Curse of the Champions League?

I would like to be clear straight off the bat that I am not trying to excuse our terrible performance against the Hammers yesterday. I do not believe in curses, jinxes or the work of Eileen Drury.

But I have noticed an interesting pattern that has emerged across the leagues of Europe. This is not designed to make us feel any better about our sluggish start to the season. But maybe it will comfort us just slightly that we are not alone. Harry, pundits and journos have all talked about the 'Champions League Hangover'. If I can stick with this metaphor for a moment, the best teams can handle the boozy midweeks of the Champions League and are fresh to consume the meat and potatoes of the following weekend's league fixtures. The others are glugging down Resolve and smell of the meat and potatoes makes them go all queasy.

Metaphor out of the way, I'm not sure whether I subscribe to the 'hangover' theory, but I get the feeling that at Spurs the whole Champions League thing is all new and exciting and Harry and the players are struggling to find the balance between CL and EPL. Do the players constantly have one eye on the San Siro? Is a rainy night at the Reebok just not what it used to be? (No, it's exactly what it used to be. Shit.) But maybe we are struggling to get our heads down and grind out some back to back wins in the league when we have big exciting Champions League games on the horizon.

Anyway, here is why at least Spurs are not alone in struggling to mix the two.

Spain:

La Liga's participants in the Champions League are perfect examples of experienced Champions League teams that can mix League and Champions League. Valencia, Real Madrid, Barcelona. Siting 1, 2, 3. Something for all to aspire to.

Italy:

Inter are another example of an experienced team that can juggle both. Top of the league and unsurprisingly so. AC Milan are 5th. But Roma, a team perhaps similar in stature to Spurs, are languishing in 17th.

Holland:
Ajax may be top but Champions Twente are 4th with just 3 wins from 7. In the Dutch League 4th isn't very good.

France:

The two French participants have made league starts that make Spurs look like they have flown out of the blocks. Auxerre, who took the same play-off route into the Champions League that we did are 17th with 0 wins and 5 draws from their first 7 games and Lyon are 19th, having already lost 4 times.

Germany:

Our old friends Bremen have had a very similar start to ourselves, sitting 12th with 2 wins from 6 games but including a 4-1 defeat this weekend. Schalke 04 are currently 17th in the Bundesliga without a win.

I know each team will have particular circumstances and reasons as to why they may or may not have started well. But these are all good teams, they wouldn't have finished in the top 3 or 4 of these leagues if they weren't. We are a good team. Let's not panic. Some seasons you start slowly. Is the Champions League a burden if you aren't an Inter, Barcelona or a Chelsea? Some teams across Europe, Spurs included, may feel in the coming weeks that it is.