Mauricio Pochettino has surprisingly claimed that Tottenham remains in a good position despite their wobbles which have persisted for almost 2 months. Since the 2-0 win over Manchester City at the start of October, Spurs have never really been able to hit momentum. The form has been extremely patchy and not just over the games; Spurs have been able to dominate games only for short durations.
The 2-1 defeat against Chelsea on Sunday was a classic example of the recent problems faced by Tottenham. The club started out extremely well and could have been a few goals up after just 30 minutes, but they ended up regressing as the game wore on. Chelsea came back with two goals at either side of the half-time break to condemn Tottenham to another weekend without a league win. The club have managed only one league victory in the last six games, while the form book worsens when results from all the competitions are factored in.
Spurs have managed just one win in the last 10 games of all competitions, and this is simply not good enough for a team with Champions League aspirations. This poor form saw the team knocked out of the Champions League even before the sixth group match.
Pochettino, though, has surprised many by claiming that there is nothing to worry. As cited by Sky Sports, he said:
“If you want to criticise that (we were knocked out of the Champions League) then okay, I accept that. It is a little bit tough, and after Monaco I said maybe we cannot cope in both competitions.
“But I think there is nothing wrong. We are in a good position in the Premier League.
“You saw a very different performance between Monaco and Chelsea — that happens because to be fresh to play in both competitions is difficult. We need to learn about that and start to win games.”
In terms of points alone, Spurs may not be doing too badly as they are just four points behind Arsenal. However, the total lack of momentum could be taken advantage of by teams like Manchester United or Everton who are not far away.
One of the main reasons for Spurs’ struggling to have an impact for longer periods in the game is the lack of energy within the players. They clearly seem to be struggling with the midweek Champions League matches limiting the recovery time. Pochettino has also certainly not helped matters by persisting with the double training sessions.
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel recently claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson never used to keep double training sessions at United in order to avoid player burnout. Yet, Pochettino has stuck with this principle since he sees it as an important element of the gameplay – the intense pressing style that has reaped so many rewards in his career.
Since Pochettino has little experience of managing clubs in the Champions League on a regular basis, he can be forgiven for the simple fact that Tottenham’s energy levels were not up to the standard required to make an impact in two competitions at the same time. Spurs, though, have to recover extremely fast in order to avoid their season objectives withering away.
