The media has been reeking of bad odors of late from Tottenham’s dramatic and unconvincing last couple of weeks. Concerns have been over the team lacking guts and the manager embarrassing himself in front of the media by publicly humiliating the team outside of the dressing room. To further pummel Tim Sherwood, his inexperience has come into question by dealing with situations without considering his actions, whilst the talk of Louis van Gaal looming around to take his place in the summer has certainly put the Spurs manager through unsettling period of late.
After Tottenham's 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal in the North London derby both the players and staff have come under further pressure, being labeled as not worthy of their positions and failing to live up to standards. Sherwood has stated he is a manager to his players and not a "babysitter" and defeat to the Gunners certainly shaped the club's season as they were simply not convincing enough in front of goal. They had plenty of possession in the second half and Sherwood said his team didn't deserve to lose but clear cut misses from Nacer Chadli and Emmanuel Adebayor seemingly sealed their fate in the game.
Arsenal were particularly intelligent in their defensive duties, sticking bodies behind the ball and closing the ball down Spurs man-for-man. Andros Townsend had his avenues blocked whilst playmaker Christian Eriksen could barely string a through ball to those in front of him.
A brave effort away in Lisbon to Portuguese leaders Benfica almost saw Spurs revive their Europa League hopes but Nacer Chadli's double strike wasn't enough with Benfica equaling the score at 2-2 on the night, 5-3 on aggregate after an horrific 3-1 loss at home.
There have been major questions over the summer signings made by AVB and Baldini despite there being plenty of excitement and expectation from the club's new faces when they arrived. Glenn Hoddle went on record last week with concerns, especially with how the money received from the Gareth Bale transfer was not utilised as it should have been. Roberto Soldado has looked nervous up front and failed to hit the form seen during his Valencia days, Erik Lamela was a star player for Roma but has suffered from injuries and has barely broken into the first team. Despite his two goals on Lisbon, £7 million winger Nacer Chadli has been said to lack quality, Paulinho has not hit the heights seen in last summer's FIFA Confederations Cup, Vlad Chiriches again has barely featured and Etienne Capoue has been questioned over his commitment and attitude. Christian Eriksen has been a bright spark at times but has yet to convince he is the next big thing at the club.
It was inevitable Spurs were going to miss Gareth Bale. Any side would. However there have been threats made in the press that some of the club's better players may consider their position should Spurs fail to reach the top four. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has been tracked by clubs including the likes of Barcelona whilst Jan Verthonghen has a desire to get back to winning silverware from his Ajax days, rather than playing yet another season in the UEFA Europa League and languishing in fifth place.
There have been questions all season over who is or isn't good enough for Manchester United after their destructive campaign and now the attention has been drawn on Tottenham. Fringe players including Gylfi Sigurdsson, Harry Kane and Fulham loanee Lewis Holtby have been branded as not strong enough for regular first team action, whilst full-backs Kyle Naughton and Danny Rose have failed to convince that they shouldn't be replaced by new signings in the summer.
As Sherwood plans for next season, what do you see happening to Tottenham?
Spurs spent big in the summer of 2013 and the club was experiencing arousing and thrilling times but now eight months down the line, the criticism continues after a drab and lackluster season. Which ever new signings enter the gates at White Hart Lane next season will very much be determined by who the manager is next season. With Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's President Ihor Kolomoyski announcing the Ukrainian's are in talks with Tottenham over the signing of star player Yevhen Konoplyanka, Spurs still have an appeal about them but who would new players be more enticed by... Tim Sherwood or Louis van Gaal?
