Tottenham face tough task to motivate players who no longer want to be there

1/27
Alan Smith27 September 2019

Long-held perceptions of Tottenham have totally changed under Mauricio Pochettino. A team previously known for caving in too easily when the going got tough turned into a formidable outfit with a steely backbone.

A club that had not punched its weight for quite some time was now being managed by an inspirational figure leading a hungry group of players. A very talented squad was as keen as its boss to break new ground in N17.

And now this. Divisions, we hear, have appeared in the dressing room where ‘different agendas’ are unsettling ­everyone. In the wake of Colchester’s victory on penalties in the Carabao Cup , Pochettino appealed for time to ‘build that togetherness’ again.

Quite some task, that, when you think of all the hurdles standing in his way. It’s a manager’s nightmare, knowing some in the dressing room have one eye elsewhere while others are well aware they are not really wanted.

In the first category, Christian Eriksen, of course, stands front of the queue with his contract running down amid stories of interest from Real Madrid. Next summer also sees the end of current deals for Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld — the central defensive axis on which so much ­progress has been built.

Christian Eriksen (No23, after missing a penalty against Colchester) is eyeing a move elsewhere Photo: PA/Joe Giddens
PA/Joe Giddens

As for Victor Wanyama and Serge Aurier, it is pretty easy to gauge when the manager does not rate you. Even if you get picked, as Aurier has been for the last two league games, there is just something in the way a manager communicates that firmly points to a future elsewhere.

And sorting all this out obviously takes time. There are no quick fixes for this kind of quandary. At the very least, a couple of ­transfer windows will be needed to turn the ­playing staff into a more purposeful state where everyone is ­pulling in the same direction.

I would imagine that painful reality will worry Pochettino the most. Having set some very high standards, he might have to endure more mediocre stuff over the coming months.

There is no other way. He could play the kids to inject some of the hunger and focus that used to exist. But Kyle ­Walker-Peters, Juan Foyth, Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp are not yet ready to carry the load.

Instead, Pochettino must hope his more experienced stars still committed to the cause can plug some gaps until help arrives. I’m talking about ­Davinson Sanchez, Harry Winks, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son and, of course, Harry Kane.

That said, the elephant in the room cannot be ignored. If Kane, in particular, sees no prospect of silverware in the near future, will his mind-set change? One of their own or not, will he want to hang around?

Until now, Spurs under Pochettino have been all about progress. With that progress stalling, much work lies ahead.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in