15th Place
That’s the title. We’re 23 games into the season and there is talk of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated. To be honest, our form suggests that is true but it is so much more than a long string of bad results. I know us fans continuously go on about it but the injury crisis is so real. I mean we could field an XI of senior players with those that are injured. I personally don’t think we’ll be relegated but I want to talk about why we’re in 15th place because rival fans and pundits can banter us all they want but this period is down to several reasons so let’s look at them.
The Chairman
I’ve honestly tried so hard not to get on the hate train for Daniel Levy but I find myself questioning him a lot lately. Like your manager and team are currently in the worst injury crisis that’s ever gone on at the club and we’ve only signed one player in the January transfer window. I understand that there’s a process to bringing players in and there are many factors that go into transfers but we’re in the final days of January and we are still without reinforcements in dire areas such as the defence and our front line. We’ve seen this play out before where our first-choice targets aren’t bought during this window but it’s not just January. In the summer, we needed reinforcement on the wing, we needed another holding midfielder, we needed another left back and we needed another centre-back but low and behold we didn’t get them. When the club is in such a positive financial position like we are you would expect as a fan that it means we can spend like a top team, yes the signing of Domo was great but we needed another and the fans are tired of seeing their beloved club not act like a top team with a chairman who is afraid to go big.
The dreaded injury crisis
I know we go on about it but there is no other club that has 11 senior players out injured. And with the team playing 2-3 times a week, our players are dropping like flies. We’ve been forced to rely on our academy products and our two gems that arrived this summer, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, to give the senior players rest. They’ve played admirably but even they’re not bulletproof, they’re being asked to play ridiculous minutes and I guess the only good takeaway from that is that they’re living up to their potential and showing how important they will be for Tottenham going forward. I know once our players return we will get out of this slump but it shouldn’t get to that point, next season we’re going to need more senior players so if these kinds of injuries come up again (and they will) we will be prepared and we’ll be able to support the team and not run them into the ground.
Ange
I really hate to cite him as a reason but his methods and tactics are also to blame. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ange Postecoglou but far too many players have suffered from hamstring injuries because of the way we play. Our constant pressing and high-energy way of playing has been a recipe for injuries, especially when the team are doing it far more often this season. I will give it to Ange he has tweaked his game plan in certain games where we have laid off the pressing which has helped but his in-game management of players needs more work, you can see he is working on that and I’m hoping next season he will find the sweet spot between the way we play and his tactical adjustments.
Look we can play the blame game all we want but the reality is we’re in 15th place in the Premier League, we’re one game away from the Carabao Cup final, we’re in the fourth round of the FA Cup and we’re one game away from the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Our situation could be a lot worse and our progression in cup competitions are whats giving us faith for the season. We play Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg tonight, we win we go directly to the next round of the Europa League, I’m hoping to see a lot of senior players rested with some of the kids getting game time but we’ll see. We need this win and so does Ange. Hopefully, I’ll be writing about some new players and a win but you never know with Tottenham Hotspur. COYS.
