Tottenham's trophyless run looks set to continue for another season as the North London giants were shockingly knocked out of the FA Cup on Wednesday. In the wake of this defeat, the club's coach was forced to issue a public apology to the fans following this embarrassing result.
While Spurs are still in the UEFA Champions League and are fourth in the Premier League, Kane and Co. aren't expected to win the European competition or the English top flight. As a result, the FA Cup was seen as their only route to silverware.
Unfortunately, that hope evaporated on Wednesday as the English giants were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield United, with Iliman Ndiaye scoring the winning goal for the Championship side in the 79th minute to knock Spurs out of the competition and secure the Blades a spot in the quarterfinals.
And for obvious reasons, Tottenham fans were left infuriated by the result and performance. Cristian Stellini, Conte's assistant who has been in charge in the Italian's absence, was thus forced to issue an apology to the supporters following this unacceptable result.
"If you don't win a game like this it's because something was not perfect and today our energy was not enough to put the opponent in a great difficulty," Stellini told BBC Radio 5 Live (as per the Evening Standard).
"We had opportunities to score, but now we have to analyze the goal we conceded. In the moment, if you concede a goal you need time to recover.
"There was more energy from the changes, but we have to improve a lot.
"I can only apologize to the fans for our performance and they deserve much more than this."
Stellini also apologized to the traveling fans in his post-match press conference
Tottenham coach Cristian Stellini apologised to fans after their FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United pic.twitter.com/2aG2630OmY
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) March 2, 2023
While Tottenham are one of the biggest teams in England, the club have not won a trophy since their Carabao Cup success in 2007/08. Their last FA Cup victory was in 1991 and the North London heavyweights last lifted the Premier League crown in 1960/61, then known as the Football League First Division.
Spurs are currently in the top four and sit four points behind third-placed Man United and four ahead of fifth-placed Newcastle. However, Conte's men have played one more game than the Red Devils and two more than the Magpies, meaning they are still in a tight race to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Next up for Harry Kane and Co. is their weekend trip to Wolves. The London heavyweights will look to build on their 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday ahead of Wednesday's highly-anticipated 2nd leg round of 16 clash with AC Milan.
