It’s a strange thing for a club to be in Tottenham’s position yet still be considered such huge outsiders for the Premier League title.
Once again, Mauricio Pochettino has worked his managerial magic and manoeuvred his depleted squad into the top three and secure a last 16 place in the Champions League. All without financial backing and an extensive injury list bogging him down. In fact, it’s both remarkable and tragic that every year he’s able to pull off the same quality results yet never secure any silverware for his efforts.
That said, to pick him or any other player and criticise them for the unfortunate events that have unfolded during Tottenham’s season would be wholly unfair.
Instead, the blame should fall firmly on the lap of Daniel Levy, who has consistently failed to back Pochettino in the transfer market, and invested in a brand new arena which no one asked for.
The new stadium is nice, yes, but you’d do well to find a Tottenham fan who’d trade Premier League or European success for a fancy new seat to watch their team in. And that’s the problem with Daniel Levy: he’s sacrificed what really matters, football.
Spurs have been left without Lloris, Rose, Trippier, Alderwiereld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Aurier, Dembele, Wanyama, Eriksen, Lamela, Dier, Moura, Sissoko, Kane, and Alli, at any given point without any obvious options to replace them. It’s unrealistic to expect any manager to achieve without investment in modern football, and for Pochettino to have done as well as he has all these years is testament to him as a coach, not Levy as a chairman.
Indeed, when Pochettino leaves for greener pastures, Levy will do incredibly well to successfully apply the same kind of model to anyone else. Tottenham will inevitably and unfortunately suffer.
