This time a year ago, Tottenham had just announced the appointment of Tim Sherwood as manager.
It soon became apparent the former Spurs midfielder was going to face the chop should he fail to make the Champions League and despite boasting the best win ratio of any Tottenham manager of the Premier League era, Sherwood was shown the door at the end of the season after a sixth-placed finish.
Mauricio Pochettino has become the latest man to take on what is looking more like the impossible job with each passing year and after a slow start, the Argentine seems to be making progress.
Three consecutive victories prior to Christmas have seen Spurs move into the top six, as well as setting up a Capital One Cup semi-final with League One side Sheffield United for the chance to play either Chelsea or Liverpool at Wembley at a major cup final early in the New Year.
There is still plenty of room for improvement however and these five New Year’s resolutions we have identified could go some way to ensuring 2015 is a more memorable year for Tottenham fans.
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Click on Mauricio Pochettino to reveal FIVE ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ for Tottenham to stick to in 2015.
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Bring in a regular goalscorer
Despite being popular with the Tottenham fans for his attitude and work ethic, it is clear Roberto Soldado is not going to score the required amount of goals Spurs need to challenge for the top four.
Emmanual Adebayor is struggling for form having previously been unable to stop scoring and despite the exploits of Harry Kane, Pochettino needs to bring in a top class finisher this winter.
The likes of Porto’s Colombian international forward Jackson Martinez has been mentioned as well as Valencia’s Paco Alcacer, West Bromwich Albion’s Saido Berahino and Jay Rodriguez who Pochettino managed so successfully at Southampton.
Clear some of the deadwood
With Tottenham in the position of having to sell before they can buy, Pochettino may benefit from a more ruthless approach in the New Year and trim some of the deadwood.
Tottenham have plenty of players that are yet to prove they deserve a long-term future at the club with Mousa Dembele, Etienne Capoue and Adebayor amongst others who represent players that could be forced to make way for new arrivals in the New Year.
Keep the faith with Harry Kane
Even if Pochettino does clear some of the unwanted players out and uses the money to sign a top class striker, Harry Kane has done enough over the first half of the season to keep his place in the starting line-up.
Tottenham fans have really taken to the young forward who has forced his way into the first team and scored plenty of important goals.
He is the club’s leading goalscorer this season and will only improve as time goes on and Pochettino adds better players to support him.
Give Tom Carroll a first team chance
The likes of Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason have been given opportunities in the Tottenham midfield in place of more established stars and yet perhaps the most exciting prospect from Tottenham’s youth academy is often warming the bench at Swansea City.
Carroll has been out on loan at QPR and now Swansea City, and it remains a mystery as to why he has not been given more of a chance to show what he can do at White Hart Lane.
With the likes of Paulinho, Dembele and Capoue offering very little, it would be nice to see Carroll given a chance to shine in the heart of the Spurs midfield at some point in 2015.
Simply…improve the home form!
The frustrating thing for Tottenham supporters and Pochettino no doubt, is that if Spurs had won some of the home games in which they were expected to, they could be sitting quite comfortably in fourth spot already.
Home defeats to the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United, Stoke City and Southampton were major disappointments during the first half of 2014/15 whilst wins over Everton and Newcastle in the Capital One Cup were perhaps two of the best performances of the season – both of which came at White Hart Lane.
Back to back home wins over Newcastle and Burnley before Christmas may well give Tottenham some momentum at home going into the second half of the campaign. If they can get that right, there is no reason why they cannot challenge for the top four given their habit of picking up away victories this term.
