This past summer, the biggest legend in Tottenham Hotspur history waved goodbye to the club after helping Spurs hoist a major European trophy for the first time in 41 years. Son Heung-min is now, of course, crushing Major League Soccer in the United States, and, in his place, Spurs are left grasping at straws on the left wing.
They did not sign a single left winger to replace Son, and while Thomas Frank's hot seat getting hotter has taken precedence as the biggest problem at the N17, this gaping hole in the starting lineup has not been lost on many Spurs fans going into December with the winter transfer window looming ahead next month.
Spurs are being linked with the likes of Iliman Ndiaye and Antoine Semenyo, who have been among the big breakout stars in the Premier League this season. Because as it stands right now, Spurs only have two left wingers in the squad in Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert, recently even moving to a doomed twin striker pairing instead of having a left winger. (It's doomed because Richarlison is untenably poor at this stage.)
Wilson Odobert was put in a no-win situation
Odobert has been the one drawing more starts on the left wing than Tel, and while he has shown real promise this season and make encouraging steps forward, thinking that these young, unproven talents could start at the most talent laden and expectation filled position in modern football for a Champions League side (not that Spurs will be in the top four at the end of the 2025/26 season) was a tall order bordering on gross irresponsibility.
All along, any Spurs fan could have told upper management that expecting Odobert (or Tel, for that matter) to replace a figure like Son on the left wing was a false hope. Anyone bashing these two young players clearly has their priorities out of order, because the task was an impossibility.
Spurs could have signed Ademola Lookman or another proven left winger to help bridge the gap that Son was supposed to bridge, with Odobert and Tel competing to be understudies on the left wing (or in Tel's case, potentially even at striker).
They were thrust into a marquee role with starting expectations too soon, set up to fail in a system that does not even value positive, attacking football. Spurs lack goals, lack creativity, and lack quality commesurate with a team that has sold its supporters dreams of competing at the highest level, and with results like the last one against Fulham, it is clear they are paying dearly for their lack of foresight.