Tottenham's 2024/2025 season can still be salvaged despite a string of poor results under Ange Postecoglou. Throughout December and January, scrutiny increased, significantly, as Spurs secured just one Premier League victory in that time-frame.
February arriving saw things change in league action, as wins over Brentford and Manchester United were picked up with clean sheets arriving in both. However, those two positive results came either side of them being knocked out of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in rather limp fashion.
Spurs' injury list has been rather considerable over these last few months and though five returns arrived this past weekend, some important stars remain absent. Fringe players have stepped up as a result and that could present a number of dilemmas for Postecoglou to solve.
Regardless of those absentees, one problem has been clear in that period and Tottenham should have a simple fix for that this summer. With that being said, football.london has taken a look at what could happen at the club over the coming months.
Van de Ven returns
Though Tottenham have improved defensively following the arrival of Kevin Danso, Micky van de Ven being back will come as a huge boost. Postecoglou explained recently why the Dutchmen has not featured in the past few weeks, despite playing 45 minutes against Elfsborg last month before adding that he hopes he will return in March.
"We've had a few people externally looking at him and give him some more guidance and information, added to our stuff, which he can do differently around - not so much the injury - but to help his body adapt to the extreme athlete he is and can be," the Spurs manager revealed.
"You always want to protect your assets and he is a major club asset and to protect his longer-term career for the sake of a couple of weeks is worth it." Because of the complex investigation being completed, it is not guaranteed when Van de Ven returns next month.
With Spurs lacking consistency in the league, finishing in the top-eight appears unlikely, which places all focus on winning the Europa League. Coincidentally his estimated return date is in time for Spurs' last-16 first leg and if resting him on the weekend in league action allows him to keep playing in Europe, that may be a sacrifice worth making.
Spence change
While injury concerns have hampered Tottenham's season, the emergence of Djed Spence is one huge positive to take. Since their 5-0 win against Southampton in December, Spence has played 90 minutes on nine occasions with his recent form resulting in him being added to Spurs' Europa League squad.
In the absence of Destiny Udogie, most of those appearances have actually come at left-back but, with the Italian returning, Spence's minutes could decrease. However, he has quite simply been too good to drop - and that should make it a relatively easy decision for Postecoglou to move him out to right-back in place of Pedro Porro.
Spence is more sound defensively than the Spaniard, but he will need to improve his attacking output. Porro is also one player that has been forced to play every three days and therefore a prolonged rest is well overdue.
Cardoso agreement
The majority of injuries for Tottenham have been in attack and defence, but it is in midfield that problems have since arisen. Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma are all quite clearly No.8s - and their eagerness to engage in tackles has been made clear despite Tottenham needing them to shield the defence.
Ever since the departure of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, a natural defensive midfielder has been missing in there. Though he was not exactly comfortable in possession, he could be regularly relied on to spot danger - and prevent attacks from becoming dangerous.
Thankfully, in negotiations to sell Giovani Lo Celso back to Real Betis, Spurs included an intriguing clause which allows them to sign Jonny Cardoso for just £21million during a select period this summer.
The 23-year-old is a very capable midfielder and he could be perfect for Spurs and this season has highlighted the need for a player with his profile. As such, with other clubs interested, the sooner that purchase option is taken up the better for Tottenham.
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