Three questions for Tottenham ahead of Aston Villa in BPL

By the time Tottenham Hotspur finishes playing Aston Villa Sunday evening at Villa Park, we will have the answer to three more questions about Spurs and this season. As the season seemingly unravels for Tottenham, finding a way to get things back on track is priority number one, or at least it should be.

Can Tottenham Get it Together?

Following two abject defeats at the hands of inferior competition, the claims are not so much about Champions League places or not, rather it is seemingly avoiding embarrassment. After being accused of hiding in the Arsenal match by their coach, they were soundly played off the pitch by Dinamo Zagreb, in a game where the team should have gotten right. We are going to get three questions answered Sunday by Tottenham Hotspur, which should be good predictors of the season moving forward.

First: Are we going to get good effort?

Thursday’s debacle was almost predictable given the opposition and a two-goal lead on the road in Europe. That said, not enough has been made about the wretched effort from Tottenham against Arsenal a week ago. With focus immediately turning to the Europa League match, the team’s performance kind of slid under the radar.

The fact is, the coach rightfully called the team out for lacking any real intensity against the club’s oldest rival. Not coming with everything when you have a cushion is one thing, not showing up for the North London Derby really is inexcusable. Ultimately, the effort in the last two matches and most of the losses as the team “sits back”, which is code for plays lazy, has just not been good enough.

I would run through a brick wall for £10,000 a week, let alone 50 or 100. No matter how anyone feels about anyone else, the players need to have some pride and show some real effort. We fans deserve that.

Second: Who is getting dropped and can some kids play for Tottenham?

Given everything that has occurred over the last couple of matches, clearly, someone is going to get dropped, right? Maybe even more important than who is dropped is who is brought into the side and if some youth can be injected.

It was almost painful watching Eric Dier foul his way all over the pitch as he continues to prove he is not a center-back. Likewise, Aurier was clearly not fully match fit especially for 120 minutes, and Doherty has been terrible. These are two places where there should be some room to insert Japhet Tanganga and get the kid some minutes. If he is not going to play, like Oliver Skipp he should be on loan.

Additionally, there is no reason to hold back Dane Scarlett from the squad, even if only for a few minutes, getting youth and hungry players into the team can help with motivation. Want players to play hard, play people who want to win a job and a contract. Through multiple injuries, Liverpool has leveraged hungry youth to hang around in multiple competitions. Who comes out and who comes into the squad will be quite telling Sunday.

Third: Can Tottenham beat a decent team on the road.

Tottenham has really struggled with decent teams this season. Looking at teams like Arsenal, West Ham, Dinamo, even on the road against Royal Antwerp and LASK, Tottenham has failed to win. It is one thing to lose at Manchester City, it is another to lose at Royal Antwerp and Dinamo. Yet, here are the Lilywhites, consistently losing to teams thought to be inferior, especially on the road.

Aston Villa is not a great team, but they are capable. The Villans are currently four points back of Tottenham but do have a game in hand on Spurs sitting in ninth position. Given Villa is in the top half and the fact that every team in the top half has beaten Tottenham except Villa and Manchester United, the Spurs need to be prepared.

With five road losses already this season – three more than Manchester City, Manchester United, and Leicester City combined – Tottenham can clearly be beaten on the road. Strangely, the problem is not even so much Tottenham’s defense on the road, it is the inability really to score on the road that is killing Tottenham. If you take away the 11 goals scored at United and Southampton, Tottenham only has 11 goals in their other 12 road matches combined and has conceded 13 in those games.

Basically, Tottenham really struggles on the road as we saw Thursday evening and that often comes from a lack of effort and intensity from the players on the pitch. For Spurs to beat a decent Aston Villa team Sunday evening, they need to do more than we have seen of late. Whether Tottenham can or cannot get it together to be Aston Villa will tell us a bit more about the unraveling story that is Spurs season.