Do Not Underestimate a Wounded and Stronger Tottenham Hotspur This Season
Do not underestimate the power of wounded pride.
For much of last season, it appeared Tottenham Hotspur were on the brink of a historic campaign and their first league title in over half a century, but they would of course spectacularly implode and finish a sizeable 11 points behind Leicester City.
While Spurs were the Foxes' most determined pursuers, if you consult last year’s final league table, you will find they finished third behind Arsenal as well.
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On the final weekend of the season, as Tottenham slumped to a shocking 5-1 defeat to Newcastle United, their north London rivals unexpectedly surpassed them and took great pleasure in revelling in their pain and embarrassment.
The final league table didn’t look quite right, as disappointing Arsenal were runners-up and thrilling title-challengers Tottenham were in third place. But there had been no mistake, and White Hart Lane was plunged into an uncomfortable summer.
Three months on and the feelings are still raw, and last week, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed how his side’s collapse had affected him, per MailOnline.
“I wanted to kill all of them and I did not have the opportunity to kill them. I kill myself, too," he said. "They need to hear from the manager my feelings, how I felt after the game and after the season, because there was no time to share [then]. “
As the new season begins, Tottenham do not have the best players or the most glamorous new signings. Like so many of their rivals, they don't have a new trophy manager either, but they possess something possibly even more powerful: a cause.
It was a cause—to prove people wrong and create history—that drove Leicester all the way to their incredible Premier League title win last season. And it was a cause, even for just 90 minutes, that fuelled dishevelled Hull City’s remarkable win against the champions on Saturday.
Tottenham now have a cause this season: to silence all the mocking and gloating they had to endure last season and prove they can last the distance after all.
Pochettino is an impressive young manager, and if he is wise, he will harness the feelings of shame and despair his side would have collectively felt inside the dressing room at Stamford Bridge when they surrendered the title in a draw to Chelsea, and then at St James' Park when they fell to that heavy defeat to throw away the dignity of even finishing as runners-up.
That burning desire to remedy a wrong is not freely available in the transfer market, but Tottenham now have it.
There is more to Spurs than simply a sense of grievance, though, and Pochettino presides over a squad of immense talent capable of making a serious and sustained challenge for the title.
When it all came together for Tottenham last season, they were the best team in the country—certainly the most thrilling to watch—with their intensity and fluid movement.
Pochettino appears to have constructed an attacking team without sacrificing anything in defence, and so it was no surprise his side had the best goal difference in the Premier League last season, achieved with the joint-best defence and the second-best goals total.
This was also the first time since 1976 that a side with the best goal difference in the top flight had finished outside the top two places.
It should not be forgotten that Tottenham are a young side—their average age of 24 was the youngest of any club in the entire Premier League last season—and these players will be wiser, more experienced and, crucially, better this season.
Imagine an even better Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela.
And the expectation that these fine players will become even better has meant Tottenham have not needed to spend vast amounts this summer.
While Manchester City and Manchester United have so far spent in excess of £300 million between them this summer, Tottenham have spent a mere £31 million, only the eighth most in the Premier League during this window.
But less can often mean more, and Pochettino’s strategic purchases of Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen have immediately improved his squad.
The arrival of Wanyama—for an almost bargain £11 million in this hyperinflated market—will lend the Tottenham midfield even greater presence, and his battle with Dier and the suspended Mousa Dembele for the two starting holding midfield roles should bring out the best in all three of them.
The real concern for Tottenham throughout last season was the chronic overreliance on Kane up front, but the signing of Netherlands international Janssen has now solved that.
The top scorer in the Eredivisie last season with 27 goals for AZ Alkmaar, the 22-year-old can serve as Kane’s understudy or play alongside him when Pochettino uses two strikers.
Janssen made an immediate impact on his Tottenham debut at the weekend, providing them with more options when he came on in the second half to help his side come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw with Everton.
Pochettino told Sky Sports: "The team felt comfortable [when Vincent came on] and he brought good energy into the team. He is a different option to play and it is for this that we signed him, We’re very happy with him."
There could be further additions before the transfer window closes, but for now, Pochettino should be content with a squad that possesses no obvious weakness.
Instead, it offers him stamina, work rate, imposing bodies across the pitch, a world-class goalkeeper and a defence and attack that excel at their jobs. There is also the promise of further young players emerging during the season.
“We need to know how to improve our mental state…it is here in our heads that we need to improve,” is what Pochettino correctly deduced from last season’s untimely collapse.
If both the players and the manager can address this, then emboldened by their new cause, Tottenham could be an even stronger proposition this season.
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