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What now, my love?

8 min read
by Billy Macfarlane
The final result may sting, but once the dust settles there is a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to. Billy Macfarlane reviews our 2015/16 season.

Thirty four games of looking like a proper football team. 34 games of demonstrating a solid defensive plan. 34 games of with a cohesive attacking plan which could produce goals. 34 games in pursuit of a goal that wasn’t even a dream at the start of this season.

One game wobble against West Brom, the dream slips. One half of slick football and aggression against Chelsea. One half of lost heads, lost hopes and lost dreams. Two games to resist the old enemy. One game of errors but a contest still. One game of sad, sorry, infuriating capitulation. The old enemy overtaking, a real humiliation. The dream long gone, the jokes remain.

In many ways perhaps spending nearly a whole season convincing fans that the days of humiliation were in the past just to collapse in the most spectacular fashion possible is the most ‘Spursy’ thing possible. After so much time was spent introducing fight and solidity only to produce a quite incredible bottling is what this club’s recent history has been about. The ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Cold, hard objectivity shows third place still reflects a successful season. Realistically a finish two places higher than could’ve hoped at the start of the season. Securing Champions League football for the final season at White Hart Lane. A chance to keep pushing forward with the progress which Mauricio Pochettino has undoubtedly made. A chance to show that even if the mental frailness has not been fully vanquished it has at least been diminished. A chance to attract a higher level of talent to supplement the existing squad. A chance to keep hold of the exciting talents we have. A chance to possibly make Champions League football as a regular occurrence rather than an occasional treat.

[linequote]In reality this sting is only a sting of pride and emotion, the actual result of finishing second or third makes little difference[/linequote]

The manner of the loss to Newcastle and falling behind Woolwich stung like hell. It feels like only Spurs’ could produce their best season in Premier League history and still be the biggest butt of jokes for the summer. To have this final farcical loss joining Lasagnegate, Mind The Gap and Bayern Hotspur incidents seems to confirms that whilst Spurs may now be a decent side they will always discover new ways to be laughable club. In reality this sting is only a sting of pride and emotion, the actual result of finishing second or third makes little difference, both ensuring Champions League football but also without the glory of a trophy.

Attempting to move past the rage and annoyance and sting of pride what can Tottenham learn from this end of season capitulation? What can it be attributed to and how could this be avoided in the future?

One key factor has been the suspensions of Mousa Dembele and Dele Alli. Whilst Heung-Min Son can offer some of the lateral movement and directness which Alli has he still appears to be getting accustomed to the Premier League. Although Alli and Son both have a tendency to drift in and out of games Alli still offers far more on and off the ball. The challenge will be for Son to push for a place in the starting XI. His movement and touch have, at times, been truly exceptional this season so there is realistic hope that he could provide the back-up and competition within the fluid band behind Harry Kane.

Whilst Alli has undoubtedly been a miss it has been Dembele’s slight dip in form, suspension and the inability to cope with this has been perhaps the chief reason for Spurs end of season dip. Dembele’s skillset is unlike most top level central midfielders, he lacks a wide passing range, rarely shoots and still is most comfortable with another more defensively minded midfielder next to him.

Despite these flaws in his game he has been able to be simultaneously both a driving force in attack and a defensive shield who is able to calm the tempo throughout this season. Many times this season, although others have grabbed the headlines, the overall quality of Spurs performance has been directly related to how well Dembele has played. This is perhaps best evidenced by the impact on Kane’s goal tally – the Golden Boot winner netted 24 of his 25 Premier League goals in the 27 games which Dembele started, with only 1 goal coming in the 11 games which Dembele did not start.

The problem is that the players lining up to replace Dembele are in no way stylistically similar. Ryan Mason may have forward drive but he has the positional awareness of an earless bat who has been sat on the Waltzers for several hours. Tom Carroll is technically sound and a tidy passer of the ball but his complete lack of physicality leaves him vulnerable to counter-pressing. Both should and will likely be sold this summer, that Bournemouth are the team most heavily linked with Mason is indicative of his quality.

Nabil Bentaleb has some of the qualities which Dembele has – he retains the ball well and mostly makes good short passing decisions. Injury and rumours of poor attitude have blighted his season but ESPN report that he is now likely to stay this summer and that Pochettino is impressed by his attitude of recent weeks. It may be that Mason’s poor displays have bought Bentaleb a stay of execution but, given his age and relative systematic similarities this may work out best for all.

[linequote]Many times this season, although others have grabbed the headlines, the overall quality of Spurs performance has been directly related to how well Dembele has played[/linequote]

If Bentaleb can train well throughout the summer when many of his team mates are likely to be recovering from international tournaments and work on his tendency to play passes which put unnecessary pressure in the defence, he may yet have a future at Spurs. It is worth remembering that only last summer Dembele himself was rumoured to have a poor attitude and be on his way to Sunderland so turn arounds under Pochettino are entirely possible.

Regardless of Bentaleb, Mason or Carroll’s remaining or exiting this collapse has demonstrated a need for a new central midfielder. With Dembele’s suspension, tendency for minor hip and ankle injuries and age this is an essential purchase for this summer. Ideally this player purchased would be able to cover both Dembele and Eric Dier as well as providing some European or International experience. Christoph Kramer would be one player who could fit the mould here.

Another unlikely option may be if Morgan Schneiderlin decides to cut short his Old Trafford nightmare, however his current wages put him well clear of Spurs current top earners and would likely be a stumbling block. Alternatively, utilising Paul Mitchell’s black box to unearth lesser known success stories such as Alli and Kevin Wimmer is an option but it can’t help to be felt that a cooler head is required for when all those around are losing theirs and that this largely comes from experience.

The desire for experience links with another major factor which appears to have contributed to the relative downfall at the end of this season: mentality. Although Pochettino is credited with vastly improving Spurs mentality across the season when push really came to shove this once again disintegrated. Heads dipped at West Brom before being lost in the second half at Chelsea and never really recovering. It appears as though once the singular goal of catching Leicester was lost sight of focus and belief was lost. There are perhaps lessons which can be learned from here.

First, is the option of signing an experienced player as previously mentioned. The difficulty here is that both Pochettino and Daniel Levy favour younger players who can be moulded and have a greater potential to grow in value. This in itself has been a positive policy but it may be that players who are at the older end of the apparent 27-year-old age limit could aid in situations where experience is required.

[linequote]For all of the jokes and gloating which will now come there is little doubt that the club has taken forward steps across the season.[/linequote]

Second, this is a young squad with the youngest starting XI in the league. As much of this starting line-up is likely to remain constant into next season a further year of experience and disappointment should organically be grown. Third, although a largely excellent goalkeeper Hugo Lloris remains a somewhat lacking captain. Partly due to his position it often appears hard for the Frenchman to impose a sense of order and desire into the team. Although it may appear bad to publically strip Lloris of the captaincy few would disagree that the team’s most vocal leader and demonstrator of team ethics is Harry Kane and perhaps he should be given the armband permanently.

There is a lot which has gone right at Tottenham this season. For all of the jokes and gloating which will now come there is little doubt that the club has taken forward steps across the season. A more cohesive tactical plan has rarely been seen and the majority of players at the club are able to implement this strategy. The end of season collapse may however highlight the areas which can be improved within the squad. The squad does not need a wholesale renovation but may perhaps require more than the lick of paint it seemed to after the 4-0 victory against Stoke.

What now?

Now Spurs must pick themselves up as a team and a club, be sensible but ambitious with purchases and focus on the positives but without forgetting the hurt. The jokes from international teammates should sting, the loss of pride should mean something but these jokes should act as part of the motivation to break the self-defeating cycle rather than contributing to a mentality that Spurs doomed to be stuck as the butt of all jokes.

All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.

Billy Macfarlane

2 Comments

  1. sybrian
    17/05/2016 @ 9:29 am

    Has nobody noticed that the MOM against Newcastle was very similar to Dembele – Sissoko.
    He would improve our midfield tremendously. It has been questioned in another blog – is there a coincidence that our slide began with Vertongen returning, after all Wimmer did no wrong in his absence!!!

  2. Ruel Fox
    17/05/2016 @ 10:23 am

    Great piece – ultimately a success this season but such a crushingly depressing end to a great season. If any other team pipped us to second it wouldn’t even matter.

    Onwards and upwards. Let’s improve the first XI and squad because our options off the bench against Newcastle highlighted that take Dembele and Alli or indeed two of any other of our best performers out and we have nothing game changing behind them.

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