Why Tottenham Are Destined To Fail

(Header Image – Daily Star)

I never like to say things with certainty, because with football, you never know what might happen. However, there’s three things in the Premier League that are guaranteed to happen, no matter what. Man City will spend millions each window, Chelsea will always out-do their own racism, and Tottenham Hotspur will forever be hearing the chant of ‘It’s happened again, it’s happened again…’

Sir Alex Ferguson, a manager notorious for winning titles who left his team with a manager so bad that he made Sam Allardyce look decent, but nobody talks about that bit, says the winning mentality is all about learning from a defeat.

The experience of defeat, or more particularly the manner in which a leader reacts to it, is an essential part of what makes a winner.

(He presumably said this straight after watching David Moyes lose the FA Cup 3rd Round at home to Swansea.)

There’s a lot of truth to the statement. We all know you don’t truly learn anything when you’re winning, you just believe you’re the best, and that’s no bad thing. But when you’re then facing quality opposition, or indeed a lower club, you become somewhat complacent.

And if you actually look up Mauricio Pochettino’s surname up in Argentinian, translate it into Spanish, Chinese and then Hebrew, it actually says ‘bottler’. Oh, but I mean, it’s close to complacent…

A lot of fans have come to terms that the 2019 Premier League title has come down to two teams, Liverpool and Manchester City. Wait, can you hear that? There’s a little squeak coming from the corner of the room. Oh why it’s Keiran Trippier, World Cup hero, who’s saying Tottenham have a chance. Do they?

At the beginning of December, this is what the table looked like:

1. Manchester City 38
2. Liverpool 36
3. Chelsea 31
4. Arsenal 30
5. Spurs 30

Were Spurs in the race then? Hmm, not any more or less than Chelsea and Arsenal, surely? But with two new managers coming to the helm, both London clubs were in a ‘transitional’ period.

Spurs’ chances of winning the league:

Spurs’ real chances of winning the league:

At the beginning of January told a different story.

1. Liverpool 48
2. Manchester City 44
3. Spurs 42

Spurs’ chances of winning the league:

Spurs’ actual chances of winning the league:

And then finally, in came reality, crashing down quicker than Harry Kane when he sees a defender’s leg. The table at the end of February showed Tottenham Hotspur failing to continue their form to catch the top two.

1. Liverpool 69
2. Manchester City 68
3. Tottenham 60

And thus, the title challenge was over, yet again, signalling another trophyless campaign. What many thought could “be their year”, the Lilywhites just didn’t have the capability.

Now don’t get me wrong, Tottenham have done really well considering they are nowhere near other clubs when it comes to finances, and the fact that they didn’t choose to sign anyone in the summer. They’ve certainly exceeded expectations, but there’s always going to be something about them that lacks that killer instinct.

Just by looking at their past few games you’ll see that there’s something missing and it’s not about the players, or the quality of your squad, it’s more about the mentality. Tottenham failed to spark any sort of cohesion against Burnely and deservedly lost. Against Chelsea, it was a dismal display, with Trippier doing everyone a favour and giving us all a good laugh as we watched Spurs self-destruct once again.

That is something that will never change as there are only a few managers in the world who are able to fix that mentality and Pochettino is definitely not that man. All he has done is a great job in his position, taking a team who were pushing for 4th, above 4th. He has yet to lift any trophies or bring any sense of achievement to the club.

And yet, he is touted by many to be the next United manager, considering how well it went last time they employed a manager who was doing better than the resources allowed at his former club. Oh well…you know what I say:

If you wanted an answer to the burning question: Why Tottenham are destined to fail, I will answer it quite frankly right now. It’s all to do with- ah wait, I know what to do. I’ll let my good pal Giorgio explain this one.