Malaise at Tottenham could intensify in North London derby
Three games isn’t usually a big enough window to make cast-iron judgments about any soccer team in the Premier League.
Except, maybe, for Tottenham.
It’s very early, sure, but something’s amiss at last season’s Champions League finalist.
Two of the team’s best players, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen, are currently not being picked. Mauricio Pochettino, the manager, has spoken about a team spirit and dynamic that is “far, far away from what we expect.” Then there’s the most recent result, a 1-0 home loss to a Newcastle team which had lost its first two matches.
If any game can concentrate the minds, it is a game against a fierce local rival.
So if Tottenham’s players cannot rouse themselves on Sunday for a North London game against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, there really is a problem.
The malaise stretches back to last season.
The team’s run to a first-ever Champions League final, as mind-blowing as the achievement was, somewhat glossed over a dramatic dip in form on the domestic front when Tottenham won only three of its last 12 Premier League games.
Take those dozen games and add the first three from this season, and only two teams — Brighton and Watford — have fewer points than Tottenham’s 15 (four wins, three draws, eight losses).
Some will argue this is a season too far for Pochettino, who had said ahead of the Champions League final that he might quit his job if his team beat Liverpool in the final in Madrid.
Tottenham lost 2-0 in a fairly underwhelming game and Pochettino is now taking charge of his sixth season at the London club — making him currently the longest-serving manager to work solely in the Premier League.
Have things just gone a bit stale, especially with Tottenham so inactive in the transfer market in recent years?
The signings of Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso this offseason were the club’s first since January 2018, and none of them started against Newcastle on Sunday because of injury or a lack of fitness.
If that is guesswork, there’s no doubting the issues with Eriksen and Vertonghen, who are two of Pochettino’s senior players.
Eriksen has been a substitute for two of Tottenham’s three games this season and the team has missed the playmaker’s creativity and vision, improving immeasurably once he came on as a second-half substitute.