Ze history of the Tottenham – will Spurs really get relegated?
Credit: Winston Tjia on UnSplash
In the words of legendary Italian centre-back, Giorgio Chiellini, Spurs always create ‘many chances and score so much’; yet there is ‘always something’ that they are missing when it really counts. It is ‘the history of the Tottenham’. History has a funny way of repeating itself and Chiellini’s wisdom seems to ring true once again.
Spurs, at the time of writing, sit in 16th, just two places and one point above the relegation zone. They have scored 40 goals this season, the same number as Aston Villa in 4th – Chiellini’s prophecy certainly holds true on goalscoring grounds. Only Leeds (37) have scored remotely close to the same number of goals as Spurs amongst teams lower than 12th. These stats are baffling, and one wonders why the LilyWhites are so far down the table. Some blame injuries, others blame management, and others blame VAR. But, as someone who has seen their club get relegated 4 times in 9 years (following Yeovil Town), I know that something worse is afoot, and that their 1-1 draw against Liverpool last week likely isn’t an indicator of an upturn in form.
Despite the, admittedly quite significant, injury list, Tottenham Hotspur should have the depth to remain at least mid-table. It is also important to remember that players don’t get injured completely by chance – such an extensive injury list of more than 10 players could absolutely suggest a lack of discipline regarding warm-ups, nutrition or conditioning. This lack of discipline seems to get to the core of where Spurs’ issues lie. Captain Christian Romero has been sent off twice in 21 games this season, and a total of 4 times since he joined the club: the most of any Premier League player since his transfer. Romero is, objectively, a Champions League quality centre-back who plays with passion and contributes at both ends of the pitch. Yet, a leader with such poor discipline is rarely conducive to a winning team, despite the World Cup in his trophy cabinet. Just ask Unai Emery and Granit Xhaka in the autumn of 2019. This lack of discipline has seeped into other players too: Spurs have the second most red cards this season with 4, behind Chelsea’s astonishing 7 in 30 games. Despite trolling Arsenal for seemingly always coming second, Spurs have also come second in the combined yellows and reds tally for this season while the Gunners are 20th with a clean slate on the red card front. Spurs seem to be doing everything they can to make North London red. Ill-discipline may be the one thing they are missing; often this stems from those at the very top of the club. Manager Igor Tudor’s reactionary substitution of young goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky in the Champions League after just 17 minutes seems to suggest a disunity and toxic work atmosphere among the club.
So, will they go down?
As much as Lincoln fans would ogle at the opportunity to head to Spurs’ 62,850-seat stadium in the Championship next season, it certainly seems a stretch to see them going down from here. BetFred have them at 2/1 to go down at the time of writing, yet they are out of the Champions League, having lost 5-7 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid, and have a good run of fixtures in their remaining 8 games. They are yet to face Wolves, Leeds and Nottingham Forest, the latter of which they play on Sunday 22nd March in what is the very definition of a 6-point game: the winner likely to be safe, the loser very much at the peril of West Ham’s results. Both sides bring terrible form into this game, and it is certainly one of the most important fixtures of the season.
Perhaps ‘the history of the Tottenham’ will ring true again. Regardless, a serious culture shift is needed at all levels of the club to shake this ‘history’ of ‘almost’.
Word by James Morgan