Following a humiliating home defeat on Sunday against Wolves, Spurs manager Antonio Conte painted a grim yet honest picture in his post-match comments while assessing the squad’s chances of finishing in the top four.
He said (Sky Sports): “When you lose two games at home and against Chelsea – for a team that wants to qualify for the Champions League, it’s impossible to happen.
“The players need to find the right atmosphere and feel no pressure about a target that in this moment you can’t reach. I’ve been saying this since my arrival.”
He later added: “We need to be realistic and together. Also with our fans. The fans need to understand to have patience, to wait to rebuild again to a situation they were used to in the past.”
If those comments don’t paint a brutally honest picture, I’m not sure what will. Antonio Conte is right.
This Tottenham squad as currently constructed and in its current run of form is not a top-four club. In fact, it’s far from it.
While this campaign’s goal is to return to Champions League football, Spurs are well off the mark for it, and I for one would be terrified to see this team against any of the best European clubs.
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Sure, there will be a summer transfer window before the start of next season, but how much that will change things – and if the club will even be in the competition – is yet to be known.
A team that is top-four calibre doesn’t lose at home to Southampton, especially after leading 2-1 with 20 minutes to play. They don’t fall behind 2-0 after 20 minutes against Wolves at home either. They also don’t get crushed 3-0 against Manchester United, a team also contending for the final Champions League spot.
And I hate to say it, but a team of Champions League quality doesn’t get knocked out of the group stages in the UEFA Europa Conference League, either.
What Conte said after the defeat to Wolves said a lot. Not only is he correct that this team isn’t currently top-four material, but he also said something else that was very telling.
We need to be realistic.
Spurs were in the Champions League final just about three years ago. Since then, results have fallen off as the club has gone from top-four to a Europa League shock exit in Zagreb to an embarrassing display in the Conference League.
Don’t forget how Spurs failed to even show for the two finals they qualified for in that three-year span, whether it be the 2019 UCL finale or the 2021 EFL Cup defeat.
We all want those evenings of Champions League football to return, but how the team is playing right now puts that in serious jeopardy. But we also, as fans, need to be realistic.
This isn’t the squad that was league runners-up nearly five years ago. This isn’t the same team that produced that incredible night in Amsterdam in 2019. Right now, this squad isn’t even good enough to win UEFA’s third-tier trophy.
As fans, we have become accustomed to – and often even expect – Champions League, and at the bare minimum Europa League football year in and year out. But maybe it is time for us to reset our expectations.
This team quite possibly isn’t good enough to reach the top four. There are too many holes to fill, too many things that need fixing.
Maybe they will put together a run and snag that last UCL spot. Maybe they’ll fall just short and end up playing in the Europa League. Or, maybe neither.
But if one thing is for sure as supporters of Tottenham Hotspur right now, we can’t expect too much of them, or we could be the ones left disappointed by the result.
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