The ESPN FC crew look at what has gone wrong at Tottenham.
Situation critical. A Premier league run of five games that have brought just one win — a laboured 1-0 victory over bottom team Crystal Palace — and three defeats have seen Tottenham tumbling down the table to seventh. Now they are in danger of losing of not just losing touch with leaders Manchester City but with the top four Champions League places. Arsenal in fourth are four points clear of Tottenham with a better goal difference.
Mauricio Pochettino’s news conference following the midweek defeat to Leicester City didn’t offer much consolation. The Spurs manager appeared unusually downbeat and appeared at a loss to explain the loss of form. He spoke of having told the players before the game they couldn’t afford another slow start as against West Brom at Wembley the previous Saturday, only to watch bemused as his team turned in yet another dreadful first half performance.
The manager may be confused but the reasons why the team are underperforming so badly aren’t that complicated. Even if fixing them may be. The obvious reason is the injury to Toby Alderweireld. Spurs’ success last season was built on the meanness of their defence and though the Belgian international hasn’t reproduced his sparking form this term, the team look far more secure when he is playing. He, Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez are a well-organised unit and Sanchez, in particular, has looked less assured when being forced to play on the right of the back three rather than in his favoured central position.
Alderweireld’s injury, though, is a minor complication compared to the major structural weakness in the club. Namely its pay structure. It’s common knowledge that Spurs pay their top players far less than any of the other top clubs. Chairman Daniel Levy has made a virtue of his financial prudence. But after Tottenham finished third and then second in the last two years, it was inevitable that some of the players would begin to start agitating for either more money or a move to another club. Or both.
Tottenham have fallen to seventh, 16 points off leaders Manchester City.
And so it has proved. Danny Rose has been openly critical of Spurs and if recent reports are accurate, relations between the player and the manager may have deteriorated so much that a move to Manchester United in the transfer window may be on the cards. That such a move to a rival club is even being voiced as a possibility shows the depth of the problem. Rose and Kyle Walker have been key players in recent years: Spurs have already proved unable to retain Walker and to lose Rose as well would be an act of massive self-harm. Spurs just haven’t looked the same attacking threat without the pace of either wing back down both flanks.
Other players may have kept their discontent to themselves. But their lack of focus is clear for all to see. Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have both been shadows of their former selves so far this season, struggling to impose themselves on lesser opponents.
Every player has lapses in form but it’s not hard to imagine their minds have been distracted by the ongoing speculation over their futures at the club. Eriksen’s astonishing second half miss against Leicester when he managed to volley both wide and high from just six yards was symptomatic of a man who — quite literally — has taken his eye off the ball. Further weight to this argument is provided by both Alli’s and Eriksen’s fine performances against Real Madrid at Wembley. The suspicion remains they can raise their games for a glamour tie when the eyes of the football world will be on them.
What’s most frustrating about the situation is that it is all too predictable. Much as one might want the players to be more professional and to focus on giving 100 percent to the club when their futures are uncertain, the fact remains this is the way of the modern game. Most players are young, impressionable and only too aware that they have a limited time to cash in on their talent. They don’t have the same loyalties to the club that the fans do.
So the onus is on Spurs to have a rethink of their wage structure. If Pochettino and Levy are serious about making Tottenham consistent Champions league contenders, they are going to have to lift their pay bands. You can’t expect players to stay when they can double their salaries at another club. Like it or not, money talks in the Premier League. It is no coincidence the three biggest spenders — both on transfer fees and wages — are in the top three positions. Tottenham have a choice. They can either decide they want to be a big club and behave accordingly. Or accept they are a medium-sized club that will intermittently outperform expectations.
For now, though, the pressure is on. Pochettino finds himself in uncharted waters. His teams have often struggled at the beginning of a season, but never at this point. This is the time when they normally surge. Watford has been a happy hunting ground for Spurs in recent seasons but a win at Vicarage Road has never been more urgent.
John Crace is one of ESPN FC’s Tottenham bloggers. Follow him on Twitter @JohnJCrace.
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Source: espn.co.uk
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