A Tottenham Hotspur reboot is needed as their early season form has been inconsistent at best. A laboured victory over Aston Villa, a lucky draw against Manchester City, leads thrown away against Arsenal, Olympiacos in the Champions League and Leicester City. This is all punctuated with a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – Spurs’ best performance so far.
Confidence looks low and the concerns go back further than this early season ‘blip.’
Confidence Could Be Helped With Tottenham Hotspur Reboot
Tottenham Hotspur Reboot Can’t Come Soon Enough
The summer transfer window brought new signings for the first time in nearly two years to Tottenham. Giovani Lo Celso and Jack Clarke came in on loan (the latter sent back to Leeds United) and Tanguy Ndombele all joined to bolster the squad. Lo Celso picked up an injury on international duty, Clarke has hardly kicked a ball on loan at Leeds and Ndombele has also missed games through injury. The summer reboot hasn’t yet gone to plan.
Contracts Running Down
Another issue that Tottenham failed to deal with in the summer was the contracts of Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen. Eriksen has been erratic in his performances and it would be more of a surprise if he stays after January 2020 than if he leaves. Mauricio Pochettino is said to be looking at a swap deal with Juventus to bring in Paulo Dybala, who Pochettino is a known admirer of.
Alderweireld is playing but he looks nowhere near his best, as with Vertonghen. Rose has also been a regular starter but looks a shadow of the player Spurs had two to three years ago. Kieran Trippier was sold and Kyle Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth have both played at right-back with little success. Serge Aurier has played the last two games and looks like he will continue. The back four looks like shipping goals when it is attacked. How Manchester City didn’t manage five or six at the Etihad is anyone’s guess.
Tottenham are starting to look disjointed and not the same united side that we have become used to under Pochettino.
Daniel Levy and Pochettino Must Give Tottenham Hotspur Reboot or Risk Going Backward
Spurs’ form started to deteriorate badly from January 2019. They have not won away from home since February. They have started throwing away leads like the Tottenham of old. The first team seems unsettled and tactics at times seem odd. Harry Kane is fighting for everything up front whilst Eriksen looks a player who is already bags packed and wanting out.
At every press conference, Pochettino cuts a frustrated figure and quickly bites at questions the press ask him – he used to be very controlled with the press but is now showing signs of the pressure getting to him.
With limited funds and a new stadium to be built, Mauricio Pochettino was not under any illusion when he joined the club that it would be a tough few years. The stadium is now complete, yet he has the most unsettled team he has had in his tenure and looks to be struggling to know what his best team is and what his best tactics are.
January needs to be painful – players who don’t want to play must go and new faces who are up for winning trophies must be brought in.
If a Tottenham Hotspur reboot is ignored, the club may find themselves slipping away from the top four and it could be a hard path to get back to where Pochettino has got them.
Tough decisions to be made but will anyone dare to do? They simply must.
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