There is an undercurrent of unrest at Tottenham and the big players are not turning up
No one could have seen Tottenham’s disastrous start coming but, having finished the last campaign on a low after losing the Champions League final, they just haven’t turned up this season.
Their most consistent run of results so far has been two defeats and they have not had their eye on the ball at all following a summer of speculation and instability.
A number of players were linked with transfers away, including Christian Eriksen, and there seems to be an undercurrent of unrest in the dressing room.
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You have to scratch your head and ask where the magic from last season has gone, because so far Spurs have looked incoherent and dysfunctional.
Mauricio Pochettino must be just as perplexed because he is not getting a response from his team.
They have clearly been lacking quality this season, but even their commitment comes into question after the 3-0 defeat at Brighton last weekend on the back of a 7-2 hiding off of Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The euphoria from the new stadium has evaporated and at the moment they look like the mirror image of Manchester United: two big sides struggling to find the answers.
Blowing in the wind
Eriksen has been the biggest disappointment for me. You can’t only turn up for 60 minutes of a 90-minute match.
If he wants a move to a club like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Juventus, going by what he is producing on the pitch that looks a long way off.
He’s not alone, though. All of the big players are blowing in the wind. Even Harry Kane and Dele Alli appear to have lost that link that helped the side excel a couple of years ago.
Eric Dier has been left on the bench at times and Harry Winks looks lightweight in midfield; he plays well when the team are playing well, but is not the guy to lift others when the going gets tough.
Hugo Lloris has also made a series of errors and now their captain is out until the new year with injury.
Transfer strategy
I think Pochettino is still the right man to lead them through this difficult patch because if he can’t do it, no one will be able too. But there are serious questions to be asked of the club’s recruitment strategy.
It was a huge mistake to let Kieran Trippier go. He epitomises everything that Tottenham are: rugged and tough but with quality.
In him and Kyle Walker they have let two England full-backs go, as well as big personalities in the dressing room.
To reach the top four, and especially to compete for the Premier League, you need at least two quality players in each position. Spurs no longer have that at right-back and they still haven’t brought anyone in to support Kane up front.
Son Heung-Min did a great job last season, but when he plays centrally it is an entirely different system and they have also let Fernando Llorente go.
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Their next match against Watford is now a must-win, a cup final, particularly given their following games are away to Liverpool and Everton.
They haven’t yet lost all credibility and a good haul of points from those games will bring them right back into the mix. That is how quickly things can change in the Premier League.
For now they will need to use the international break to regroup, and when they are all back together, sit down and figure out how they can get back to their best — starting with a win against bottom-placed Watford.