From sunny Udine to Harry Houdini. From the foothills of the Alps to the lower reaches of the Premier League.
From the carefree glamour of the UEFA Super Cup in August to the stomach-churning tension of Sunday’s desperate need for one more point, the 39th of their woeful Premier League campaign. It seems like lifetime since Tottenham gave beach-brained Paris Saint-Germain a fright in Italy with Thomas Frank’s surprise wing backs and Kevin Danso’s long throw.
The tactical dexterity of new boss Frank was hailed as he returned to London, flexed his system, whacked three goals past Burnley, tweaked again and won at Manchester City. All this in the afterglow of Bilbao and the shot of euphoria after Daniel Levy’s exit but positivity ebbed away, replaced by the slow realisation that things were not forced to get better. And might even get worse. And perhaps nothing too significant had changed after all.
Spurs will finish at best 17th, the same as last season, which at the time seemed to be an anomaly but might be a trend. It doesn’t help the mood when Arsenal are crowned champions.
Spurs supporters’ groups shelved plans for protests this season. Things got so bad they agreed to back the team, but the Change For Tottenham group will protest after the final whistle against Everton to make their feelings clear to the owners even if they escape relegation.
‘It is unacceptable and a little bit embarrassing that we’re in this position as Tottenham Hotspur,’ said James Maddison on Tuesday after defeat at Chelsea, only his second appearance of the season having missed a year with a cruciate knee injury. ‘But it’s the reality unfortunately and it’s up to us to get out of it.’
From the carefree glamour of the UEFA Super Cup in August to the stomach-churning tension of Sunday’s desperate need for one more point, the 39th of Spurs’ woeful league campaign
Spurs will finish at best 17th, the same as last season, which at the time seemed to be an anomaly but might be a trend. It doesn’t help the mood when Arsenal are crowned champions
Spurs supporters’ groups shelved plans for protests this season. Things got so bad they agreed to back the team
The Lewis family insist they are committed to Spurs irrespective of the division they are in next season and reject the endless speculation that they are looking to sell. This has been a bruising first season minus the Levy shield. The family was out in force at West Ham, the first outing of the new regime in September but have been less visible as weeks passed and the atmosphere soured.
The legion of ambassadors, including Gary Mabbutt, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ledley King have been summoned in to represent Spurs at away games. A minibus packed with legends was on parade when they played at Aston Villa. There is expected to be some Lewis family presence against Everton to see the bitter end of a dismal campaign.
Turning up to show solidarity really should be the bare minimum, although not for everyone. Injured captain Cristian Romero is expected to be in Argentina watching his boyhood club Belgrano trying to win the title for the first time, against River Plate.
There have been injuries. Lots of them. Freakish ones like Romero’s. Five big ones in five games in January just as chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange had decided against plunging into the transfer market. They figured the summer market offered more options and better value and were preaching patience with Frank even when many supporters had turned, unimpressed with his pragmatic football.
Defeat at Bournemouth in January was a catalyst for Frank’s demise. Another defeat and an injury to Rodrigo Bentancur, quietly influential in the balance of midfield. There was Frank’s hapless pre-match blunder as he wandered around drinking from an Arsenal branded coffee cup, and the angry exchange between Micky van de Ven and fans in the away end after the final whistle. Then there was Romero’s social media post branding people inside the club as ‘liars’ with a clear nod towards transfer strategy.
Frank survived eight more games but was gone by mid-February. John Heitinga came in to assist him, replacing coach Matt Wells who left for Colorado Rapids in December.
Fabio Paratici, one of two sporting directors at the club at the time, had wanted Frank out before Christmas and pushed alternatives. Ignored, Paratici accepted a job at Fiorentina in December. Spurs forced him to wait until the January transfer window closed.
It all made for a whirl of instability and furious reshuffling behind the scenes continues apace. Searching for an interim head coach, Venkatesham and Lange consulted a list compiled earlier in the season. Igor Tudor came in with Paratici’s fingerprints all over it.
Captain Cristian Romero won’t even bother to turn up Spurs’ biggest game for half a century, choosing instead to go and watch his boyhood club Belgrano try to win their first ever title
Defeat at Bournemouth in January was a catalyst for Frank’s demise, after his hapless pre-match blunder as he wandered around drinking from an Arsenal branded coffee cup
Searching for an interim head coach, Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange consulted a list compiled earlier in the season. Igor Tudor came in with Fabio Paratici’s fingerprints all over it
Tudor and Paratici had worked together at Juventus and the Croatian was billed as an impact coach. Unfortunately, at Spurs his only impact was to make a poor team worse. After Frank’s humble decency, he came in to give the players a proverbial kick up the backside and it backfired.
The players quickly took against Tudor’s brusque and distant manner typified by the Antonin Kinsky episode, when he barely acknowledged the young goalkeeper as he hauled him off in the 17th minute with Spurs 3-0 down to Atletico Madrid.
There have been some random factors in a season like no other. Destiny Udogie was allegedly threatened at gunpoint by an agent in September. Randal Kolo Muani crashed his car on the way to Stansted Airport and Spurs left for Eintracht Frankfurt without him and Wilson Odobert, who pulled over to help his team-mate. When he arrived belatedly in Frankfurt, Kolo Muani scored in a win to secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League. Four of his five goals have been in Europe.
Misfiring strikers has been a theme. But Spurs have misfired everywhere. If they tried to be more adventurous, they were fragile at the back. They have lacked mature leadership on the pitch. Low on craft and guile in midfield, short of passers, balance has eluded them.
Just like home form. Two wins and six draws from 18 games at home is as bad as any in the Premier League. Everton, Sunday’s visitors, have lost only six of 18 on the road but are fading, without an away win since February.
Spurs only need one point not three, thanks to De Zerbi’s impact. Tudor’s five Premier League games garnered only one point and included three emphatic home defeats, including a second 4-1 north London derby defeat of the season.
Players appeared consumed by anxiety. Paralysed by a fear of becoming the first Spurs team to be relegated since 1977. Unable to cope with any setback.
De Zerbi has helped them wriggle free from these chains. Turning to experience, offering his players a little more love and understanding, peppering them with YouTube footage to remind them of their qualities. He also got Bentancur back from his hamstring injury in the nick of time and found an effective team.
The players took against Tudor’s manner, typified by when he barely acknowledged Antonin Kinsky as he hauled him off in the 17th minute with Spurs 3-0 down to Atletico Madrid
Thanks to Roberto De Zerbi’s impact Spurs only need a point on the final day
It is loaded in favour of Spurs. Saturday marks one year to the day since the Europa League victory parade filled the streets of N17 with joy – now they need the relief of a point on Sunday
After defeat at Sunderland in De Zerbi’s first game, on April 12, Spurs were in the relegation zone with six to play. Eight points from the next four games has lifted them back above the line.
Their fate is in their own hands and they should have enough. And failing that there’s always West Ham, whose own revival has slipped into three successive defeats.
The Hammers must beat Leeds and pray for a favour from Everton, managed by their old boss David Moyes, if they are to pull off a remarkable escape.
It is loaded in favour of Spurs. Saturday marks one year to the day since the Europa League victory parade filled the streets of N17 with joy and they can park the bus against Everton. Keep a clean sheet and breathe a sigh of relief. Yet nobody will take this for granted. Not in a season when everything has gone wrong.
