Tottenham Hotspur’s title chase is in jeopardy after a thumping 2-0 defeat against Liverpool last evening. The North London outfit, currently second in the league table, are already ten points adrift of rivals Chelsea who wasted a golden opportunity tonight to be twelve points as they could just manage a draw Vs Burnley at Turf Moor.
Spurs are the only consistent side barring Chelsea who have shown drastic improvement since the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino. He not only ensured a top-four finish last term but also converted them into title contenders.
But they literally surrendered against Liverpool yesterday as the Argentine boss had no answer of Klopp’s ‘gegenpressing’. They were clueless at back and forced to make mistakes which led Sadio Mane to score a brace in quick succession. Also, Harry Kane, their lethal weapon in attacking third, was contained by Lucas Leiva who played as a makeshift centre-back due to the absence of Dejan Lovren.
Pochettino trusts in his academy graduates and relied on the likes of Harry Winks, Joshua Onomah, Cameron Carter-Vickers instead of signing big names to increase squad depth as well as bench strength. It reflects a great instance for football especially in an era when money is dominating the beautiful game more than ever.
But the reality is somewhat different. A team must have an equally good bench strength so the players can be rotated and change the fortune of a game after coming on as a substitute. For example, Chelsea have players like Pedro, Cesc Fabregas, Kurt Zouma, John Terry, Michy Batshuayi etc who can have major influence from the bench.
Both the Manchester clubs have a similar advantage over Spurs who lack enough depth in their squad. They have not been hit by frequent injuries like Liverpool or Arsenal and played a similar lineup in almost every single Premier League game week. But whenever they relied on an alternative starting eleven ( be it in Champions League or domestic Cups), Tottenham have suffered major setbacks. The likes of Vincent Janssen and Moussa Sissoko have not been able to live up to the expectations and failed to leave any impact so far.
Also, Tottenham’s strict wage structure has refrained them from acquiring several transfer targets. They have brought in a number of magnificent youngsters but missed out on several big names failing to match their wage demands. They lack experience in their squad and need to sort these things out in order to become title favorites from next campaign onward.
