Where do Tottenham go from here?

It was a struggle keeping my breakfast down this morning whilst eating from my Tottenham cereal bowl and drinking my morning cuppa from my Spurs mug.

Speaking of mugs, I’m still reeling from Sunday’s shambolic display at Carrow Road. Like many comments I’ve read, it was probably the most inept display I have seen all season. That is saying something, considering we were walloped by City and Liverpool.

Dawson mimicked a headless chicken while Rose appeared to be off doing whatever he liked and tracking back half-heartedly. However, the most worrying aspect is that three players in particular looked angry and frustrated: Vertonghen, Dembele and, to a slightly lesser extent, Lloris.

Now we all know how important those three are to Spurs’ immediate future. Dembele threw the ball down in anger in front of the referee in the first half to pick up a booking, while Vertonghen was wayward with his passing and just looked as though he wanted to trot off back down the tunnel.

In the second half, Lloris was continually pictured shaking his head. For all that I would love Sherwood to succeed, it must be heavily odds-on that he won’t be there next term, and Levy has a good excuse now as Champions League football is a million to one shot.

Hopefully behind the scenes, the board is working on bringing in Louis Van Gaal. Yes, he is getting on in years, but there is no arguing with his CV. I fear that if we don’t bring in someone with stature, we will not only struggle to bring in the type of talent needed to secure a top four place, but we’ll also end up losing the three above mentioned players.

Having read some of the comments on Spurs-Web last night, it is hard to argue with many of the points made. Many believed it was like watching AVB’s tactics again, but for me it was even worse, and why, oh why have we reverted to one up front after such a promising start with Tim playing two up front?

Adebeyor looked like a spare part on his own on Sunday, but truthfully the whole team need to give themselves a good shake.

The tactics were poor and the bench appeared reluctant to switch things up until very late on. Looking at some of the players on the bench, it appears to me all is not well with Andros Townsend. Whether he is feeling something or, more likely his confidence is shot to bits, only he and possibly the men in charge only know.

Aaron Lennon was one of the brighter sparks but he looked as if he was running on empty with 25 minutes to go and a switch then could have made a difference.

The biggest surprise was that Christian Eriksen was left on the bench. The one man, aside from Townsend, who could have made an opening never got a sniff. Was he just a window dressing on the bench and also carrying something, or has Tim got one eye on Thursday’s Europa game?

Looking more in depth at the actual style (or lack of it!) yesterday, it still grates with me that with so many internationals in our side, we still take too many touches on the ball, lack any fluency and have reverted to AVB’s negative ways of passing the ball back and allowing the opposition to regain their shape.

At this level we should be passing the ball like the top four – yet even smaller teams such as Swansea and Southampton are doing a better job in this area. How has this not been drilled into the training regime? If we really want to mix it with the big boys, then this is a basic necessity.

Having started with plenty of energy and attacking intent under Sherwood, they have reverted back to their negative old ways. Looking at the team yesterday, it was if they had never played in the same side. There were loose passes, lack of ball control and so many of them possessed the touch of an elephant.

It’s starting to look as if they need to rip up the book and start all over again. Injuries or not, those on the field yesterday are better than that.

One other possible factor in Spurs’ performance issues I wanted to touch upon is the backroom staff.

I confess to knowing little to nothing about Chris Ramsey, but Les Ferdinand for me is a concern, and even more so, Steffen Freund. The latter may look like he is Mr Intelligent on the bench, as he is always seen with pad and pen in hand, when he could be playing noughts and crosses for all we know. He wasn’t taken very seriously as a player when running round Lewis Holtby-style in the late 90s, taking pot shots at goal, yet managed no goals from 102 appearances for the club.

So when I saw him on AVB’s staff I was concerned then. I just wonder how much of an impact he is making and whether Sherwood, who seems to be his own man, has any faith in him or whether it was the Chairman’s idea to keep Freund on?

Ferdinand is always Mr Smiley and comes across as a good guy, but he never struck me as a tactical genius and left his best form at QPR and Newcastle before joining us in ’97. Again, do you believe he has a big say in what goes on on the pitch, or is his role solely in aiding the strikers in training? God help us if that is the case!

All in all, we’ve gone massively backwards and I fear holding onto fifth place will be a result.

Where do you think we should go from here, and what are your thoughts on our backroom staff?

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