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PL | Arsenal vs Tottenham | Sunday, 16:30 BST | Sky Sports
- Thread starter Aevi
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Genuinely think baldness is connected with a lack of intelligence.
Interesting article in the Telegraph on just how many problem Sp**s have had this year:
It might be a new season, but Tottenham's problems, so plain to see in their woeful form earlier this year, remain.
Having begun this campaign with an unconvincing comeback win at home to newly-promoted Aston Villa, a scarcely believable and completely undeserved point at the Etihad and the futures of a bunch of their key players up in the air, as disjointed a performance as the one they cobbled together in losing to Newcastle on Sunday should not be all that surprising.
It means Sp**s have now won just seven and lost 11 of their last 21 competitive games. Over the last 15 rounds of Premier League games, of the ever-present sides only Brighton and Watford have earned fewer points than Tottenham's 15. One point per game is relegation form. Sp**s have not performed anything like a title challenger - or even a top four side - over the course of an entire 90 minutes since the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in February. In the league, they arguably haven't done so this year.
And while these were concerns over the summer, they were brushed aside by the excitement over the Champions League final, while fans could be reassured that problems would be remedied with new signings. But now manager Mauricio Pochettino has to face up to ongoing issues in a new season without the chance to make any new signings.
Pochettino has made clear his feelings about the British transfer window closing two weeks before the rest of Europe, with Christian Eriksen left unsure as to where he will be playing in a week's time.
So where to Tottenham's problems lie, and what can Pochettino do to try and solve them?
Central defence
It really is some achievement to have three quality centre-backs, including two international team-mates that complement and understand each other perfectly, and yet still allow that position to become a total mess.
Jan Vertonghen, who was mysteriously sporting a black eye on the bench on Sunday, has been one of Tottenham's most reliable and consistent players in the Pochettino era, but has fallen out of favour of late and it isn't entirely clear why.
His contract expires at the end of the season and the assumption is that, at 32, he wants a longer contract extension than Sp**s are willing to offer. He is yet to play a minute of football this season. Sp**s are yet to keep a clean sheet and could easily have conceded far more than two at Manchester City.
Toby Alderweireld, who has also spent a while out of Pochettino's team because of his own contract dispute, is now back in favour, but he too could leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Those two have been partners for club and country for years and make up Tottenham's best central defensive combination. Davinson Sanchez is a capable deputy for Alderweireld, but the combination of those two right-footers is just so unconvincing - as they showed on Sunday, with Sanchez playing Joelinton onside for the only goal of the game. Sp**s fans and Pochettino might reasonably wonder whether that goal would have happened had Vertonghen - far more comfortable on the left side of central defence - been on the pitch.
Sanchez, 23, is the future and he might yet learn how to play Vertonghen's role on the left, but right now Sp**s need a level of security at the back that the Sanchez-Alderweireld combination does not provide.
Longer term, Daniel Levy simply has to soften his stance on contracts for older players. Losing one of Alderweireld or Vertonghen for free at the end of the season would be a remarkable thing for Levy to allow. Losing both is unthinkable. Vertonghen, so loyal and professional for seven years in north London, surely deserves another couple of years, particularly given there is no reason he couldn't still be playing at the top level at 34.
Right-back
Pochettino is finally doing what so many fans have been asking for and giving Kyle Walker-Peters a run in the first team. But something still doesn't quite feel right.
Walker-Peters has been 'Tottenham's next right-back' for three or four years now. The frustrating thing is he still doesn't seem totally ready to be first-choice right-back at a Champions League contender.
Rather than being loaned out for first-team experience, Walker-Peters has spent three years on the periphery of Tottenham's squad, unable to get a look in even in the cups, and all of a sudden he is expected to be ready to take over from Kieran Trippier this season.
Why on earth he didn't spend last season on loan at another Premier League club instead of sitting on the Sp**s bench really is hard to grasp. Now, he is being made to learn on the job on the right side of a defence that has looked worryingly shaky.
The problem is that by selling Trippier and seemingly giving up on Serge Aurier, Pochettino has backed himself into a corner which leaves the relatively untested Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth as his only two right-backs. They will therefore have to learn on the job it is difficult to see that not hindering Tottenham's season in some way.
Central midfield
Moussa Sissoko had a fantastic season last year and without him Sp**s would not have finished in the top four or made the Champions League final.
But he was performing way, way above the level he usually plays at and that was never going to be sustainable over another campaign. He is also never going to be the player to make Tottenham more creative against teams like Newcastle that sit deep.
On Sunday he was - as usual - too safe in possession when Sp**s needed adventure, completing 98 per cent of his passes, while attacks would often slow down with him as he inevitably took too many touches to get the ball under control.
Even if he has quickly formed a close connection with new signing Tanguy Ndombele, Sissoko is a dispensable member of Tottenham's first team and a really obvious position for improvement. Sissoko can be a useful player when games are slightly more open and he has more space to run into on the counter, but quite what role he was supposed to be playing against Newcastle was impossible to work out. Perhaps his late move to right-back - after Walker-Peters went off - could have legs beyond that match.
The midfield needs to be based around Ndombele, while Dele Alli's return from injury cannot come soon enough. That will, at least, be a start.
Attacking midfield
The basis for Pochettino's frustrations over the transfer window. Essentially he doesn't know how heavily to lean on Eriksen, who is undoubtedly still Tottenham's most important player.
Were it Eriksen's decision alone he would leave for Spain in the next week rather than stick around for another season and go for free next summer. If Levy had his way, Eriksen would be sold for a large fee, but there may be no club will be willing to match his valuation.
Pochettino would probably be happy whether or not Eriksen stays - he just wants to know what his squad will be come the end of the transfer window for European clubs.
The group is still unsettled,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “We need to find solutions. We have one week more to wait and see what happens in the last days (of the transfer window). I think this is my sixth season and the most unsettled group we are working with.”
But there is no point in Pochettino moaning about a situation he cannot change. While Eriksen is around - and can make as much difference to the team as he did in the victory over Aston Villa - he should be used as he was last season. If he plays well, his value will go up or Sp**s can keep using him for another season. If he plays badly, someone else can come in. Leaving him on the bench makes little sense.
Lack of a plan b
Late on against Newcastle, Tottenham lacked ideas and just didn't look like they would get an equaliser.
This has been a problem that stretches back far beyond this season. In the past they become reliant on Eriksen's creativity and long-range shooting, but Pochettino needs to find way to find players like Lamela or new boy Giovani Lo Celso in between the lines against deep defences, while there also needs to be greater focus on slipping overlapping full-backs in for pull-backs - something Manchester City do so well but Sp**s do not.
There remains some talk that Fernando Llorente - now a free agent - could be on his way back to Tottenham after playing a key role from the bench last season. It might not be pretty but it worked to great effect and put simply, Sp**s wouldn't be playing Champions League football this season were it not for Llorente's contribution.
Tottenham's unused substitutes on Sunday were Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Oliver Skipp and Paulo Gazzaniga, while Ben Davies replaced Danny Rose and added nothing. Llorente would have been far more useful.
Having begun this campaign with an unconvincing comeback win at home to newly-promoted Aston Villa, a scarcely believable and completely undeserved point at the Etihad and the futures of a bunch of their key players up in the air, as disjointed a performance as the one they cobbled together in losing to Newcastle on Sunday should not be all that surprising.
It means Sp**s have now won just seven and lost 11 of their last 21 competitive games. Over the last 15 rounds of Premier League games, of the ever-present sides only Brighton and Watford have earned fewer points than Tottenham's 15. One point per game is relegation form. Sp**s have not performed anything like a title challenger - or even a top four side - over the course of an entire 90 minutes since the 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in February. In the league, they arguably haven't done so this year.
And while these were concerns over the summer, they were brushed aside by the excitement over the Champions League final, while fans could be reassured that problems would be remedied with new signings. But now manager Mauricio Pochettino has to face up to ongoing issues in a new season without the chance to make any new signings.
Pochettino has made clear his feelings about the British transfer window closing two weeks before the rest of Europe, with Christian Eriksen left unsure as to where he will be playing in a week's time.
So where to Tottenham's problems lie, and what can Pochettino do to try and solve them?
Central defence
It really is some achievement to have three quality centre-backs, including two international team-mates that complement and understand each other perfectly, and yet still allow that position to become a total mess.
Jan Vertonghen, who was mysteriously sporting a black eye on the bench on Sunday, has been one of Tottenham's most reliable and consistent players in the Pochettino era, but has fallen out of favour of late and it isn't entirely clear why.
His contract expires at the end of the season and the assumption is that, at 32, he wants a longer contract extension than Sp**s are willing to offer. He is yet to play a minute of football this season. Sp**s are yet to keep a clean sheet and could easily have conceded far more than two at Manchester City.
Toby Alderweireld, who has also spent a while out of Pochettino's team because of his own contract dispute, is now back in favour, but he too could leave on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Those two have been partners for club and country for years and make up Tottenham's best central defensive combination. Davinson Sanchez is a capable deputy for Alderweireld, but the combination of those two right-footers is just so unconvincing - as they showed on Sunday, with Sanchez playing Joelinton onside for the only goal of the game. Sp**s fans and Pochettino might reasonably wonder whether that goal would have happened had Vertonghen - far more comfortable on the left side of central defence - been on the pitch.
Sanchez, 23, is the future and he might yet learn how to play Vertonghen's role on the left, but right now Sp**s need a level of security at the back that the Sanchez-Alderweireld combination does not provide.
Longer term, Daniel Levy simply has to soften his stance on contracts for older players. Losing one of Alderweireld or Vertonghen for free at the end of the season would be a remarkable thing for Levy to allow. Losing both is unthinkable. Vertonghen, so loyal and professional for seven years in north London, surely deserves another couple of years, particularly given there is no reason he couldn't still be playing at the top level at 34.
Right-back
Pochettino is finally doing what so many fans have been asking for and giving Kyle Walker-Peters a run in the first team. But something still doesn't quite feel right.
Walker-Peters has been 'Tottenham's next right-back' for three or four years now. The frustrating thing is he still doesn't seem totally ready to be first-choice right-back at a Champions League contender.
Rather than being loaned out for first-team experience, Walker-Peters has spent three years on the periphery of Tottenham's squad, unable to get a look in even in the cups, and all of a sudden he is expected to be ready to take over from Kieran Trippier this season.
Why on earth he didn't spend last season on loan at another Premier League club instead of sitting on the Sp**s bench really is hard to grasp. Now, he is being made to learn on the job on the right side of a defence that has looked worryingly shaky.
The problem is that by selling Trippier and seemingly giving up on Serge Aurier, Pochettino has backed himself into a corner which leaves the relatively untested Walker-Peters and Juan Foyth as his only two right-backs. They will therefore have to learn on the job it is difficult to see that not hindering Tottenham's season in some way.
Central midfield
Moussa Sissoko had a fantastic season last year and without him Sp**s would not have finished in the top four or made the Champions League final.
But he was performing way, way above the level he usually plays at and that was never going to be sustainable over another campaign. He is also never going to be the player to make Tottenham more creative against teams like Newcastle that sit deep.
On Sunday he was - as usual - too safe in possession when Sp**s needed adventure, completing 98 per cent of his passes, while attacks would often slow down with him as he inevitably took too many touches to get the ball under control.
Even if he has quickly formed a close connection with new signing Tanguy Ndombele, Sissoko is a dispensable member of Tottenham's first team and a really obvious position for improvement. Sissoko can be a useful player when games are slightly more open and he has more space to run into on the counter, but quite what role he was supposed to be playing against Newcastle was impossible to work out. Perhaps his late move to right-back - after Walker-Peters went off - could have legs beyond that match.
The midfield needs to be based around Ndombele, while Dele Alli's return from injury cannot come soon enough. That will, at least, be a start.
Attacking midfield
The basis for Pochettino's frustrations over the transfer window. Essentially he doesn't know how heavily to lean on Eriksen, who is undoubtedly still Tottenham's most important player.
Were it Eriksen's decision alone he would leave for Spain in the next week rather than stick around for another season and go for free next summer. If Levy had his way, Eriksen would be sold for a large fee, but there may be no club will be willing to match his valuation.
Pochettino would probably be happy whether or not Eriksen stays - he just wants to know what his squad will be come the end of the transfer window for European clubs.
The group is still unsettled,” he said after the Newcastle defeat. “We need to find solutions. We have one week more to wait and see what happens in the last days (of the transfer window). I think this is my sixth season and the most unsettled group we are working with.”
But there is no point in Pochettino moaning about a situation he cannot change. While Eriksen is around - and can make as much difference to the team as he did in the victory over Aston Villa - he should be used as he was last season. If he plays well, his value will go up or Sp**s can keep using him for another season. If he plays badly, someone else can come in. Leaving him on the bench makes little sense.
Lack of a plan b
Late on against Newcastle, Tottenham lacked ideas and just didn't look like they would get an equaliser.
This has been a problem that stretches back far beyond this season. In the past they become reliant on Eriksen's creativity and long-range shooting, but Pochettino needs to find way to find players like Lamela or new boy Giovani Lo Celso in between the lines against deep defences, while there also needs to be greater focus on slipping overlapping full-backs in for pull-backs - something Manchester City do so well but Sp**s do not.
There remains some talk that Fernando Llorente - now a free agent - could be on his way back to Tottenham after playing a key role from the bench last season. It might not be pretty but it worked to great effect and put simply, Sp**s wouldn't be playing Champions League football this season were it not for Llorente's contribution.
Tottenham's unused substitutes on Sunday were Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Oliver Skipp and Paulo Gazzaniga, while Ben Davies replaced Danny Rose and added nothing. Llorente would have been far more useful.
Country: England
Remember when Chelsea had some problems before the Europa League final and we got battered?
Yeah, but this seems to be a medium to long term trend of poor performances.Remember when Chelsea had some problems before the Europa League final and we got battered?
Sniper Mik
Not a Closet Sp**s Fan
Don't worry bro we got this. They're getting another slappingRemember when Chelsea had some problems before the Europa League final and we got battered?
lamby22
It's Not Lupus
Country: Scotland
Country: Australia
Looks fair to be honest . Games aren't played on paper though .
The White Pelè
Human Highlight Reel
Pochettino admitted they are a bit in disarray atm. We need to take advantage of it and destroy them to destroy their confidence.
UpTheGunnerz
Vrei sa pleci dar una una iei
Player:Elneny
Need a Lucky Luke Torreira masterclass here.
same **** that refused to book Newcastle players in the opening match
Preacher
Always Crying
Level wise, Atkinson is probably bottom 3 ref in the EPL, maybe even the worst.
Mohamed7
Well-Known Member
At least we now have VAR, although I am really confused on how it's actually used in England.
Mohamed7
Well-Known Member
Very good read.
Poch is a fantastic coach who transformed this sorry ass into sure-top-four and even a UCL final. He deserves to have a say in the transfer. They really needed a winger or two but instead hassled central midfielders. Apart from Son, I don't see how they can ever penetrate down the wings.
That's why it was much easier for Newcastle to pack the midfield and neaturilize their attack.
YeahBee
Terrible hot takes
Bang Bang!
With all these Marvel stuff out there why cant we get European comics in the big screen?
Tintin was great imo
Sniper Mik
Not a Closet Sp**s Fan
If it was me I totally would, but I'm not sure Emery will start all 3 of Auba, Pepe and Laca. He'll want atleast one decent attacking option from the bench. I think he'll swap Pepe for Laca, and Torreira for Willock. Rest of the personnel stays the same.
If he goes back to 4231/433 I think he might start Mkhitaryan actually, especially if he wants to press them which they've been suspect against. I would say Reiss would be an option on the left but his chances of starting another PL game soon don't look good after what Emery said about him in the presser last week.
Country: Iceland
Will Tierney be back for this game?
Ricardinho
La Liga Correspondent
Wouldn't be derby week without a pundits combined eleven being majority Sp**s 
Country: England
No you dumbass.
Greek-gunner
New Member
Prefer Auba in a two-striker formation a million times with Laca. He tends to disappear when he's in the midfield.
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