The club that doesn’t want to be known as Tottenham should once again count themselves fortunate they aren’t being called anything worse or at least more banterous.
Presented with a perfect storm of conditions to make finally winning a trophy far more plausible than frankly this group of players and manager deserve, they barely turned up for this spirit-sapping first leg at AZ Alkmaar from which Spurs somehow emerged only 1-0 down and still alive in the tie.
The Dutch side deserve praise. They were compact and organised, far brighter than their opponents in and out of possession. While there was obvious good fortune about the goal they did score, they had further clear chances and a bigger winning margin – even a potentially tie-settling one – would not have flattered them.
It was clear in the closing minutes that AZ knew it. They were not settling for a 1-0 win that probably still, despite everything, leaves Spurs favourites to progress next week. They may well rue their own profligacy, as well as the fact Guglielmo Vicario was among the very few Spurs players who appeared to understand he was playing in a big game.
Or perhaps it’s the opposite. Perhaps his team-mates were all too aware of how big this chance is and that is why they froze so horribly. But that’s really not good enough. Spurs have, reasonably enough, made the Europa League the sole focus of what remains of this grisly season.
To then turn up for the first knockout game, with all that riding on it, and produce this almost total non-performance is another kick in the guts.
Spurs’ first and only shot on target of the night didn’t arrive until the 88th minute. Their performance, and perhaps season and perhaps entire modern existence was summed up by being handed a presentable free-kick opportunity in a shooting position only for James Maddison and Son Heung-min to completely butcher some half-baked training ground routine that was an insult to training ground routines.
The goal Spurs did concede was suitably laughable. Nobody could apparently be bothered to compete for the first ball, and when it came back across goal the unfortunate Lucas Bergvall shanked it over Djed Spence and into his own net.
Bergvall to his credit is one of few Spurs players who hasn’t yet had the spirit and courage beaten out of him by this season and he never hid after that horrible moment. Unlike many of his team-mates, he did at least try and drive them forward and make something happen.
In this he was joined by the now familiar names. Archie Gray was impressive again, Spence did a job on both flanks. Kevin Danso increasingly looks like a shrewd addition to the threadbare centre-back stocks at Spurs.
But this is a damning list in itself. New players, young players, and a full-back who was so out of favour at the start of the season he was only added to the Europa League squad for these knockout rounds.
Spurs’ senior players were nowhere to be seen. Son went missing again on the left. Maddison was irrelevant. Rodrigo Bentancur jogged around a bit.
Spurs were without Dejan Kulusevski for just about the first time this season and they missed him terribly. Even in recent weeks when he has looked really quite knackered he has remained by far the most compelling of their assorted attacking players, by far the most likely difference-maker in the final third.
His absence cannot excuse the utter lack of spark in this performance. Not least because this was a night when, despite his absence, Spurs were no longer a team in the grip of full-blown injury crisis.
Their bench was absurdly strong, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke all back in the matchday squad. Indeed, while it would require Alfie Whiteman to do a job at left-back it was perfectly reasonable to look at Spurs’ bench and conclude it made a better balanced and more cohesive starting XI than many Spurs have put out this year.
Ange Postecoglou was either patient or late in making his changes, depending on how you choose to view escaping from the Netherlands with only a one-goal deficit and a still plausible chance yet of season-salvaging success.
On that note, the biggest blow of the night may yet prove to be the late one suffered by Solanke. He limped off in clear discomfort just 15 minutes after his long-awaited Spurs return.
His has been a frustrating first season at Spurs but even when the goals don’t come, they look a far more convincing attacking side with him as its spearhead. Neither Son nor Mathys Tel has convinced in the central role during Solanke’s absence, and if he is now ruled out for any length of time again, Spurs are in serious trouble. Or even more serious trouble.
Next Thursday just got even bigger. Given how Spurs approached this particular large Thursday, that’s a bit of a worry.