Coming back into a new Premier League season, there was much optimism amongst supporters of Tottenham Hotspur that this would finally be the season in which the Mauricio Pochettino project would reap some long awaited silverware.
The club had just gotten to the pinnacle of European football by reaching the Champions League Final, after a series of stirring and improbable performances in the quarterfinals against Manchester City and the semifinal against Ajax.
The club finally made the long awaited return to the majestic new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (corporate name incoming?), and appear to be feeling comfortable with having a permanent home ground after two seasons toiling at the sterile behemoth that is Wembley Stadium.
Perhaps most exciting was that for the first time since January 2018, Spurs were active in the transfer market, smashing their club record transfer fee by splashing out £55 million for Lyon’s central midfielder, Tanguy Ndombele. Spurs also secured the services of Argentinean attacking midfielder Giovani Lo Celso (in a complicated loan for one year, with condition to buy deal) from Real Betis, and young English full back Ryan Sessegnon for £ 25 million from Fulham.
Pochettino was lavished with praise for his stunning work over the last few seasons, and with finally some new, expensive toys and a best-in-class new ground to play in, all appeared healthy and well in North London. That was all true, until the football started.
Spurs have played three matches thus far in the 2019/20 Premier League season, and for a club with title aspirations, already sit five points behind league leaders Liverpool. The next fixture is on 1 September, which is always a difficult and emotional one; Arsenal at the Emirates.
Most concerning for Spurs is not even the results themselves, but the overall flaccid and insipid nature of the performances.
In front of an excited partisan crowd at the Lane in the opening match against newly promoted Aston Villa, Spurs found themselves down after nine minutes on a John Mcginn goal. It was not until the 73rd minute that Spurs were able to break down the Villa resistance, when new boy Ndombele hammered in his first goal with the club. It further took control of the match and the three points, with two late Harry Kane goals. Though Spurs won the expected three points with a 3-1 victory, it came with much consternation.
Christian Eriksen, who’s place at the club continues to be under much debate as he is in the final year of his contract and has expressed his desire to move on, started the match on the bench. Despite owning the lion’s share of the possession, Spurs had managed just 12 shots in the first 64 minutes. Upon Eriksen’s insertion at that point, Spurs fired 19 shots in the final 26, and it was his creativity and vision that helped pry open the Villa defense. Until Eriksen entered the match, the team looked slow, ponderous, lacking signs of sharpness in attack. It was a similar pattern of play that was evident in the final months of the last Premier League season, where Spurs lost to Burnley, Southampton, West Ham and Bournemouth, and needed last minute winners against Fulham and Brighton. Something appeared to be amiss.
In Spurs second match of the season, at the Etihad against reigning champions Manchester City, Pochettino elected to play conservatively. It was a match that did have some of the end to end action of last spring’s epic Champions League quarterfinal round, as Raheem Sterling and Eric Lamela traded goals in the first 25 minutes. But overall, the match demonstrated the gulf in quality between City and Spurs that still remains, in spite of Daniel Levy’s summer outlay. The match was dominated by Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who carved up Spurs’ defenders repeatedly, and had them on their backheels for the entire match. Spurs were lucky to escape with a point after a 2-2 draw, after another last second winner was nullified by a VAR decision, as the cameras spotted an Aymeric Laporte handball helped set up what would have been Gabriel Jesus’s winner. It was a scene reminiscent of last spring’s Champions League quarterfinal, where a Sterling goal at the absolute death was called off by a slight offside in the buildup.
Spurs escaped, just barely, and could hold their heads high at having won a point in arguably the most difficult fixture of the season.
Yet, Spurs would disappoint even further with their 1-0 defeat to Newcastle at home, in the third match of the season, this past weekend. Newcastle had been derided all summer, after unceremoniously sacking manager Rafa Benitez, and hiring the now clown like figure that is Steve Bruce. However, after watching this match, you could not help but admire the ex-Manchester United player for setting up such resolute defending.
Like the match against Villa, Spurs dominated possession against Newcastle. They controlled 79.8% of the possession, yet managed only two shots on target (only one other team with more possession has lost a Premier League match since 2003/04, that being Liverpool in 2016 in defeat to Burnley). As was the case against Villa,Christian Eriksen started the match on the bench, and came on in the 62nd minute. This time however, he failed to leave his mark. Spurs were unable to breakdown Bruce’s 5-4-1, and other than Lucas Moura missing an absolute sitter in the 80th minute, created very little.
This lack of incisiveness has become an increasing concern for Spurs in 2019. Too many clubs recently feel content to allow Spurs to play with the ball, comfortable that Spurs will create very little. This is being done by not only teams in the bottom half of the table, but Liverpool arguably set up this way in the Champions League final (although that match was turned with a goal in the second minute). There were late minute winners last season (Winks against Fulham and Eriksen against Brighton) that may have hid this inability to breakdown teams. Likewise, the near miraculous run to the Champions League final also obscures the overall poor quality of play Spurs ended last season with.
The solutions are not immediately evident. Spurs have been without Dele Alli for the first three matches this season, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. In prior seasons, Dele’s ability to put a slight touch on a ball, and create opportunities for himself and his teammates has proved instrumental (if there is any doubt of this, simply watch Lucas Moura’s last second winner in Amsterdam in the Champions League semifinal). He is thought to be nearing a return, perhaps as early as this coming week’s North London derby.
Another aspect that may have taken a dip this season is that Spurs are slightly weaker at fullback than they were over the last several seasons. Danny Rose has lost a step, since his peak two or three seasons ago. Furthermore, though Kieran Trippier had a difficult season from a defensive standpoint last season, where he was directly responsible for goals against in the Champions League knockout round to City and in the Premier League to Chelsea (and subsequently sold to Atletico Madrid for £20 million), his ability to deliver a deadly cross is missed. 22 year old Kyle Walker-Peters is attempting to fill his shoes, but appears a less effective player, who is also trying to find his feet in his defensive duties (though he managed reasonably well against Sterling, with a couple of excellent sliding tackles late in the match).
Spurs are also without Fernando Llorente, a player who was quite limited in terms of creativity and pace, but who provided Pochettino a more direct, Plan B towards the end of last season, when they were unable to breakdown their opposition.
What makes the performances even more concerning is that there appear to be mounting distractions away from the pitch. Pochettino continues to be consistently grumbling at the fact that the European transfer market closes a month (2 September) after the English window (8 August). After the match against Newcastle, Pochettino reiterated that there are some tensions within the club involving players that may be looking for a move elsewhere. Christian Eriksen’s situation remains up in the air, as he would prefer to move to a Spanish club for lifestyle purposes and a better opportunity to win silverware, and the fact that he will be a free agent next summer. Daniel Levy would prefer to sell him on now, in fears of losing him for nothing next summer. Eriksen could always sign a new contract, but given that he can be acquired by a European giant for free, his wage demands will (justifiably) be exorbitant, and it is unlikely that Levy would disrupt his well planned wage structure for a 27 year old.
Eriksen’s situation will likely come down to the wire on 2 September, as Real Madrid and Juventus, the two most rumoured suitors, have a glut of players that they still need to move on from (Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Paolo Dybala, Blaise Matiudi, Sami Khedira are all available if you want to pay their wages), before even considering taking on Eriksen. Likewise, these clubs may prefer to wait for the opportunity to sign him for free starting in January.
As a result of this distraction, it appears as though Pochettino has not been overly eager to insert Eriksen into his starting eleven (he has only started one match this season, the 2-2 draw with City). He will be faced with further questions leading up to the Arsenal match, which occurs a day before the European window closes.
Pochettino’s ire also appears to be directed at defender, Jan Vertonghen, who has yet to feature at all this season. Vertonghen, who proved to be a pivotal player in last season’s Champions League run, is also in the final year of his contract. Pochettino remains coy on the reasons for why Vertonghen has been left out of the team, but it could be that the Belgian defender is pining for a move like Eriksen, or has sought outrageous contract demands. Additionally, there has been some discussion that perhaps he was not fully physically prepared for preseason training and that Pochettino is taking his time to get him back into the lineup. After watching starting centreback Davinson Sanchez make a few miscues in the first three matches, there is reasonable bewilderment that Pochettino continues to not play his best side due to these issues at the club.
While many outsiders continue to marvel at Spurs overall consistency over the last five seasons under the helm of Mauricio Pochettino, where the club has qualified for the Champions League for four consecutive seasons, the club’s performances over the last several months, combined with the disenchantment from some of key players may reveal that there are definite cracks in the armour.
Jaideep Kanungo
Jaikan Sport 