Tottenham Hotspur are a shadow of their former selves. At the time of writing, the North London club sit 15th in the Premier League, closer on points to the relegation zone than to the European places. Their dismal first-half performance at Everton encapsulated everything that has gone wrong for Spurs this season. When the players walked down the tunnel, Ange Postecoglou’s side were 3-0 down to a team that before the fixture had only scored 15 goals in 20 games.
Leaking goals has been the story of Tottenham’s season, and with Postecoglou’s stubborn nature being to not adapt his style of play, it feels as if this will be another miserable campaign. Of course, Tottenham still have the chance of winning a trophy this season as they can still qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League, and are also in both domestic cup competitions.
One of their few impressive performances came in the first leg in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup against Liverpool, and will take a 1-0 lead to Anfield on the 6th of February. It feels as if this match will define Tottenham’s season, as the opportunity to snatch some silverware will no doubt paper over some of the cracks that have been exposed in the league.
Their position in the table is not acceptable, with their defeat at Goodison Park being their twelfth of the season, and Postecoglou has admitted that there is a lot of pressure going into this crucial stage. Whilst an overwhelming number of injuries to the squad, including key defenders Christian Romero and Micky van de Ven, has played its part in a drop off in form, it is Postecoglou’s unflinching nature to never change tactics that has angered fans the most.
It is clear that Tottenham need to invest in the transfer window, but with European games being played in January for the first time ever, the market may be tricky to navigate. Perhaps there are some bigger structural problems at the club, with owner Daniel Levy not giving Postecoglou enough money to strengthen his squad.
Spurs have ultimately underperformed for many seasons despite obtaining some of the best managers in the world, like José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, so it doesn’t seem fair to place all of the blame on the Tottenham manager. Postecoglou still believes he has the backing of the board, but these next few weeks will be critical for his future at the club. The scales are in the balance, where things could look very different in a month’s time.
On the one hand, Tottenham could qualify for the last 16 of the Europa League, beat Aston Villa in the FA Cup and be preparing for a final at Wembley. Alternatively, they could continue this bad run of form and lose all of these games, with Postecoglou out of a job and Tottenham looking for a new manager.
“Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – view from High Road February 2019” by Hzh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.