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Football News: Last chance saloon for Tottenham and Levy

Last chance saloon for Tottenham and Levy
Image from: aitonline.tv

This season looked like Tottenham Hotspur's best bet to finally get back above Arsenal and to get themselves back into the Champions League. With only Chelsea and Manchester City standing out, Liverpool falling back and Manchester United still trying to recover from the loss of Alex Ferguson, this year looked like Spurs had to be a good bet for a top 4 place.

On paper it looked like all they had to do was finish above an Arsenal side that are severely out of sorts, with rumblings of discontent from the fans and a defence that lacks any kind of cover for injuries and suspensions. On paper they should be certain to do that with the new manager, Mauricio Pochettino and his emphasis on the hard work and bite that recently had been lacking at White Hart Lane.

Unfortunately for Spurs, football, as has been noted in the past, is played on grass, not paper, and on grass they are just as inconsistent as ever. Poch's extra training sessions and pushing of his players to press and harry their opponents is still struggling to make an impression with many of the players, they are yet to adjust fully to the way he wants them to play.

It is interesting to note that two of the players who were previously whipping boys for the media and fans, Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb, are the ones who best seem to have adjusted to this new regime and stand out as performers this season. But the team are suffering badly from having so many players totally unsuited to the way they are trying to play, such as Eric Lamela, Moussa Dembele and Roberto Soldado.

I have to question why more effort was not made to bring in players to suit the style of play that Poch favours, as he was brought in specifically because of that. Did the club believe that the players would adjust as Southampton's players did? Surely they could not have thought that the players Spurs have would have the same qualities to adjust like the Saints' team had?

You can't expect players like Moussa Dembele, who is a Rolls-Royce of a player no doubt, with a natural ability to glide past players, to suddenly turn into Morgan Schneiderlin, who has had to fight his way from League 1 to make it into the Premier League. Or Roberto Soldado to suddenly metamophorsise into Ricky Lambert, again a player who has had to graft his way from nowhere, while Soldado started up there.

The Spurs players lack the hunger and desire to prove themselves in the main, that is why it is the younger ones, who do have a lot to prove, who are best able to adapt to the new style of play. They want it, they want to prove themselves, they want to improve, they have fire in their bellies and desire. Poch might not be the right man for Tottenham, but right now he is a man trying to cook a souffle on a barbeque using just a set of knives, and even the greatest chefs would struggle in those circumstances. Will he succeed? Probably not, Spurs seem to have settled into a culture of failing in recent years.

The flair is there, Poch was supposed to add the steel into the mix, but he needs the right players to do that or time to mould the younger ones. I can't see Daniel Levy giving him either, let alone both! Though this is Levy's last chance to get it right, the rumblings of discontent have already been aimed in his direction, if this appointment is a mistake too, it is hard to see how he can hold onto his position, despite having a shareholding in the club.

Written by Tris Burke January 13 2015 05:45:09