Pochettino feels heat
Can Spurs manager stop season imploding?
Go with the new boys
Tottenham Hotspur hope that summer signings Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon will be fit after the international break and, once they are, Mauricio Pochettino must throw them in as quickly as possible.
Record signing Tanguy Ndombele has been one of the positives of the rocky start to the season and fans and players are desperate to see more new blood.
Lo Celso and Sessegnon may need time to adjust to the Premier League, and their return to fitness offers no guarantee of an upturn in fortunes. But a couple of fresh faces will lift the fans and may just put a spring back in the step of everybody in and around the club.
Lo Celso and Sessegnon may also bring about an element of surprise, as opposition teams are currently finding it too easy to set up against Tottenham’s familiar faces.
Spell out the new project
Pochettino once again referenced the need to open a new chapter and settle on a medium or long-term project following the thrashing by Bayern Munich.
But it is October now and does anybody really know what the new project is? Do the players know whether they are at a club who believe they should be fighting for titles or are slowly hitting the reset button?
Does Pochettino himself have a clear idea of where and how Daniel Levy, the chairman, is realistically going to take Spurs?
Does Levy even know what is achievable with the current squad and the inferior budget to Tottenham’s top-six rivals?
There are far too many questions surrounding just what exactly Spurs are striving for and everybody needs some answers. Only then can proper solutions be found.
Move on from Champions League final
It is hard to speak to Pochettino or a Tottenham player before eventually getting around to the hurt of losing the Champions League final. That is, of course, partly down to the line of questioning from reporters, but the manager and his players now need to move on.
It was, of course, a superb achievement to reach the final against all the odds, but it no longer matters. Finalists are largely forgotten and winners are remembered. Spurs have a long tradition of celebrating glorious failure, but if they ever want to be real champions then they need to concentrate on what is in front of them, rather than the near-misses – however big.
Give Alli a run of games
Dele Alli made only his third start of the season against Bayern Munich, so it should be no great surprise that he was not at his very best. Dipping him in for a Colchester United here and a Bayern Munich there makes it difficult for the 23-year-old to build any sort of match fitness and rhythm. Injuries have undoubtedly disrupted Alli’s progress since Pochettino described him as being the best 21-year-old in world football. There have been flashes, such as the brilliant impact he made in Tottenham’s Champions League semi-final comeback against Ajax, but the big moments have become more infrequent. The talent is still there, but it needs bringing out again and Alli looks like he needs an arm around the shoulder. With all the talk of the players whose Tottenham futures are in doubt, Alli only signed a six-year contract 12 months ago, so his commitment cannot be questioned.
Force a new era
Tottenham’s players continue to insist that their poor results and inconsistent performances have nothing to do with the futures of so many of them being unclear, but Pochettino must focus on the players who genuinely want to play for the club and those he sees as being at the club for years to come.
Davinson Sanchez may not have been in top form at the beginning of this season, but he should now be starting the big games as the contracts of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen run down.
Similarly, there appears to be increasingly less value in sticking with Serge Aurier, a player who admitted he wanted to leave during the summer, at right-back, even though Pochettino is short of options. The Argentine manager’s hands may have been tied to some degree by Levy’s questionable approach to the transfer window, but he still has the power to force greater change through his selections.
Spurs need to concentrate on what is in front of them, rather than the near-misses