Pochettino saw signs of slump as Spurs misfire

BLAME Harry Kane if you like. Obsess over the summer transfer window.

Add it together and the Spurs team that beat Manchester United 3-0 last month, with some swagger, is suddenly not firing.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed he always saw this coming. Even when his side had three wins from the three games at the start of the season.

‘I was never really happy,’ he said. ‘I was always thinking about providing the team with better tools because we knew this situation was going to happen.

‘The performance wasn’t great. But there is no change if you analyse the first five games. Performances were similar. The reality is we need to improve a lot if we want to be contenders for some type of titles.’

That much is clear. And title races are not won in September.

But in a league where 100 points has become the new benchmark (an average of 2.6 points per game), two defeats in the first five games means there is very little leeway.

Spurs can afford to lose only one, maybe two more, if they expect to get close to the points total Manchester City might be expected to accumulate. Or, on this showing, Liverpool.

There are obvious explanations. The lack of a summer signings by Spurs is an itch that will continue to scratch until January.

Liverpool added £191million of players and look like they might seriously challenge City.

At Wembley yesterday, they had Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita playing, all of whom have been added since their 4-1 humiliation here in October last year.

They also had added Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri, who were on the bench.

It’s hard to argue with the subsequent improvement Liverpool have shown. How might Spurs have fared if they were blooding Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish in games such as this?

It seems unlikely he would have made the difference. The option of Wilfried Zaha’s pace would have added more danger.

However, the problem is perhaps as much that each setback can now only be viewed through the prism of the summer transfer window.

That doesn’t mean it is the sole reason.

But the discussion is a millstone around Spurs’ season.

‘I trust completely in my squad,’ repeated Pochettino. ‘Not 100 per cent, but 200 per cent.’

That is the only answer he can give until January.