It’s matchday in North London. Tottenham Hotspur are at home to Ipswich Town, the last remaining team in the Premier League without a win.
If Newcastle beat Nottingham Forest away and their two biggest rivals, Arsenal and Chelsea, draw at Stamford Bridge, Spurs can go into the last international break of the year in third.
So what happens? Newcastle, despite going 1-0 down, manage to turn it around and win 3-1 in Nottingham. Chelsea and Arsenal draw 1-1 in a fiercely competitive London derby.
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And Spurs? Spurs, as they so often do, flatter to deceive. They crumble to a pathetic 2-1 loss to hand Ipswich their first win of the season. They finish a matchday that they could have been third by the end of, languishing in tenth.
Ange Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou this time last year had an infinite amount of goodwill with most Spurs fans. They sat top of the league after ten games and they were playing exciting attacking football.
It felt like the feelgood factor that had been missing since the days of Mauricio Pochettino were finally back at White Hart Lane.
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Twelve months on and some sections of the fanbase are starting to lose patience. The lack of a plan B and the unsustainable emphasis on entertainment and attack are commonly referenced grievances for fans.
After the Ipswich defeat, Ange himself came out in more than one instance saying that it was his responsibility, his fault, and down to him to rectify what went wrong.
This kind of rhetoric is not new for Ange, but this time feels pivotally different. It feels rawer and more explicit than we have seen from the Australian.
Maybe it’s a stronger desire than ever to show that his assertion that he wins trophies in his second season wasn’t prematurely spoken.
Fans
But are the fans ready to wait? #AngeOut has been trending and Spurs fans are becoming more vocal in their disapproval of the way things are going.
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This was shown in boos echoing around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at half time of the Ipswich game, at which point they were losing 2-0.
Spurs fans are tired of repetitive failures in the crucial moments. It is something that the club, the fans and the players are ruthlessly mocked for by rivals. They even have a word named after it, “Spursy.”
Mentality
Yet, this is also a Spurs team that has won the second most points after falling behind than anyone since the beginning of last season only behind the relentless juggernaut that is Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
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This statistic should, in theory, reduce the “Spursy” moniker to nothing but a bad memory. It proves that in moments, they can be resolute and come back from adversity.
And yet the Ipswich game proves once again that Spurs are the kings of missed opportunities and false dawns. The more things change, the more things stay the same at Tottenham Hotspur.
Rodrigo Bentancur
To add insult to injury, reports are that Rodrigo Bentancur will be banned for a number of games. This is after his allegedly racially insulting comments towards captain Son Heung-min over the summer.
Bentancur was their only goal scorer in the defeat to Ipswich, and has been a crucial player under Ange Postecoglou this season, featuring in all but one league game.
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One of their most crucial players being banned right at a time when they enter an unforgiving run of games is, despite it being out of their hands, very typical of Tottenham Hotspur.
His ill-advised actions have landed him in hot water at the worst possible time. It’s given Ange Postecoglou another selection headache that he really didn’t need.
What next?
Spurs’ run of games until the new year could potentially make or break their season. Manchester City away after the international break doesn’t make their job any easier.
Home games against league leaders Liverpool and bitter rivals Chelsea follow in December, as well as a Carabao Cup quarter final against Manchester United. That game against United is extra crucial as it presents an excellent opportunity for a trophy.
Spurs’ big game credentials this season have not been the problem, however. They’ve already thumped Man United and Aston Villa in the league whilst knocking Man City out of the Carabao Cup.
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It will the games interspersed between the big ones; Fulham at home and Southampton away that will be the challenge. They need to be able to actually win the games they’re expected to win.
A title charge seems far from likely now, but they are only three points behind rivals Chelsea in third. It is a tightly congested and exceedingly competitive table, with only four points separating 3rd and 13th.
Tottenham Hotspur are by no means a lost cause. They need to turn this around, and fast, if they want any chance of achieving the success the club, the players and the fans have been starved of for so long.