What's gone wrong with Spurs this season?

Going into the start pf the season at the Tottenham hotspur stadium, all signs were good. Qualified for the champions league last season, a big summer outlay on players like Yves Bissouma, Richarlison Clement Lenglet all in positions of need but things just haven’t clicked and now the future of manager Antonio Conte comes under the microscope.

When Daniel Levy took the punt on the Italian it was seen as a massive coup for the north London club. A serial winner at a club who have been starved of silverware for the best part of 15 years was only going to be a match made in heaven when it was made. And it started brilliantly, finishing in the top four in the last day of the season following an outstanding 3-0 victory over their North London rivals Arsenal. But this season it’s been a stale watch for fans of the Lilly Whites.

The one thing associated with Antonio Conte wherever he’s gone is a solid back line. Whether it be Chelsea, Inter Milan or Juventus, the Italian’s teams have had a solid foundation, but that hasn’t transferred to White Hart Lane. Only five more teams have conceded more goals than Spurs and that translates to the underlying numbers as well with them 14th for Xg conceded. With only under a week to go In the January transfer window, you’d expect the Italian to be banging down the door of Daniel Levy requesting funds to help shore up his backline.

Centre half is something that has needed upgraded for years, they still haven’t replaced the colossus pair of Jan Vertonghan and Toby Alderwereld. Eric Dier and Ben Davies are just not at the quality needed to be where Spurs want to be, both great servants but are in desperate need of an upgrade. Cristian Romero is very good, but he can’t do it all himself, Clement Lenglet is fine but hasn’t exactly set the world alight since he moved from Barcelona in the summer. There is only so much Conte can do with the tools at his disposal when the players just simply aren’t good enough.

Whilst the backline leaves a lot to be desired, you’d expect the world class front three to be banging in the goals left right and centre. But that simply hasn’t been the case.

Richarlison has struggled to live up to his £60 million price tag, Dejan Kulusevski has been out for a good bit with injuries and Heung Min Son has fallen off a cliff having only got three goals in the league this season. So, once again they are relying on the main man Harry Kane to get the goals and he has carried this team on his back in the forward department yet again.

The transfer window has gone fine so far, Arnaut Danjuma on loan is a good start and will hopefully, take the burden off of Harry Kane for the goals, Pedro Porro is very close to signing from Sporting CP which is massive because Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty and Djed Spence are, much like the majority of the defence, not good enough.

Recently there have been links to Everton’s Anthony Gordon, but with the Toffees demanding somewhere between 40 and 50 million, I think a centre half, or tow, would be a much better use of funds.

But the one position where Spurs need an upgrade, and it’s something that has been creeping up on the Lilly Whites for some time, and that is Goalkeeper.

Hugo Lloris has always had a mistake in him, but with that mistake you could always rely on him to make an outstanding save a long with it, but the latter hasn’t been there. And he needs to be replaced if Tottenham want to be challenging for top 4s and titles. Loyalty to older heads in football gets you nowhere in the long run and it’s time to cut their losses when it comes to the Frenchmen and whether that is putting Fraser Forster as a chance to stake his claim between the sticks or spending money on a new shot stopper. David Raya of Brentford has been linked with the Bees only wanting close to £15 million for the Spaniard if that’s the case Tottenham should be all over that and make him their number one for the next 5-8 years.

Antonio Conte’s job should be at the forefront of the mind of Daniel Levy, there has to be clarity regarding the Italians position, for the fans sake and the players. Keeping folk guessing will garner a toxic fan base, and it has already started. During their 1-0 win over Fulham chants of ‘Antonio’ and ‘we want Levy out’ were able to be heard from the away end for a lot of the match.

But the general consensus is this will be Conte’s final season at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. According to Italian journalist Di Marzio, Conte’s family is still in Italy and that will be a prime reason as to why he hasn’t penned a new deal at the Lilly Whites.

If Spurs are to end the season managerless, the man who the fans are crying out for is Mauricio Pochetino. The Argentinian has been out a job since he left PSG at the back end of last season and the links to Spurs have been continuous and if Conte is to leave, I wouldn’t be shocked if the SOS call is answered and Poch is back in the dugout come the 23/24 season.