Recent form is down to a combination of things. In my view they are:
1) World Cup Year - we can't ignore that a large bulk of our squad played at the WC and went to the latter stages of the competition. Asking a squad this thin to perform for an entire season straight after a summer with little rest was always going to backfire on us. The way we have played this season, limping and scrapping through games playing some of the most drab and hard to stomach football I've seen from Spurs surely is a product of that. Now we have ran out of gas and mental strength and the cracks are starting to widen.
2) Lack of Signings - going into this season, every fan could see where our shortcomings were, yet we didn't address them or work hard enough or take enough chances to get what was required in 2 transfer windows! Like other posters, I'm not expecting Ronaldo to walk through the doors at Spurs but we needed 2, even 3 good quality additions to give us some fresh blood, new ideas, creativity and above all, leadership on the field.
3) Complacency - we've developed this habit of becoming complacent and nervous at precisely the wrong times during the season, whether it's the domestic cups or against so-called lesser opposition or our closest rivals in the PL. Watford, Wolves, Arsenal, Palace (in the Cup), United at home, Chelsea away, Burnley, Arsenal at home (which was a pen save away from another defeat) and now Saints. Again, lack of leadership and mental strength.
4) Lack of Belief - not always, but when the chips were down at crucial points in the season when opportunity knocked, we didn't seem to have that ability to lift ourselves and really fight. We went into our shells and always never grabbed opportunities when they were there. This could come from the fact the players know our squad options are wafer thin or the fact the "project" as it is always referred to as, is not really convincing all the players all the time anymore.
5) Predictability - most teams know the Spurs way of playing now and with our squad being established and "as is" for some time now, we can no longer spring any surprises. Ironically, when Kane was injured, we were forced to play a different way and then went on a great run of wins, playing some good football. As much as I love Kane, he's like a funnel. Everything has to go through him and we need to stop this as it's hindering us and making the job of the opposition far easier to nullify our attacks. That is down to Poch to find ways to make Kane stop trying to do so much and stick to what he's best at.
6) Inconsistent Back Four - the back four changes far too often for me. We all know the RB position has been a problem since we lost Walker to City. But chopping and changing the centre back pairings is making us wobbly and nervous. From one game to the next, we can never predict who will play there. During the season when we had the best defence in the PL, we had a consistent back line. Not anymore.
7) Lack of Leadership - never liked keepers being captains and still don't. They can't influence the game sat back in the 18 yard box, it's impossible. Lloris for me is not captain material. Shouting "away" each time a cross comes into the ball is just a way of telling the back four it's your ball to deal with. That's not leadership. What we need is a general out there. My god, I've been banging on about this for years now and we still don't have one. Someone with real pedigree, experience and past silverware the young players can learn from and look up to. Having a youthful team is great to mould them to your way of playing but when things go bad, they need someone out there to pick them up. Jan is the closest thing we have to that. He should be captain for now but I still want someone in the middle of the park to run the show in every sense of the word.
8) Players going AWOL - heads have been turned and we know it's highly likely Eriksen and Toby will be leaving this summer. If we don't make top 4 this season, that is almost certainly guaranteed. I think this has led Eriksen especially, to coast through this season when we needed his influence. He went missing in all the crunch combative games against the teams that scrap and battle. He's also been poor against the top 6 this season.
9) Wembley - without doubt playing nearly a full 2nd seasons away hasn't helped us and has added to the air of uncertainty. Still, I don't subscribe to the belief the new stadium will cure all our troubles as some seem to suggest. There's much wider problems to solve and I think any lift at the new ground will be temporary. Our issue is now our away form now which has gone from the best in Europe to utter cack.
10) Fear - you can see that old adversary rear its ugly head from time to time. Again, this is a mentality thing but we look like a team that is now worried about United, Chelsea and even Arsenal catching us. There's been many games this season when teams have had a real go at us and we looked nervous and scared. A couple of seasons ago we looked assured and confident but that seems to be ebbing away. Why?
Poch has got his work cut out these next three weeks. I hope that trip overseas with the players gives them a fresh start and we can go again. COYS.
