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What's wrong at Tottenham? Assessing Mauricio Pochettino's situation

Three months ago, everything was looking rosy for Tottenham Hotspur and their manager Mauricio Pochettino. The North London outfit had qualified for the final of the Champions League for the first time in their history. The fact that they achieved this feat despite not spending even a single penny drew more praise. 

Pochettino's stock was on an all-time high as he was nominated as one of the top three managers by Fifa. Fast forward three months, things have taken a downturn for both the club and the manager. 

Despite spending big money on the likes of Ryan Sessegnon, Tanguy Ndombele, and Giovani Lo Celso, Spurs seem to be worse. Many pundits tipped Spurs to be contenders for the Premier League, but they are 10 points behind Liverpool. The League Cup defeat against fourth division side Colchester rubbed salt on the wounds. 

If domestic losses were not enough, Spurs suffered humiliation in Europe at the hands of Bayern Munich. Tottenham suffered the heaviest home defeat in their 137-year-old history as they shipped seven goals against the Bundesliga champions. Suddenly their season seems to be coming apart, and some questions are being raised on the position of their Argentine manager. 

Tottenham might have recruited well, but they failed to ship off stars who don't want to remain at the club. The likes of Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld,Serge Aurier and Danny Rose are said to be unhappy with the club. Pochettino has been forced to work with players he didn’t want in the first place, which seems to be affecting the harmony in the squad.

There are suggestions that the squad has peaked, and the club can't go any further from this point. The Argentine manager himself pointed out that the next two windows will be very critical for the club. Tottenham will need to sell some stars who want to leave the club, and they would have to find some able replacements. 

Cover image credits: Sporting Life

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