloppy goal and then we started playing from there and created a few chances and unfortunately we couldn’t take them,” Sherwood added.
Norwich City’s Hughton says no problems with McNally
Chris Hughton insisted there is no strain in his relationship with chief executive David McNally after Norwich’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Tottenham at Carrow Road.
McNally was pictured in tears at the final whistle of Sunday’s nervy victory, the stress of a relegation battle exacerbated by the death of a close family member understood to be his father.
McNally last week admitted Norwich would be “delinquent” not to be casting around for alternative managerial candidates, sparking rumours Neil Lennon has been lined up to replace Hughton should Norwich continue to struggle.
Robert Snodgrass’ second-half goal saw off Spurs and edged Norwich four points clear of the relegation zone.
Hughton admitted he hopes Norwich’s “best performance of the season” could help save his job and keep the Canaries in the Premier League.
“I have been told (about McNally’s tears), but I can also tell you that he had a bereavement in his family, I think yesterday and I think that’s had a fair bit to do with it,” said Hughton.
“I speak to the chief executive on a very regular basis, we speak about lots of things.
“One thing I can guarantee is that everyone is pulling in the right direction here.
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