Tottenham reached the final of the Champions League last season. They lost narrowly to Liverpool.
The Reds have built on that success, and they are the newest Premier League champions.
Spurs, on the other hand, have struggled this season and they are looking to earn a Europa League spot at the end of their final match of the season.
They started the season with Mauricio Pochettino at the helm, but the Argentinean was fired last year and replaced with Jose Mourinho.
He was one of several changes that have happened at the club between June 1st 2019 and now.
Following their run to the final of the Champions League in Madrid, the Lilywhites were predicted to end this season third on the league table and to win the Europa League after crashing out of the Champions League.
This prediction was from a statistical document with analysis from Opta and Squawka that was commissioned by BT Sport, as reported by Football London.
Spurs will end this season nowhere near the predictions, and Jermaine Jenas has now slammed his former club for some bad decisions that they have made since that time.
“I’m really surprised that the Unscripted document had Spurs to finish in and around third, purely and simply because it works off data and I don’t believe the data for Spurs last year was that good,” Jenas told Football London in an exclusive interview.
“They were conceding loads of goals, they lost the best part of 13 games and struggled away from home. It wasn’t great.
“Obviously they got to the Champions League final but the whole journey to get there was a miracle and something you definitely couldn’t have scripted.
“It was strange to me that was where they were scripted as finishing.
“The thing with Tottenham is that they spent money but they were one of the teams I felt they spent it in the wrong areas to an extent.
“The sale of Kieran Trippier was just a very strange one and the dynamic they’ve lost down the right side from losing Trippier and Kyle Walker over a three-year period was a ridiculous decision in my opinion.
“On the back of last year they weren’t playing well already and I could see that it was going to be a tough year for them.
“They were linked with Paulo Dybala and Philippe Coutinho and they would have been game-changers for Tottenham if they could have got them over the line.
“Bruno Fernandes was linked with Tottenham for a period of time and it just shows you if you go the extra mile you will get it back if you do find the quality out there you are looking for.
“Spurs decided to play it a bit safer, but they spent money bringing in Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele, which has not worked out, Ryan Sessegnon, which also hasn’t worked out, and Jack Clarke.
“They’ve still spent and off the top of my head that’s £150million. It’s not like Daniel Levy has not put his hands in his pockets, you’ve got to spend it in the right place.
“It was a shocking season I think personally everywhere. There weren’t many great performances, they lost Mauricio Pochettino, who in my opinion was the one who deserved that money to spend and rebuild what he created but he wasn’t given it which I felt was a bizarre decision, but it was something they decided to do.
“They are paying for it now and possibly going to pay for it for the next five years by the looks of it.”
Selling walker to City was the mistake. Sir Alex notoriously never ever sold a key player to a straight up rival. You weaken yourself while strengthening them. We were better than them and they were already spending hundreds of millions on defenders.. It was a dumb move. Them winning the league immediately proved that.
I have often said out of all Poch signings Toby and Sonny were the only great signings the rest either average or bad. Before either Aurier and Moura arrived many an article ran with Poch using his PSG connections,which all managers avail off.Levy wouldn’t even have heard off Gazaniga,Foyth and LoCelso if it wasn’t for Pochettino. All I was doing was using these players to dismiss the notion that Poch didn’t have an input to his signings which is absurd.
Toby and Wanyama and Sonny were our most successful signings during Poch’s time and only the first two had worked with Poch before. As for Foyth and Gazzaniga, not even first team players.
No reason to think Poch playing at PSG years ago influenced the Aurier/Lucas deals at all…
That’s why we don’t kick on, as soon as they get really good they’re sold too…
You have chosen to omit several key factors.
So not backing Pochettino and signing nobody for a whole year had nothing to do with it?
The reason why the whole team needs refurbishment is because of the previous neglect of it. Transfer activity should be considered, constant and proactive.
I never once got the impression that this group of players have ever been individualistic prima donnas under Poch, quite the opposite.
All of the issues we have lie with the owners, not the players or the coaches. 5 seasons of staggering overachieving could not be sustained without backing from the owners. So it cane to pass, it wasn’t…
Writing was on the wall, Poch gave Levy far more than he ever got back.
Levy didn’t want a title challenge or Champions League trophy when it’s being done without a home ground. Where’s the marketing for the stadium if you can’t sell the notion that all this debt is worth it to win big in the future when you’re already close to doing it anyway?
There’s been a degree of deliberate neglect and therefore reigning in of expectation by Levy. He’s Joe’s stage manager, his spin doctor to this whole venture capital project, the fans are seen as an issue and an obstacle to profit.
Poch threw the whole stadium con off it’s axis by overachieving to the extent he did…
Not entirely headed for the glue factory just yet. In 2017 (BBC) Jenas did say Levy needed to spend and improve the wage structure but also stated “….the fact their current strongest XI is so good is one reason it is hard for them to sign players that will improve their team.” This was a common discussion at the time on Sky, BT and BBC and in my opinion it gave Levy national support for neglecting the football side of the business and wringing the life out of the team. We weren’t signing players and Jenas wasn’t the only pundit who stated our First XI couldn’t be improved, letting Levy off the hook. This was and still is a load of nonsense.I agree that Jenas has been far more critical than other pundits and he was worried we would be outside of the top 4 back in 2018, but he played it ‘BBC safe’ by covering his journalistic angles. When Spurs sold Walker, he disagreed with the sale to City, because it was strengthening a direct competitor, not the sale outright. We all know we are a selling club, but Jenas thought we should have sold him abroad, like we did when telling Chelsea and Utd to do one when trying to buy Modric and Bale, which is a fair point. I agree with a lot of what Jenas says and writes, I just wish he would have sold Levy completely down the river for what he has done to our club.
Outrageous is no exaggeration. Tripling the spend on the stadium was outrageous in itself. But to do that just when the title had come within reach? Implosion was inevitable, and was predicted as early as poch’s last presser of 17/18.
Selling Walker wasn’t a mistake – he downed tools and demanded to leave. Only thing to do at that point was get the best price for him. The amount of abuse “Bonzo” would get on here, half of us were delighted to get £50m as I remember. The mistake was not investing that money in the squad in the right areas. We had Trippier to come in who did a great job in his place, so I’d have invested that £50m in a striker.
This is not true,Alderweirld & Wanyama his ex players reunited from Southampton,Foyth,Gazaniga & LoCelso his Argentina connections,Aurier & Moura his PSG connections,other players may not have been his first choice but they would have been on his shortlist.People praise Poch for signing Toby and Sonny but if the other signings don’t work out then it was Levy and the cleaning lady that scouted them,simply not true.
JJ delivering the cold hard truth… We were better than city and were straight up rivals for the top. Selling walker to them was the dumbest move. Selling trips too without replacing means we have noone to take corners and free kicks.
Jenas is being quite polite methinks.
I think morale slumped through the whole team when Poch made it public that discount Danny wasn’t supporting him in transfer windows, understandably so. These players were sold a bunch of lies about the ambition of the club.
Just think how much we wasted on N’Dombele, Sessegnon and Clarke – £100m odd, whilst turning down Grealish for £6m and pulling out of Dembele also for £6m. Absolute crackpots our transfer management is. A 10 year old could do it better.
The players gave up because they could see the writing was on the wall for Poch because no backing or influx of new blood happened for over a year beforehand. They saw Walker sold then his replacement Tripps too with no quality coming in, Lorente went and no backup for Kane.
The situation had become a complete mess despite Poch wanting Levy to be ‘brave’.
As a player would you think that the manager was staying if that were the case?
Anyone who knows, cares or studies football will hold this view.
There is no other conclusion to draw from selling better players than the ones you bring, in and not making a single signing for a whole year. It’s either wilful neglect or deliberate sabotage because you have another agenda.
Seeing as this behaviour has been going on so long I’m beginning to come then conclusion that it’s the latter…
It outrageous when you think about it. Only the thickos can’t see it.
You’re misremembering Cow. Jenas loudly condemned the sale of Walker to the title favourites in 2017 and never let up on levy after that. During the record spell without signings there was virtual consensus within football that levy had blown a first title in 60 years by not listening to his coach. The only people who applauded enic every step of the way had no connection to professional football.
He’s a bit Marmite but you’re right, he definitely seems to want the best for Spurs. He might not have been a legend for us or whatever but as a pundit he’s very supportive of Spurs and doesn’t trot out too many cliches about us.
100% correct.
Anyone who doesn’t understand the effects these stupid decisions and lack of backing have had on the team, is a complete imbecile…
Pretty much hit the nail on the head. It will be a slog over the next few seasons. Jose gets results, no doubt about it, but he squeezes the life out of fans. At Utd he won trophies, but still alienated fans. Did it at Real and Chelsea too. I hope he has learned from those experiences, but does a leopard change its spots? If we got an attacking LB would Jose allow him over the half way line? I like Jenas but I don’t think he questioned Levy when he wasn’t buying anyone for 2 years. In fact, few pundits or commentators thought it was a mistake.
I like Jenas never really controversial like Lineker, he has one saving grace he’s not part of the ex, United, Arsenal, Liverpool pundit mafia.
Apparently according to Jenas Coutinho didn’t want to sign for Spurs, the other two join that long list of might have beens. We just don’t sign bona fide “star players”, they’re always younger players on the way up, eg Lo Celso and N’Dombele.
Jenas – “Them as can do- Them as can’t pundit.” Poch lost the dressing room (and the CL win) by allowing an unfit, unready, out of form Kane to start & play in the final. – Bemoaning the loss of players from years ago is nonsensical and not even good punditry.This team needs to both recruit new talent and ease the retirement of those who have passed their peak or become malcontent. We have some excellent players but we need to increase depth and most of all, we need to see development of a team; not a bunch of individual prima donnas. I hope Mou can do that.
Better hope Levy buys player that JM wants, unlike MP who got players Levy wanted.
When poch got fired spurs were 14 th in the league, things were getting worse, today we would be fighting relegation battles instead of an Europa cup place. Problem with poch was the players stopped fighting for him. Getting hammered 7-2 by bayern at home was a disgrace. He needed to go, was mourinho the best choice…we shall see, jury still out, he needs at least a whole season. As for players I really miss errikson, his passes and free kicks, he would win ganes on his own. As for ndombela, such a waste of money when we could have got coutinho, Fernández or dybola.
He just said, Jenas, on 5Live that we need a right and left full back and a centre back to replace Vertonghen. He also said he would be worried if Mourinho went with Dier and Sanchez as his first choice which he was doing before Diers suspension. None of the full backs give the attacking threat they had with Walker, Rose and Trippier. Hard to argue with much of that. Full backs are key now and we have two ordinary ones.