After the Premier League defeat to Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur interim manager Igor Tudor spoke of the bad habits ingrained in many of the players in his struggling side.
Old habits die hard, but the Spurs need to get rid of them soon. The 4-1 defeat by the Gunners deepens the crisis and raises real fears of relegation.
The problem here is not so much their poor standing in the league, which is alarming as it is, but the manner in which the team’s limp attempts to rectify their problems lie.
Against Arsenal they were put on the back foot and years of poor recruitment led to this important turning point in Tottenham’s trajectory.
Why Spurs lost to Arsenal
Arsenal are probably the best team in Europe at the moment, but that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that Tottenham will be our biggest enemy and will be able to do more damage than our biggest rivals.
Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold lamented how “they have gone unrecognized” against the Gunners, showing that even with renewed home support, loud voices will not stop the rot.
This is a costume I made myself. The mishandling of transfers in recent years has led to this situation, with the likes of Radu Dragusin and Xavi Simons among the bright signings of recent years, reduced to mincemeat in the North London derby.
But in reality, Tottenham’s entire first team has been substandard and while struggling loanee Randal Kolo Muani scored his first Premier League goal of the season, the front line continues to cheat.
You have to question the sales of Heung-min Son and Harry Kane in recent years, but neither has been effectively replaced as a source of free goals.
Whereas previously big-money failures like Tanguy Ndombele were criticized as terrible outliers, there are now sub-par superstars littered throughout Spurs’ system.
And while the players on the pitch bear the brunt of the criticism, a recent undertaking proved to be a huge failure and sporting director Johann Lange had to be brought on board to try to strengthen the squad.
Spurs sign new Ndombele
Ndombele was signed after Tottenham’s disappointing failure in the 2019 Champions League final, as he was seen as a player who could further Mauricio Pochettino’s project.
But he is doing otherwise and Conor Gallagher, who only joined the London team from Atletico Madrid in a £35m deal last month, is in danger of becoming another midfield failure.
During his time at Chelsea, Gallagher was consistently praised for his energy in the center of the pitch. Former teammate Moises Caicedo even said he was “like a machine”, better than anyone else.
However, he is ineffective in Spurs’ midfield, unable to provide creative support to a team currently struggling.
PL’s Conor Gallagher | ||
|---|---|---|
Statistics (* per 90) | 23/24 | 25/26 |
Match (start) | 37 (37) | 6(6) |
the goal | 5 | 0 |
assist | 7 | 1 |
Exact path* | 92% | 28.2 (82%) |
A big opportunity has arisen | 11 | 0 |
Key pass* | 1.4 | 1.2 |
Successful. dribble* | 1.0 (68%) | 0.8 (71%) |
Ball recovery rate* | 6.3 | 4.8 |
Tackle* | 2.3 | 1.7 |
Duel (win)* | 5.7 (50%) | 4.8 (47%) |
Statistics by Sofascore | ||
Gallagher can be a tenacious midfielder, and he’s proven that at Spurs, but he’s yet to prove he has the answers to the Londoners’ myriad problems, and has actually proven to be more of a weakness in a system he doesn’t understand.
Tottenham fans thought they had signed an all-action midfielder with a hard-working and influential approach, but he has so far shown little of that so-called talent and has only become part of the problem.
If the supposed solution didn’t impress, Gallagher could be the new Ndombele, who joined the N17 from Lyon for a record £63m in 2019 but was criticized for a lackluster effort. Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher went so far as to say that one performance against Burnley was “nothing short of a disgrace”.
Those die-hard supporters of the Lewis family will point out that signing Gallagher was a long process. He was approached by Tottenham while at Chelsea, but Tottenham failed to materialize, and he later moved to Atletico Madrid.
The fact that Rodrigo Bentancur is currently sidelined underlines that bringing the Three Lions star to the club makes some sense, but he is not a progressive passer and Spurs were unable to solve (one of) their most glaring problems during the winter transfer window.
You can’t fault Gallagher for his effort, and he’s different from Ndombele in this respect, but he’s a high-profile player who doesn’t fit into the system and already looks like a waste of money.
Fewer touches and passes than Vicario: Tudor needs to drop 3/10 of Spurs star
Tottenham Hotspur have now lost four North London derbies and Igor Tudor will need to put an end to this failure ahead of a crucial Premier League game.
