It’s matchday 31. Eight games to go. Tottenham sit one point above the relegation zone, running out of time to save themselves. They play Nottingham Forest, who sit just one point above them in the table. This is a relegation ‘six-pointer’. Whoever wins has the chance to put a serious dent on the other.
The match starts well. A missed pass here and there. A clumsy challenge or two. But a bit of spark.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen, a set-piece. Igor Jesus bags the first goal.
Embed from Getty ImagesTottenham collapse. Just as they have done all season long.
Embed from Getty ImagesExcept this time, Tudor’s team don’t just collapse – they disintegrate, conceding two more goals in a 3-0 defeat.
It will soon be matchday 32. Seven games to go.
With one of the highest wage bills in the league, if Tottenham succumb to relegation, this will be one of the most disastrous seasons of any top-flight side.
Here is why this conversation is still happening so late in the season.
LACK OF IDENTITY & STYLE OF PLAY
Embed from Getty ImagesAny time I’ve watched Tottenham this season, I can’t help but be confused. They have so many talented footballers. Randal Kolo Muani, Xavi Simons, Conor Gallagher, and Micky van de Ven are a few examples of players who most clubs would happily take straight into their starting eleven.
They have all the talent they need to not only survive relegation, but to comfortably challenge for European football next season.
But what’s been missing all season long has been the connective tissue between the talent at their disposal. There has never been a clear style of play, nor have they had a particular identity.
When you look at Spurs at the height of their success, they had balance everywhere.
Look at Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son. Kane would drop deep, Son would run in behind.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen you had balance in midfield. Mousa Dembélé could galvanize the team by driving up the pitch. Eric Dier would sit and anchor. Christian Eriksen would create the chances and facilitate nice passes around the field. Lucas Moura would then go 1v1 and drive at defenses.
Toby Alderweireld quarterbacked from deep. Kyle Walker made up for the pace he lacked in behind.
Embed from Getty ImagesThis Tottenham team lack all of that. They don’t have any balance. Tel and Simons offer the same advantages. Gray and Gallagher fulfill the same responsibilities. Udogie and Spence are carbon copies in their approach. Anyone with a different skillset has been out all season.
Despite signing so many attacking reinforcements in the summer, they’ve never found a way to harmonize them together. That comes down to a clear disconnect between what the coaches have tried to impose, and how the players have responded.
Rather than knowing where to be, who to pass to, and how to respond to every changing situation, they always appear to be inventing it on the spot.
But it also comes down to having signed too many players who fulfill the same role. Without any clear ball progressors in midfield, they’ve struggled to connect those dots between attack and defense all the more.
INJURIES TO KEY PLAYERS
Embed from Getty ImagesIn fixing the first issue, Tottenham would not be in this situation with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski leading their attack.
Maddison and Kulusevski are both players who can not only drive Spurs further up the pitch, but also create that touch of magic to find the open player at exactly the right moment.
That’s essential, but even more so when you consider that Richarlison and Dominic Solanke are both strikers that rely heavily on service. Richarlison, for his movement in behind. Solanke, more for his physicality inside the penalty area. Both have spent equal amounts of time on the sidelines too, replaced by a player that’s scored just one goal all season.
In Xavi Simons, Tottenham hoped to have found their replacement for those creative forces. But £52 million will always be a big investment for a player yet to prove themselves in the Premier League. Having to rest all of your creative hopes on one player is always a recipe for disaster anyway.
If Tottenham were going to survive this season without any danger, they needed chance creation to come from multiple avenues. They needed it from wide play and crosses. They needed it from set-pieces. They needed it from counter-attacks. They needed it from pocket-pickers like Maddison and Kulusevski, or midfielders who can grind and work for the team like they previously might have had in Mousa Dembélé and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
To create an entirely new attacking unit up front was always going to be dangerous. To be more or less forced into that situation due to injury has been even more unfortunate.
ATTITUDE & SPIRIT
Embed from Getty ImagesIf one thing has clearly been missing from Tottenham Hotspur this season, it’s been energy and intensity. Most of the time, that comes from having the right attitude, spirit and belief.
Every match, they look dejected.
Instead of fighting their way out of the hole, they’ve lacked a clear sense of problem solving as to how they’re going to dig themselves out. Even more importantly, they haven’t actually grabbed the shovels to start digging. They’ve just continued fearfully calling for help.
And nobody has answered. Van de Ven has looked a ghost of his former self. Gallagher’s trying to drive the entire team up the pitch without any idea of who to pass the ball to. Simons and Tel simply can’t compete with physical Premier League full-backs. Nobody’s been able to get on the ball and really control games in midfield like Hojbjerg or Dembélé.
They’ve lacked leadership. And in lacking connectivity, they’ve never been able to grow in confidence.
In their 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace and the 3-0 disaster to Forest, they just looked scared. They weren’t up for that ‘relegation six-pointer’. Instead, they played like they were afraid to make mistakes.
Embed from Getty ImagesForest and Palace, who are both organized and want to fight tooth and nail to stay in the league, had no issue playing to their philosophy and creating quality chances for their forwards to attack. But Tottenham made them look like polished European sides. By the end of those matches, they didn’t have anyone pulling the team together into a team huddle and coming up with a plan. They instead had a group of individuals collapsed to the grass, looking like they’d already lost the battle.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’i2rreArnSU1xMSd2JYwXxw’,sig:’20oUudkBezrdeQNyb8yaoJjSjXfBJtTPv8iunJFQQOA=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’2267450620′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })});//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.jsSoon it will be matchday 32. Then matchday 33. Then just five more matches for Tottenham to get a grip on this season and stay in the league. If they can’t find the courage, this will be one of the worst performing seasons of any Premier League side, ever.
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