Tottenham Hotspur's season is unravelling, with injuries and poor summer investments leaving the squad underperforming. So can they turn things around?
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00:00So, James, let's look at Spurs and the current situation. Obviously, we are just over the
00:08midway point of this Premier League season. They are still alive in all competitions as
00:13we mentioned before as well. Just to give a current state of play, a current situation
00:18update on where they are. Obviously, there's a load of injuries creeping into the side.
00:23James Madison came out after the Everton game and said there's obviously no excuses but
00:27only 11 fit senior players. It's quite a worrying side. Maybe that stems back to the
00:33summer and even the summer before as well, maybe not investing properly. How do you sum
00:38up the moment at Spurs right now and what you can see for the remainder of this season
00:44and the current injury situation as well?
00:47Yes, I think we're in a very, very tough spot, it's fair to say. Another defeat against Everton,
00:52that's 12 in the Premier League this season, more injuries to boot as well. Bissouma, Brennan
00:58Johnson, Dominic Solanke injured in training on Saturday morning. So, the manager has had
01:04a rotten hand in terms of the look. We have an unprecedented injury, I don't think I've
01:09ever known it as bad at Spurs. But it feels like the tide is turning against Postacoglou,
01:14the mood is definitely shifting. There was a little bit of disgruntlement, shall we say,
01:19in the away end at Goodison Park. A little bit of abuse has been thrown at Hongmin Son,
01:24who's been a terrific servant. Everything's just starting to turn a little bit toxic and
01:29when that happens, the writing's on the wall really. You'd almost say, he's probably a
01:34dead man walking, it's a matter of when, not if. He has to carry the can for a lot of the
01:41problems that are going on. Yes, we've had horrendous luck but the players are getting
01:46injured in training, it's repetitive hamstring injuries, it's injury after injury and we have
01:51to change, we really do. We were diabolical at Everton, absolutely diabolical. Limited,
01:59we only had 11 first-team players fit but I still think there were things that could have been done
02:04within that system yesterday. Looked at the team sheet and thought, Archie Gray finally getting
02:08his spot in central midfield and he ended up playing as a right-sided centre-back in a back
02:13three that just completely failed in the first half. We were all at sea, we made Everton look
02:20like world beaters really, one ball over the top. Every time they were getting in,
02:26Calvert-Lewin hadn't scored for 17 matches, scores, we hadn't lost at Goodison for 10 years,
02:31we lose at Everton. We're almost a laughingstock at the moment. In terms of state of play, we are
02:37in an unholy mess at the moment and we need to start acting decisively. We either back the manager
02:43and we bring in players very, very quickly to help him and help the squad or we get rid of the manager
02:48and we do the same. We appoint someone who can really bring that experience to the table in
02:51the Premier League and stop us sleepwalking towards a relegation battle at the moment.
02:57Yes, and obviously Ange Postakoglu has had some memorable moments coming in and really
03:04being quite stubborn and sticking to his way of playing as well. When he first came in, that
03:10sort of style of play that he was really stubborn and sticking to was really praised well by pundits
03:18and players and fans. What sort of went wrong? What was the downslide for Ange Postakoglu and
03:25now some tactical ideas in the Premier League? Because it was sort of a new lease of life when
03:29he first came in and slowly things have really, really took a downward spiral.
03:34Well, Spurs at their best are a pressing team. We're aggressive. We press high. So, all the
03:39injuries, you can take all of that into account. Fatigue is a huge problem. You can see some of
03:44the players really, really running on fumes. Some of the senior players have gone off the boil as
03:48well with the likes of Son. He had a great chance against Everton. It just took too long to pull
03:54the trigger for the first one, one-on-one, let Tafs Kosti get a tackle in. Then a couple of
03:59minutes later, he had one that he just didn't catch from almost the penalty spot. He's been a
04:04world-class finisher over his career and you'd really expect him to score. So, there's some
04:07senior players off the boil, letting him down in terms of Postakoglu, whatever you want to call it.
04:15We could talk all day about the injuries and the failures in the transfer market. Ultimately,
04:21we need either players back or players through the door
04:23and some real certainty around what's going to happen with the manager.