The arrival of a new manager is typically meant to herald a fresh start, a cleaning of the slate that washes away the tactical rot and mental fatigue of the previous regime. Yet, as the sun set on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium following a bruising North London derby, the overwhelming sensation was one of deja vu.
Igor Tudor has taken his seat in the dugout, but the actors on the pitch are reading from the same tragic script that led to Thomas Frank’s dismissal. The names on the back of the shirts haven’t changed, and neither have the catastrophic habits that now have one of England’s biggest clubs staring directly into the abyss of the Championship.
By any objective metric, this was the most lopsided fixture of the Premier League weekend. While other results across the country might have looked more emphatic on paper, the sheer dominance Arsenal exerted over their greatest rivals was staggering. When these two sides met at the Emirates back in November, the gap felt wide.
Four months later, it has become a canyon. In that previous meeting, Arsenal controlled 57 percent of the ball; this weekend, they dictated 61 percent. The shot count, which stood at 17-3 in favor of the Gunners in November, ballooned to 20-6. Most damning of all was the activity in the penalty area. Arsenal recorded 46 touches in the Spurs box compared to a meager seven for the hosts. It wasn’t a contest; it was a training exercise.
The reality of Tottenham’s predicament can no longer be ignored or dismissed as a temporary dip in form. Spurs have failed to record a single league victory in this calendar year. While they remain stagnant, the teams beneath them are finding their pulse.
West Ham United have discovered a new sense of purpose under Nuno Espirito Santo, and Nottingham Forest are showing the kind of forward momentum that suggests they have the stomach for a fight. Tottenham, conversely, look like a team stuck in reverse gear with the brakes failing.
The upcoming fixtures against Fulham and Crystal Palace were once viewed as opportunities to steady the ship, but they now look like potential traps for a squad that is physically and mentally spent.
Part of the problem is a medical room that is overflowing. With reserve goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky joining the long list of casualties, Tottenham are effectively missing an entire starting eleven of senior players. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Last season, Ange Postecoglou faced similar availability crises.
It raises serious questions about the club’s medical protocols, training intensity, or perhaps a recruitment strategy that prioritizes potential over physical durability. Regardless of the cause, the weight of these absences is dragging the club down toward a level of competition they haven’t seen in decades.
Worryingly, the tactical flaws that plagued the end of the Thomas Frank era were on full display against Arsenal. The defense remains erratic and prone to the kind of basic errors that would be criticized in a youth team. At the heart of this insecurity is goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
While capable of the spectacular, he has become an accident waiting to happen, radiating a nervous energy that infects his backline. His decision-making under pressure has become a liability, and in a derby where composure is everything, his jittery performance set a grim tone.
Even the lone bright spot a well-taken goal by Randal Kolo Muani carried a caveat. While the Frenchman showed flashes of why the club invested in him, the chance was gifted to him by a rare Declan Rice mistake rather than created through Tottenham’s own ingenuity. Beyond that moment, Spurs carried almost no threat.
They look like a tired team, which is a terrifying prospect with a quarter of the season left and Champions League commitments still on the calendar. Joao Palhinha, forced into an emergency role at center-back, looked exhausted as Eberechi Eze skipped past him.
Young Archie Gray, who has been asked to play out of position and carry a workload far beyond his years, was eventually bullied off the ball for Arsenal’s fourth goal. It was a “men against boys” moment that perfectly summarized the current state of the club.
| Player | Passes Completed | Duels Won | Defensive Errors |
| Guglielmo Vicario | 18/24 | 0 | 1 |
| Joao Palhinha | 31/35 | 4 | 2 |
| Archie Gray | 22/29 | 1 | 1 |
| Conor Gallagher | 25/32 | 3 | 0 |
Igor Tudor’s post-match comments were surprisingly candid. He spoke of “good players with bad habits” and the desperate need for a mental switch. He is right, of course, but the question remains whether these habits are too deeply ingrained to be fixed in the middle of a relegation firestorm.
The team’s inability to start games with intensity is perhaps the most baffling issue. Against Arsenal, they could have been two goals down before a technical fault with the referee’s radio forced a five-minute pause. That break should have been a godsend—a chance to regroup and reset. Instead, they returned to the pitch just as lethargic as before. When Eze scored, there were ten white shirts within ten yards of the ball, yet not one of them offered a challenge.
The club’s recruitment strategy is also coming under fire. For years, the focus has been on buying young talents with high resale value—players for the “future.” But in a relegation battle, you need players for the “now.” Conor Gallagher was supposed to be the “oven-ready” Premier League veteran who would provide grit and leadership.
Yet, since his January move from Atletico Madrid, he has looked like a man struggling to find his rhythm. In his sixth start, he appeared bemused by the chaotic pace of the game, unable to impose his will on a midfield dominated by Arsenal.
Tottenham find themselves in a position where excuses are easy to find but solutions are scarce. They have the stadium, the training ground, and the global brand of a superpower, but they currently possess the soul and the results of a team destined for the drop.
Tudor has the confidence of a man who believes he can fix it, but he is working with a group of players who seem to have forgotten how to win. If the mental switch he speaks of isn’t flipped immediately, the unthinkable will become the inevitable. Tottenham Hotspur, the club that belongs in the Champions League, may soon find themselves preparing for the cold Tuesday nights of the Championship.
