Of all the members of the so-called “Big Six” clubs of the English Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur’s inclusion has always been the most generous. Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United clearly qualify as historic powers capable of withstanding poor form throughout the season. Chelsea and Manchester City have had the money and success over the past two decades to overcome their humble histories (uniting three top-flight titles before 2000) and climb the ranks. But what have Tottenham done to earn parity?
Since 2000, Tottenham has won two trophies, the League Cup in 2008 and the Europa League last season. Before 2009-10, the club had not finished in the top four of the league since 1989-90. Despite their relevance over the past 15 years, Tottenham have never come close to matching the weight of their ostensible peers when measured in silverware or sterling. Instead, Tottenham became a Big Six club due to consistency rather than greatness. This made it easy to slip, and although it took some time, I think the time has come to take Tottenham away from those famous clubs.
Winning the Europa League last season did not overshadow how terrible Spurs’ Premier League campaign was. Although Tottenham were never really in danger of relegation thanks to the incompetence of three newly promoted teams, the club’s 17th-place finish in the league may tell its own story. But what seemed like a minor detail last season has now turned into something much more concerning. After sacking manager Ange Postecoglou at the end of the season, Thomas Frank, who had worked wonders at Brentford, was brought in. Almost immediately Frank’s hiring was revealed to be a complete mismatch between club and coach, with an injury almost impossible, let alone a miracle, creating even mediocrity. The defeats piled up, and although Frank could point to the club’s 2-0 win away to Manchester City and a surprising run in the Champions League to a top-four finish in the league stages, Tottenham looked regularly outclassed no matter who their opponents were.
The club finally sacked Frank on 11 February following a 2–1 home defeat to Newcastle. Serie A journeyman Igor Tudor has joined after a poor spell at Juventus. His first game in Tudor’s defense was an impossible ask – a north London derby against league leaders Arsenal. But Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of their hated rivals wasn’t all that painful, and Sunday’s 2-1 loss away to Fulham only added to their misery.
Fulham took advantage of Tottenham’s well-known weakness of not having enough talent and depth to keep up. Like adept predators, the Cottagers attacked right into the center of Tottenham’s midfield, making repeated bull charges into the attacking third area with little resistance. When that didn’t work, Fulham attempted crosses from the wings to test Tottenham’s poor defence, and both of Fulham’s goals came from mistakes during play by the beleaguered backline.
In the first, right-back Kenny Tete lifted a speculative ball into the area, which bounced off former Manchester City youngster Oscar Babb. He attempted to cut it back to the centre, but the ball was deflected by Conor Gallagher and landed directly at the feet of Harry Wilson. There was no one on his face. It was a clean finish as he retreated from goal, but with Radu Dragusin on the ground (Tottenham failed to lobby for a foul) and captain Micky van der Ven unmarked, Wilson’s task was easy.
The second goal was more concerning, although it required some finishing magic. After a battle between Alex Iwobi and Wilson, Iwobi was left with plenty of space to fire an unexpectedly angled shot towards the far post, and although the Nigerian midfielder did very well with his strike, either Archie Gray or Xabi Simmons had to be there to block the space Iwobi was allowed to waltz into.
I’d like to take some leeway here, as it’s hard to know how to evaluate Tottenham with a roster devastated by injuries, but a club of Tottenham’s stature shouldn’t come this close to disaster. Even if you have about half the squad on the proverbial training table, it’s not the same as having no good (and expensive) players on the field. On Sunday, five of the team’s six attacking and midfield players have moved to Tottenham over the past two seasons (Yves Bissouma can be considered a veteran, he signed for 2022), and three of them (Dominic Solanke, Simmons and Gallagher) have arrived for a fee in excess of €40 million. Still, I couldn’t help but be disgusted by the incompetence of how Fulham dominated the midfield and how useless Tottenham’s attackers were (at least until substitute Richarlison came on in the 66th minute and scored the hopeful goal).
It’s really unfortunate. Tottenham have long been a model for other Premier League teams to follow as they seek to outperform their budget. Smart recruitment, excellent coaching, and outstanding performance were all things that stood out as Tottenham climbed the Premier League rankings under manager Mauricio Pochettino. If things tended to fall apart towards the end of the season, such as finishing third in the clash between the two teams for the 2016 title or losing to Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League final, it was only because Tottenham were so well-composed that they could have been disappointing. Despite Pochettino being sacked in November 2019 and the situation at the top of the table becoming much more strange, Tottenham are still expected to perform well in European competitions and finish in the league’s top eight.
Somewhat disconcertingly, while deep runs in Europe still seem to be working, Tottenham’s domestic form has fallen off a cliff. Tottenham is currently in 16th place, but unlike last season, there may be an actual relegation battle. Nottingham Forest are two points behind in 17th and, crucially, West Ham are just four points adrift of the first relegation zone. The Hammers lost 5-2 to Liverpool last weekend but have looked better than Tottenham in recent weeks. This isn’t particularly difficult as Tottenham have lost four in a row, but West Ham no longer look like they are in the relegation zone. Tottenham’s survival can no longer be taken for granted as it seemed a few months ago.
Safe money can tell you that Tottenham will not be relegated. There is still too much talent and the schedule is relaxed after a particularly brutal stretch on either side of Frank’s dismissal (three of the four losses came against top-nine opponents and the other against Newcastle, another tweener member of the league’s fluctuating number of “big” clubs). The most likely outcome is that Tottenham wins around 15-17 this season. But even going deeper into the Champions League will not soften the blow of a wasted season. And if Tottenham are relegated, it would be a disaster the likes of which the Premier League has not seen for decades.
No matter what happens, one thing is clear. Tottenham can no longer be considered an elite team, or even a particularly good team. Instead, the club returned to its original position for most of its history. Just another team trying to survive the tough conditions of the Premier League and survive to fight another day.
