Tottenham season could come unstuck

Tottenham went out of the FA Cup last weekend just a few days after defeat to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-final. So is their season in danger of coming unstuck?

Just a few weeks ago Tottenham were looking capable of mounting a sustained challenge for the Premier League title while they were also still in three cup competitions. Now after injuries to key players Harry Kane and Dele Ali, Spurs have gone out of both the domestic cups in the space of four days.

The Premier League title looks as though it is a two-horse race between Liverpool and Manchester City. And in addition the rumours about the future of manager Mauricio Pochettino refuse to go away. So given that background, its been a very discouraging week for Spurs fans.

It was probably never realistic for Tottenham to challenge for the title, given the lead Manchester City and Liverpool have over all their rivals.

However it did seem probable that Spurs might finally win something this season, ending a barren run going back to 2008 when they won the League Cup, beating Chelsea in the final.

But that semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Thursday ended Spurs best chance of picking up silverware. So wining the Champions League is now the only route to silverware available for Tottenham.

Assuming that won’t happen, (and it seems very unlikely), Spurs are now facing another campaign that will end without a trophy.

The first question to ask is whether these problems would have been helped had Tottenham been able to buy and strengthen the squad in the summer.

It was a little surprising that Spurs failed to make any signings at all in the summer window. Although they did try to make a last-minute deal for Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish, which fell through.

The financial constraints of funding the building of the new White Hart Lane seems to have been a major factor as the club faced a delay and additional cost to the completion of the project.

Tottenham did though have a reasonably strong squad and despite the frenetic transfer activity of so many Premier League clubs, Spurs still seemed to be in strong position.

And the season seemed to bear that out, until the last few weeks. But just recently things have started to go wrong.

Perhaps the biggest blow is of course losing Kane for any length of time.

The England striker is one of the best and most consistent finishers in Europe, never mind just the Premier League. He’s also an outstanding all round forward who can create as well as score goals.

Any side losing a player of that quality would struggle to replace him. But Spurs’ lack of other options up front has been exposed by his injury.

And this was only highlighted further by the subsequent injury to Ali and the absence of South Korean forward Son Heung-min, away on international duty at the Asian Cup.

Spurs have been very unlucky in the timing and nature of these injuries and absences. Time will tell whether they will prove decisive in the outcome of the club’s season.

The second issue is where does all this leave Pochettino’s future? The Tottenham boss produced a slightly bizarre response to his team’s cup exits this week, claiming that Champions League qualification is the club’s priority, not winning trophies. I’m not sure all Spurs fans would agree.

This of course is similar to what Arsene Wenger argued when questioned on Arsenal’s failure to compete for the Premier League title in recent seasons.

Longer-term though will Pochettino decide that his future might be away from the new White Hart Lane?

If the manager lacks any substantial funds to improve the team over the next few seasons he could well decide to leave for pastures new.