Five reasons for Tottenham’s downfall

After two back to back fifth places in the Premier League the logical step for Tottenham was breaking into the top four. The club has very healthy financial backing and a lot of money is being invested into new players, which is why the Champions League spot seemed reasonable. Not only did the Spurs fail to break into the top four, but they reached a new low, and they are currently bottom of the Premier League. We will try to give you some insight into how things went wrong for Tottenham.

1. Big changes in the playing squad

When the club has the amount of money as Tottenham, the management is tempted to buy a lot of new players and improve the team’s fortunes. The arrival of new players is expected to reinforce the team, but the management keeps forgetting one or two things. It is the team that is producing results, not the individual players. Bringing a lot of new players every year disrupts the harmony in the team and it creates big headaches for the manager, as the new players need some time to adapt to the new surroundings and team’s style of play. This is where Tottenham made a mistake, as the team suffered a lot of changes in the squad. There wasn’t enough time for the new players to settle in, as some of them arrived a bit too late.

2. Departure of Keane, Berbatov and Defoe

Last season Tottenham probably had the best attack in the league, as the manager had four excellent strikers to choose from. The attack was certainly one part of the team that needed no changes, but the management didn’t feel that way. Berbatov and Keane created great attacking partnership, with Defoe and Bent providing cover. Notice that Jermain Defoe was the third-choice striker and he is regular in the national team and he is excellent in Portsmouth this season. First Defoe was sold to the Pompey, and then this summer Berbatov and Keane transferred to big rivals Manchester United and Liverpool respectively. These two players are already part of the starting line-up, which speaks enough of their quality. It seems that the worst player of the mentioned four strikers stayed at the club and this is the clear cause of bad results this season. The only real striker who arrived was Roman Pavlichenko, who is the same type of player as Darren Bent, and Ramos already stated that these two cannot play together.

3. Sporting director Damian Comolli

Damian Comolli was brought to the club in 2005 to replace Frank Arnesen, who had left the club to join Chelsea. The Frenchman was in charge of scouting and the arrival of new players among other things. It seems that he was most responsible for the sacking of Martin Jol and he is one of the reasons for recent problems. He made some big mistakes regarding the players who arrived at the club and he had a lot of disagreements with both Jol and Ramos. It was he who spent a lot of money on players like Kaboul, Gilberto, Boateng, Rocha and Bent, and these players did little to justify the money invested into them. These are just some of his mistakes and it remains unclear as to why he still has the backing of the club’s board.

4. The sacking of Martin Jol

It is rare for the manager to have the full backing of both the players and the fans, even though the club is not doing well. That was the case with Martin Jol when Tottenham had a very poor start last season. The Dutch manager was responsible for the club’s success and he led them to two consecutive fifth place finishes in the Premier League. His opinion was not taken into consideration when the new players were bought and Jol had to manage with the players he had been given. Tottenham had started the last season poorly, but it was hardly Jol’s fault and I am sure had he been given more time he would have changed the things around. The Dutch was responsible for the Tottenham’s attractive style of play and that is why the fans loved him.

5. The lack of leadership

Even though the team consists of very good players indeed, they seem to be lacking the true leader, the player who can inspire the team even when they are losing. Captain Ledley King is magnificent defender and the club legend, but they need the player capable of creating a chance or scoring a goal out of nothing. Aaron Lennon is the next best thing and he is probably the only player who can change the course of the game in this squad. However, he is still too young to be able to do it on regular basis, and the injuries has hampered his career so far, which brings us back to the beginning. Current crop of players is very good and it seems they only need one player who can make a difference. Tottenham was very close to signing Andrei Arshavin, and I believe he could have been that player.