Breaking out of the ‘transition season’ cycle

For the first time since the 2011/12 campaign, it can be confidently said that Spurs are not in a season of transition.

Since Harry Redknapp’s sacking after unfortunately missing out on Champions League qualification, the club has seemed to be in a permanent state of flux. The squad was rebuilt with new players and a reimagined playing style in 2012/13 following the departure of stars like Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart and the arrival of Andre Villas Boas, only to be yet more drastically reshuffled the next summer as £100 million was spent with the sale of yet another star player, Gareth Bale.

Then came the manager upheavals of Villas Boas and later Tim Sherwood in 2013/14, before Mauricio Pochettino was brought in for the 2014/15 season to bring yet another footballing philosophy to the club.

But now, having had a whole season to implement his ideas and shape the squad in his liking, Pochettino appears to be firmly settled in as the team’s manager, and is under no threat of the sack.

[linequote]All of the star players from last season were retained, and only a few additions in crucial places were added, leaving the squad looking content, settled and balanced[/linequote]

As a result, Spurs are no longer just building for the future and waiting for their players to ‘gel’ and the manager to implement his ideas, but look like a fully-formed team not merely showing potential, but ready to mount a serious challenge for that elusive top four place. All of the star players from last season were retained, and only a few additions in crucial places were added, leaving the squad looking content, settled and balanced.

That longed-for Champions League qualification looks a lot more likely given Chelsea’s recent travails. Now a whole ten points behind us in the table, Jose Mourinho’s club face a serious challenge to turn their fortunes around and bridge that gap, which could leave a Champions League spot vacant.

With the likes of Leicester and West Ham unlikely to maintain their early season form, Liverpool will probably be Spurs’ main rival if Chelsea do indeed fail to recover. It’s the comparison between these two teams that demonstrate just how advantageous a position it is to not be in transition. While the hype surrounding the appointment of Jurgen Klopp was not necessarily unjustified, it is true that a manager with as radical an approach as his takes time to mould players in his own image, and work out who he wants to sell and who he wants to bring in.

[linequote]Qualify for the Champions League this year, and the club may finally break out of the cycle of endless transitional seasons[/linequote]

Tottenham, meanwhile, are currently reaping the rewards of having already spent a season undertaking such groundwork. Pochettino now has a squad full of players on his wavelength, many of them (like Eric Dier, Ryan Mason and Harry Kane) youngsters who he is raising in his own image. His system is fully implemented – as Woolwich found out at the weekend our pressing has been perfected, and an average of 23.9 tackles per game is the outright highest in the league.

All this means that not only is this Spurs’ first season not in transition since 2011/12, but also our best chance of a top four finish since then. And with everything having come together so well this season, it is crucial that the opportunity it taken. Star players like Hugo Lloris, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane have been at the club for a while and will be hungry for Champions League football, and may look elsewhere if Spurs can’t offer it to them for next season, which could in turn prompt yet another season of transition. But qualify for the Champions League this year, and the club may finally break out of the cycle of endless transitional seasons, and move on to yet another level.