There’s no denying that this has been a bad week for Tottenham Hotspur as back to back defeats to Burnley and Chelsea have completely derailed our Premier League title hopes.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino would’ve been looking for a reaction against Chelsea on Wednesday evening, and given how tight a game it was, he may have taken some positives from that but losing the game without getting a single shot on target is a considerable worry for many in the fanbase.
Speaking to BT Sport on Wednesday night during their coverage of the match, former England man Joe Cole suggested that Pochettino’s recent claim that it could be ten years before Spurs lift a trophy, could backfire and have the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Kane questioning their long term future at the club.
“If I’m Harry Kane and Dele Alli and my manager says we’re five, 10 years away from winning a trophy, I’m on the phone to my agent. He’s made an improvement, but I don’t see him making a change in the mentality at Spurs, because you’re still seeing the same problems where you expect things like they’ll lose to Burnley at the weekend. All your quality English players, like your Winks and your Kane’s and your Alli’s, have their sights set on winning Premier League titles. As a young manager with ambition, you want to have the big guns. He’s probably taken the club as far as he can if they’re going to continue not spending.”
I’m not sure I necessarily buy that line myself, the players will know perfectly well what Poch says in private and there was a heavy element of protectionism and managing expectations, not least his own frustration and disappointment coming through, in all of his interviews this week.
In many ways, his words would actually make more sense if he applied them to Pochettino’s own future at the club, rather than generically saying those players who prioritise trophies will look for the easiest route to them.
Yes, it’s another poor wobble, yes there are concerns to be addressed in the team but if there hadn’t been improvement or a change in mentality, there wouldn’t be disappointment would there.