Tottenham in Crisis

Another manager bites the dust, but who will be next?

Well! Four months after the last managerial search took place, Tottenham are back at square one.

Nuno Espírito Santo has been sacked. The club really didn't have any other option but to let him go after the 0-3 loss to Manchester United on Saturday. Nuno seems like a nice person and we can all wish him well in his future endeavors, but he clearly wasn't cut out for the Tottenham job, and his position had become untenable, not to mention the further damage to his reputation if he had stayed on. It might be a little harsh to say all of that after he won PL Manager of the Month for August, but that has definitely looked more and more like a fluke as the season has progressed. We'll always have that early three-game win streak to remember him by--I'd rather forget most of the rest of his tenure at Spurs.

We shouldn't be surprised that a man who was so low down in the pecking order in the summer manager search would turn out to disappoint, but it's good that the board have admitted his appointment was a mistake and decided to move on before the poor results could continue. Nuno's defensive-minded approach was never going to be a good fit for a club with a preference for attacking football, and despite his efforts to reform his tactics and adopt a more offensive mindset, the disconnect was plain to see on the pitch.

Unfortunately, the club statement on Nuno's sacking didn't provide any immediate announcement on who the next manager would be. Many have speculated that Ryan Mason could be installed as caretaker once again, possibly until after Christmas, so that the club can focus on bringing in the right manager long term. I wouldn't mind this approach, because a) we can't be playing any worse than we already have, and I actually think Mason would have us playing better and b) getting the next manager right is crucial--we can't afford another hasty, short-sighted appointment.

But if the latest rumors are true, Spurs are actually lining up an appointment of Antonio Conte. I personally find this hard to believe since he turned us down in the summer and I would think the Tottenham job is an even less attractive prospect now than it was four months ago, but perhaps money is talking. And by money, I mean a firm arrangement (not just a gentleman's agreement) from the board to supply him with the proper funds in January to get some smart transfers in and start turning things around. I just hope this isn't going to be another deal-with-the-devil type situation like Mourinho.

Whoever ends up getting the job, I just hope they can get the team playing the kind of football that we can get behind as fans. Hearing the boos at the game on Saturday on the TV was painful enough, and I can't imagine how toxic the atmosphere felt inside the stadium. It's just sad that it's gotten to the point where the squad is feeling stale despite some exciting transfers this summer; there's still more work to be done for Paratici and the new manager. For the sake of the club and some of the underperforming players, it's best for everyone if they move along, both for Tottenham's future success and the sake of those players' careers. You can't begin a "painful rebuild" and only go about it halfway.

Recent results

You know I've been feeling more negative about the club than usual if I didn't even have the heart to recap our last two games before the Man U debacle. I try to be positive about Spurs even when things are going poorly, but this past week felt like a case of "the players don't seem to care, so why should I?" I know that's not the case for every member of the squad, but it's true for too many of them at the moment.

Anyway, the West Ham 0-1 loss pretty much boiled down to the fact that Reguilón made one careless mistake in an otherwise strong performance, leading to a West Ham set piece goal (sound familiar, eh?). I'm not sure what business Kane had marking Antonio in the first place, but he certainly didn't put in much effort. You have to think that if he were any other player he'd have been dropped from the starting XI by now, but alas. He is Harry Kane. Hopefully the new manager, caretaker or otherwise, can light a fire under him (and maybe remind him that playing poorly isn't going to make him a desirable transfer for other clubs?). As usual, Nuno's subs came too late, and we didn't register a single shot on target in the second half--which would soon become a worrying trend.

I will be honest and say that I wasn't watching the Burnley League Cup match as closely as I normally would have because I was too busy watching Bayern Munich experience a complete meltdown in the German Pokal (sigh), but from the glimpses I did take, it didn't seem like riveting football from Spurs either. But we did secure a narrow 1-0 win and advanced to the quarter-final... only to have the bad luck of drawing West Ham for that fixture. At least it's a home match? 😬 It's also good to see Lucas getting a goal and not having it stolen by the dreaded Own Goal this time.

And the Man U match... I really don't want to dwell on it too much, since the club has obviously decided to draw a line under it by firing Nuno. But we have to acknowledge that going an entire match without a shot on target is simply unacceptable. This was another match where our opponent wasn't that good, it's just that we were completely toothless in attack. It's so frustrating to see the team arriving in the final third and stalling out every time. We did have a goal ruled offside from Romero, who seemed to appear in the box more often than Kane did in this match. It was another no-show from our striker. Is there a clause in his contract that he can't be benched? I'm seriously wondering.

Players like Son, Lucas, and Lo Celso were trying to make something happen, but as usual under Nuno, there didn't appear to be a recognizable plan and they all seemed to lack clarity in what their roles were. It's frustrating to see them trying to do the work of several players and not being effective at all as a result.

The team selection also cast serious doubt on Nuno's judgment. It was surprising to see Davies in the starting lineup instead of Reguilón. Yes, Regui had made an error in the previous match, but on the whole, he's been one of our best players so far this season, while Davies has failed to impress the few times that he has played (mostly in the ECL). Nuno said after the match that he had chosen to start Davies because he was "a bit more consistent." Sure, Jan. Really though, Reguilón is our assist leader in the PL campaign so far (albeit only with two), and we missed his presence in the attack. As it happens, there are now just three players who have featured in every PL match (Lloris, Højbjerg, and Skipp) since Regui was dropped for this one. All these changes to the starting XI can't be helping with team cohesion.

Nuno's subs were quite literally the straw that broke the camel's back, if the boos from the fans were any indication. He finally made an early sub, but it was the wrong one--Lucas deserved to stay on the pitch. And that's all I have to say on this match; the sooner we all repress it from our memories, the better. It can only go up from here, right?

10 games down

After starting the first few weeks at the top of the table, Spurs end the 10th matchday with a .50 record, five wins and five losses--no draws.

Here's a snapshot of where we're at:

∙ five points off 4th... but also five points off 15th

∙ worse goal difference than Burnley, who are in the relegation zone, and we only have a better GD than Newcastle and Norwich, who are also in the relegation zone

∙ joint third-worst goal tally with 9 goals, only above Leeds (8) and Norwich (2)

I suppose that we're lucky to not be further down the standings, considering how shambolic the performances have been, but our paltry goal difference does put us in a tough situation. We're not going to be winning any points tie-breakers this season at this rate.

That feels like enough misery for today, so I'll be back after the Vitesse game on Thursday to recap that match and look ahead to our last PL match before the next international break, an away fixture at Everton. Hopefully we have a manager in place by then 🤞🏻. Whoever it is, we need to get behind them.

COYS