Why this season has gone so sour for Spurs

Adrian Curtis13 April 2012

It is not hard to pinpoint the moment when Tottenham's season began to go off the rails. At the time, the away defeat at Charlton on 8 December seemed nothing more than a blip. Now it represents much more than the loss of three points.

Until that 3-1 defeat, Glenn Hoddle's team had been rampant, their football electric.

Although they still managed to score 10 in their next two games against Fulham in the Premiership and a below-strength Bolton in the Worthington Cup, the warning signs were there and since 22 December, when they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home to struggling Ipswich, Tottenham's season has gone into rapid decline.

Four straight defeats - three in the Premiership and one in the FA Cup - have ruined a season which promised so much and yet, once again, has failed to deliver.

In the 12 league games following that defeat by Ipswich, Spurs have won only three times - at home to Blackburn, Leicester and Sunderland. The one unlikely and isolated peak, amid a series of indifferent performances, was the 5-1 Worthington Cup semi-final second-leg win over Chelsea.

Hoddle has been forced to tinker with a side he had spent much of the season ensuring had a balanced look. Although his excuses about injuries are justified to some extent, they do not explain why it has all gone so wrong in the last three months. After all, Spurs were tearing sides part without Stephen Carr, Stephen Clemence, Goran Bunjevcevic and Gary Doherty for much of the season.

The real reasons for their abrupt slide out of contention for a place in Europe via the Premiership - and their demoralising defeat in the Worthington Cup Final by Blackburn and the FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Chelsea - lie in a combination of factors. Some can easily be addressed but others cannot.

Hoddle was forced to play around with his finely-tuned side because of a catalogue of looming suspensions, which threatened to rob him of key players for the Worthington Cup Final.

However, leaving them out of various Premiership games upset the balance of the team and ate away at the players' confidence.

The loss of Steffen Freund with cruciate ligament damage in early January has been crucial. His replacement, Tim Sherwood, is a natural leader but the German's defensive midfield qualities have been sorely missed.

You only have to look at how many times the Spurs midfield has been overrun in Freund's absence. Charlton on Monday night was another example.

More significant is the vexed question of the over-30s club. In an ideal world Teddy Sheringham and Les Ferdinand, who are both 35, and Gus Poyet, who is 34, would not have played the amount of games they have this season.

But the club's preoccupation with gaining a place in Europe through success in the two cups has forced Hoddle's hand. As a result, Poyet looks tired, Sheringham has not been at his best since the turn of the year and Ferdinand has played while carrying knocks on numerous occasions.

Both Poyet and Sheringham went missing during the Worthington Cup Final and when the youngsters in Hoddle's side looked to them for experience and guidance they didn't get it. Add to this terrible mix the never-ending saga of Darren Anderton's hamstring problem and the hot-headed stupidity of Argentine Mauricio Taricco and it is no wonder points have been lost at an alarming rate.

So how does Hoddle arrest the slide and begin making improvements? With difficulty is the realistic answer. He needs to buy top-class players but the club has little money available for him to spend and that situation is unlikely to change drastically in the summer.

To boost what funds ENIC allows him to spend, the sale of Sergei Rebrov is a must. Privately, I am sure the club is already trying to offload the Ukraine striker but his poor displays at Spurs have lowered the inflated £11million fee they paid Dynamo Kiev for his services two years ago.

Rebrov is a pleasant guy but he is clearly not suited to playing in the Premiership. His first touch is indifferent and referees have long since wised-up to his trademark tumble at the whisper of a defender's presence.

In his place will come either Sunderland's Kevin Phillips or Tore Andre Flo from Glasgow Rangers. Hoddle will back up that signing with a promising continental midfielder while a move for Brighton's Bobby Zamora cannot be ruled out.

The departures of midfielders Oyvind Leonhardsen, Sherwood, and striker Chris Armstrong are also likely, while Carr, Doherty, Clemence and Bunjevcevic should all be back, providing Hoddle with some welcome options.

But in the meantime things are not going to get better.

Fulham, Leeds, Arsenal and Liverpool are among the sides Spurs face in the run-in and the lack of depth in Hoddle's squad is beginning to bite.

What looked so promising before the referee started play in the Worthington Cup Final in Cardiff has turned sour and Spurs fans had better prepare for a bumpy end to the season.

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