Tottenham Hotspur have had to deal with a lot of off-field issues this summer as their season starts in an indifferent manner.
Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has criticised Tottenham’s players for allowing their standards to drop despite Mauricio Pochettino having a ‘very strong’ group of players at the club.
The former striker claimed that the Spurs players aren’t showing any ‘attitude’ or ‘application’ towards their coach, as he also questioned where Eric Dier has gone.
In midweek, Spurs let a two-goal lead slip in the Champions League, and followed that up by losing to Leicester City on Saturday afternoon at the King Power Stadium.
Speaking to Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports News (21/09/2019 at 12:20 pm), Nicholas thinks standards have dropped at Tottenham.
On Pochettino saying his players aren’t fighting: “I disagree with him though,” Nicholas told Soccer Saturday. “I think Spurs have got a very strong group of players now. But the problem is that the standards that were set before, issues that were behind the scenes, Danny Rose is an example of that, they wanted him out of the door, he stays, so does Eriksen.
“We are in agreement he [Eriksen] is going to run down his contract like Ramsey did at Arsenal. Is Alderweireld doing the same? Is Vertonghen doing the same? There are so many issues [within the team], so their standards have all dropped. We always went, ‘oh my goodness, these two centre-backs are as good as anybody’. And that has just started to drop a little bit.
“He’s chopped and changed it. Eriksen’s been in then he’s been out – What’s happened to Eric Dier? He was going to Manchester United for £40 million a year ago – [the problem] isn’t talent. But it might not be on a personal level, in terms of attitude and application towards the coach – I think it’ll be a lot like that this season.”
Dier has not played a single minute for Tottenham this season, but he has featured in their matchday squads, including during their defeat against the Foxes.
In recent seasons, Dier’s game time has reduced despite his ability to play in a number of positions from playing in the backline to playing in the middle of the park.
But as for Spurs, despite the closure of the European transfer window earlier this month, the problems still seem to continue on the pitch.
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