Tottenham Hotspur fans would have been brimming with confidence at the start of the season after splashing out on Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele in the summer.
Spurs also qualified for the Champions League again last year, as well as reaching the final of the competition.
It seemed as if the only way was up for the Lilywhites, but those dreams have come crashing down after just three weeks of the new campaign.
Spurs now look disjointed, unsettled, fatigued, and unmotivated. Things seem to be going on behind closed doors with Eriksen and Vertonghen being dropped from the starting line ups.
Pochettino’s men have already dropped five points this season, in a year in which some saw them as certainties for at least third spot.
Arsenal legend, Paul Merson, has been shocked and disappointed by Tottenham in these opening weeks, ahead of a crucial North London derby against the Gunners.
He said (Sky Sports): “I must admit, I didn’t see this coming – Tottenham losing at home to Newcastle. Spurs look in disarray, a worrying sign this early in the season.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“They are out of the title race already, five points behind Liverpool with three games played. That may sound harsh, but would you back Spurs to win the league over Liverpool if Liverpool had a five-point head start?
“People go on and on about there being 35 games left but I’m fed up with that rhetoric, five points is a lot of points to make up.
“As a general rule, it takes five games to make up five points, Liverpool lost once last season and have won every game so far this, so where are Spurs going to bridge the gap?
“Before a ball was kicked, I thought Spurs were a dead cert to finish in the top three, now they look in the equation for top four football after their performances.
“I rate Tottenham highly as a team – they were Champions League finalists less than three months ago after all – but they have shocked me, they have been my biggest disappointment this season so far, and I’m not just saying that because I used to play for Arsenal.
“Pochettino’s comments that he has never seen so much unrest at a football club the other day were concerning and eye-opening.
“He doesn’t normally speak so strongly, he always looks after the club’s interests and gets on with the job at hand. But his comment suggests things are unravelling at the moment.”
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
