Football365

Spurs ‘won’t come straight back up’ to the Premier League if they are relegated unless three things happen as seven players must go…

Also, Arsenal are ‘cardboard’ and a definitive answer is given to a ‘pretty tiring’ debate.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com….

Spurs must ‘bin off’ seven players to get promoted at the first attempt

I still have the ticket from my first Spurs match. It’s framed, and has always been something I have cherished.

That Spurs team had some great players; Hoddle, Waddle, Clemence, Gough, Mabbutt, Ardiles….Clive Allen was one season away from plundering 49 goals in one season as we came so close to glory.

We lost that match 2-1 – two red cards, two players stretchered off. There were 21000 people at that game. It was dark, damp and cold.

But…it was glorious.

Last summer I gave up my season ticket in protest (I know, big deal) at the ownership of the club. Not just Levy but the entire Enic board. I hoped it would reverse psychology the whole club into winning. That didn’t work.

If Spurs go down, and lets be honest, it’s likelier than it not happening now, they won’t be coming straight back up. Not a chance. Unless they bin off Vicario, Porro, Romero, VDV, Bissouma, Richarlison, Dragusin. Players who should be standing up to be counted, are shaming the fans, and themselves (most of them are kidding themselves that The Big Transfer is incoming by the by).

Keep the kids, and bring in some battle hardened championship stalwarts.

The irony is, I think I might enjoy the championship far more than the PL. No more VAR!

Dan

READ: Premier League predicted final table: Spurs doomed as relegation crisis is laid bare

A definitive answer to the Arsenal debate… from a Liverpool supporter

The back and forth about what Arsenal are good at it is pretty tiring, and like their football, extremely boring.

We can essentially just conclude the whole discussion with the following: “Arsenal are the most successful version of Stoke the league has seen”.

I think that will cover it for everyone. Neutrals couldn’t stand the football Stoke produced during the Pulis years and Arsenal fans can bask in the glory of seeing their team be hard to beat, physical and likely league winners.

Dean LFC

Arsenal are cardboard

Arsenal are good. Genuinely, good. Arteta has built something organised, resilient, and relentless. So why does watching them feel like eating nutritious cardboard?

The answer lies in what we’ve been spoiled by. Guardiola’s City didn’t just win, they made football look like philosophy made flesh. Positional play so intricate it required a glossary. De Bruyne, Silva, Sane, Aguero – watching them was fun. Klopp’s Liverpool were an act of pure, barely-contained violence gegenpressing as ideology. Salah, Mane and Firmino doing what they wanted, and never running out of ideas. Even Ranieri’s Leicester had romance baked into every mad counter-attack, Vardy and Mahrez were incredible to watch. Conte’s Chelsea had a zip to them too, marauding wingbacks and Eden Hazard performing like a wizard.

Arsenal offer to the footballing world is competence. Rigorous competence. But competence without charisma is just efficiency, and efficiency doesn’t make the hairs on your neck stand up. They are boring to all but Arsenal fans.

There’s also the Arteta problem. The studied sincerity. The press conference performances. The tactical fouling dressed as culture, set-pieces as style. The sense that every decision on and off the pitch has been workshopped, focus-grouped, and sanitised of anything genuinely spontaneous.

Nobody dislikes Arsenal because they’re bad. Everyone dislikes them because they’re good in a way that somehow makes football feel less than what we know it can be. They’re close to winning an argument without ever making you love the debate.

JB (Roll on next season)

A West Ham fan on ‘the best relegation battle in many years’

This is setting up to be the best relegation battle for many years. Having gone to every game the season we went down with 42 points, and currently still being the bookies favorites to be the third team to fall through the infamous ‘trap door’, I take no delight in this. I think that 40 points may well be needed to stay up this year. On that note, last season 26 was enough to stay up. Wtaf??

However, signs from The London are encouraging. West Ham are playing well. Fernandes has quickly become our best player, Summerville is a menace and dropping Killman has transformed the defense (though we still can’t defend corners). If we had held on to a comfortable 2-0 lead at Chelsea and a deserved 1-0 lead against Man U after 96 minutes, we would already be clear. In fact I see that we have managed to top at least one table, the one for most points lost from winning positions, 20 (twenty).

Obviously the position is still greatly concerning. Bowen has had a prolonged dip in form (though still plays his balls off every game of course) and we are one key injury away from huge trouble. I also still worry about Nuno. His decision to play for the win against Fulham from the start was admirable, but doing so by replacing an in form center midfielder with a second striker, when we never play with 2 up top, and with players in that role who have never played together, was amateurish. It nullified our best attacking players and left us short in midfield. Fulham without Wilson looked completely there for the taking and it was infuriating that we ceded an obvious advantage by employing a novice ChampMan tactic.

However, I don’t think I would swap our position for the 3 teams above us. Leeds are quietly sinking since their, at the time, massive win against Forest at the start of February. They fit the job description for “team that has looked safe all season who surprisingly gets dragged into it”. Forest themselves have defied the odds by having a genuine new manager bounce in terms of performances. Perhaps most impressively they are showing substantial fight. The players seem committed and fully ‘bought in’ to the task at hand, as most obviously displayed against City this week.

Which leaves Spurs. As unlikely as it seems for a Big Six (sorry, had to do it…) club to be involved at this end of the table, last night’s performance was a genuine shock to me for the complete lack of energy, belief and fight of the players. There also didn’t seem to be any discernible game plan. Even before the sending off, Palace, who themselves have been on a terrible run and have officially carried “in turmoil” status since the start of year, were comfortably the better side before the red, regardless of the scoreline.

However, leaving aside the X’s and O’s, most worryingly for them, Spurs have “the stench”. I’ve talked about the stench a few times before, because it’s something that my own team has contracted quite a few times previously, including during one extended period this season. The stench is something you can palpably see and feel when watching a team play. No one has any confidence, everyone is playing with the crippling fear of being the latest person to bugger something up, you’re second to every loose ball, inexplicable errors creep in regularly (short hit passes, keepers slow to make positioning decisions. Also, the fans have moved through the period of angrily booing and shouting at the team at half and full times, to a strangely calm and quieter period where they are constantly waiting for the other boot to drop and for it to all fall apart again. It’s a nauseating and emotionally crippling period for a fan where it’s hard to summon the passion/energy to boo or scream anymore as you realise there’s no point. Importantly, it doesn’t matter how good your players are anymore, as once you have the stench everyone is infected. I’m sure Spurs fans are best placed to confirm or deny this theory, but it is definitely what I saw last night.

Re your (probably fair) point yesterday, after 2 years of having Spurs dropped into every single article, regardless of what it was about, at least 4 Spurs related entries in Winners and Losers every week even after the most mundane of draws, Spurs being featured in Big Weekend automatically etc etc, I stopped visiting the site due to this consistent perceived lack of journalistic impartiality. Unfortunately, after about 3 weeks of this, I felt like Mark Renton in his bedroom with the dead baby crawling on the ceiling and had to come back. Still a little sore about that maybe. But (cue Alan Partridge voice when he talks about Noel Edmonds), “obsessed with Tickers”?? Nah. Just a little shadenfreide perhaps.

Mike, WHU

READ NEXT: Nottingham Forest stars reassigned after relegation as Man City win Man Utd battle

Hurzeler is not a white knight

Amused by how many people in the mailbox and below the line think that Hürzeler has come out to defend our beautiful sport from the existential evil that is Arteta’s Arsenal. Judging by the outright cynicism from him and his team in that match I think it’s safe to say he was aiming for some Mourinho style hijinks hoping it’d get under the skin of everyone involved from the opposition players and fans to the officials. Which it did but not in the way he’d wanted. Any coach who has told his players to obstruct the goalkeeper (literally every time) and delay set pieces like they did isn’t your saviour in this anti-football nonsense narrative. He’s the same as the rest of his peers, including Arteta! Hürzeler’s just playing games and you’re apparently his willing dupes!

North-East Gooner

Just keep winning, Arsenal

Matt, Dublin, I suspect the reason that Gooners feel the need to remind you that everything is good “as long as they keep winning” is because every time we turn on the TV, look online, read the paper or listen to talks*ite, we are constantly told that everything about Arsenal is wrong, everybody hates are and we are all “insufferable”. They waste time (as has 90% of teams that turn up at the Emirates for the last Lord knows how long). They bend the rules (yes, because that is just an Arsenal problem, I have never seen any other players buy a cheap foul or get the physio on for nothing. They only score from set pieces (clearly not a stick to beat anyone else with).

I’m old enough to have enjoyed the Graham and Wenger eras. If you think I celebrated winning the league in 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002 or 2004 any more or any less than each other, then I question your knowledge of football fans. I am desperate to see Arsenal win the league, to share the experience with my son, who can’t remember watching them win anything and has endured the pain of finishing second for the last three years. Will we find something to be upset about? I very much doubt it.

Steve Lynch

I’ve been an Arsenal fan since my Dad told me I was.

In my lifetime I’ve seen Arsenal lose:

* The FA cup final

* The League Cup final (more than once)

* The Cup Winners Cup final (no longer exists)

* The UEFA Cup final (also no longer exists)

* The Europa League final

* The Champions League final

And, for good measure, I’ve also seen us lose the Premier League on the last day of the season.

I will take winning ugly over losing every time.

Steve

MORE ON ARSENAL: The most boring thing about Arsenal is clear after Arteta follows Klopp blueprint

Laura Woods missed the point

So I have just seen the comment that Laura Woods made regarding Alan Pardew’s comments that any Arsenal win may be seen with an asterisk next to it. Whilst I agree with her that it’s insulting to belittle any teams achievements I think she has ignored the crux of who caused this negativity around the so called “right” winners and subsequently why most fans pray they don’t win it.

Now I’m a 40 year old Chelsea fan that lived through some of the greatest years as a fan. Was our football pretty? Rarely. Was it efficient? Always. Was it frustrating to the purists? Deliciously so. Who were the “purists” at the forefront of said outrage? Arsenal fans every time.

I vividly remember Arsenal supporters fan girling over Barcelona desperately trying to draw comparisons between their mediocre tiki taka and Barcelona’s all dominating messi days. Whilst I despised that Barca team and have my tin foil hat theories on their success they did what they did and they knew how to win clean and how to win dirty so fair play.

The thing that I think gets under a lot of fans skin with this success is that it is diametrically opposed to what Arsenal fans have espoused for the past 20 years. You turned your noses up at us when we held out for the famous win at the nou camp, belittled any team that sat back for not playing the game to your own pre-defined rules and screamed “anti-football” from the rooftops like you were the greta thunbergs of football and Yet you have become the exact thing that you professed to hate.

You’re the Kier Starmer of football. Hollow and without principal. A match made in heaven.

Anthony, Kilburn (The problem with principals is that you have to stick to them)

Has Glasner signed a new contract at Crystal Palace?

Even by the standards of it’s never dull at Crystal Palace, it’s been eventful these past few weeks. They’ve played four teams in the relegation battle, beating Wolves and Spurs, drawing with Nottingham Forest and losing after seven mad minutes against Burnley. They’ve beaten Brighton, were unlucky to lose to Manchester United (a game I note garnered zero emails in the Mailbox), and are through to the last 16 of the Europa Conference League. All of which leads me to just one conclusion: we are not far away from discovering that actually, everyone has patched up their differences and Oliver Glasner has actually agreed a new contract to carry on as Palace manager.

In hindsight, supporting Palace this season has been like watching a band you like have a huge hit and struggle with the aftermath. When they were starting out, right up to playing 500-capacity venues, they were fine, they’d built a following who appreciated what they did and some critics admired their musicianship. But once they’d had success, the tensions that had been simmering previously were now boiling over. Everyone involved had their own opinion on who the primary factor in the success was, and therefore who should have the biggest say in what they did next. All of which are disagreements that had been festering all along, but with less willingness to put them aside for the sake of the music. And like with an imploding football club, it’s the fans who suffer.

Speaking of imploding football clubs, we have to talk about Spurs. Last night, they were not far away from Palace in terms of xG, had the same number of shots on target, more touches in the opposition box and actually took the lead. But at the first sign Palace might get back into the game (ignoring the goal ruled out for a tight offside) they panicked and ended up having one of their defenders sent off. They made a couple of substitutions and changed formation to a back five, but still conceded two more goals after the penalty. It’s hard to pinpoint where the majority of the blame lies. Typically any sort of failure of organisation would suggest the manager was at fault, but I have sympathy for Igor Tudor, watching his side crumble. The ten players tasked with seeing the game at least to half time had an average of 169 top flight appearances to their names, so it’s perfectly reasonable for the manager to think they would have enough experience to draw upon to help them get the job done, but apparently not. So the drama continues, to the detriment of their chances.

Tottenham interim boss Igor Tudor is set to stay for at least one more match as Spurs ‘consider their options’, according to reports.

The north London club are on a terrible downward trajectory and have failed to improve after sacking former Brentford head coach Thomas Frank last month.

Tudor took over from Frank to become interim head coach until the end of the season but there are already huge doubts that he will last the season.

The Croatian has overseen three losses from his first three matches in charge against Arsenal, Fulham and Crystal Palace, and now faces a Premier League match against Liverpool at Anfield sandwiched in between a Champions League double-header against Atletico Madrid.

Tottenham are now just one point away from the relegation zone after West Ham beat Fulham 1-0 on Wednesday and Spurs lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace on Thursday.

And now the Daily Telegraph that Tottenham are ‘considering their options for a second change of manager in a month’ after Tudor has so far failed to raise the levels of his squad.

READ: Who will be the next Spurs manager? Dyche, Redknapp and Mason among the frontrunners

Tudor ‘will take the team’ against Atletico Madrid next Tuesday and the report explains when Tottenham could make a change if they decide it’s necessary.

The Telegraph adds: ‘After that they have three weeks until their next Premier League game away at Sunderland on April 12, which looks like a natural break for a new manager to be installed. There could also be a Champions League quarter-final first leg to play in that period. Spurs may feel that they cannot wait until after the Forest game, if they are to make a change.’

There is no clear name who will be a frontrunner to take the interim job if Tudor is sacked but the report insists that ‘it is understood that talks have been held about appointing Roberto De Zerbi if they do stay up’ this season.

TalkSPORT also have an update on their own, as they reveal that Tudor ‘will continue as Tottenham manager for the immediate future’.

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365…

* Six Tottenham ‘jokes’ destroyed as Igor Tudor ‘has to go’ – ‘An absolute disgrace’

* Pedro Porro ‘smashes everything’ in ‘real headloss’ but did he ‘berate Igor Tudor’? Did he f***

* Tottenham ‘broken for seven years’, club source tells BBC amid calls for ENIC to ‘sell now’

Intriguingly, the website do mention that former Tottenham striker Robbie Keane is ‘believed to be keen on the job’ if Spurs do ‘decide Tudor is not the right man’ – but the Premier League club are reluctant to make a second change this season.

When asked if Tottenham are going down this season, former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara said on talkSPORT: “Yes.

“This team is terrible. The players are terrible. They’re Championship players. They’re Championship players.

“Pape Sarr is a Championship player. Conor Gallagher. How he played for Atletico Madrid, I’ll never know. He’s been awful. He’s been absolutely awful.

“Souza, who is this kid? He looks like he’s got two left feet. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Seriously, the team is absolutely awful.

“Mathys Tel. I could have told you. A donkey could have told you last season that he was garbage, a donkey could have told you last season that Tel was not good enough.

“He ain’t good enough. And we signed him on a permanent. It’s unbelievable.”

For the Tottenham Hotspur fans looking for comfort today, we bring good news: Lincoln is lovely in winter…

For that is where Spurs are heading. How do we know? Aside from believing what our eyes are telling us, we’ve also done the relegation maths.

And not only are they going down. Unless Igor Tudor – or whoever their next manager is – sparks a dramatic improvement that looks less likely with each passing game, it might not even be close.

Their utterly wretched form in 2026 has seen them plummet into a relegation battle that looks increasingly unwinnable.

They have yet to win this year. The only other club in the 92 yet to taste victory in 2026 is Sheffield Wednesday, and the Owls have many more excuses than Spurs.

Also alarming for Tottenham is the fact that their relegation rivals are in better form. A glance at the form table tells you that and the calendar year table reaffirms it. Look at Wolves and West Ham…

If little changes, and the established patterns of form in 2026 hold, Tottenham are toast.

Taking each of the relegation candidates’ points per game record this year and adding it to their current points total, here’s how the bottom of the Premier League would look come the end of the season.

One positive, perhaps, for Spurs is they play most of their remaining nine games away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Which could be key because Spurs are dire at home, but somehow in the top half on the road, as the Premier League away table shows.

So how do Tottenham turn things around? Tudor was hired for the immediate impact he’s had at his previous clubs, but none of them were Spurs-level shambles and, three games in, he remains pointless.

Former Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp insists Spurs are “bang in” relegation trouble after their 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Thursday night.

Spurs are having a disastrous season in the Premier League with the defeat against the Eagles keeping them just a point ahead of the relegation zone.

Tottenham are currently sit in 17th place in the table with Nottingham Forest and West Ham on their coat-tail ahead of an exciting final nine matches of the season.

After sacking Thomas Frank for his terrible start to the season, interim head coach Igor Tudor is not faring any better with three losses from his first three matches in charge.

And Redknapp now thinks Tottenham “could even be favourites out the four to go” down with relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Leeds United in better form than them.

Redknapp told talkSPORT on Friday: “Four or five weeks ago I really couldn’t see Tottenham being involved in a relegation scrap.

READ: What Archie Gray did in Tottenham defeat to Crystal Palace exposes ‘massive problem’

“Every week has gone by it’s got worse. West Ham are now playing very well which is great, Forest picked up a big point the other night, the only other side getting sucked in now is Leeds, they’ve got sucked into that battle as well, I thought they were clear because they’ve had a good season, played ever so well.

“But Tottenham are bang in it now, must be truthful. They’re looking like they could even be favourites out the four to go, it’s that desperate.”

Tudor has not minced his words in assessing Tottenham performances under his management and when asked about the interim boss’ comments, Redknapp replied: “I mean, I don’t know the man. He’s been around a long time, he’s managed at top clubs. He looks a bit of a hard nut, doesn’t he? He looks like you wouldn’t want to have a mess about with him, for sure.

“But I don’t know if that is the approach. I think that confidence obviously is low. They go out when they play at home, it seems that they they’ve not performed and they need a bit of confidence. They need a bit of belief in the team.

“They look to me like they need a arm round, have a little chat individually with every player and get them get them on side and make them start believing, ‘look go out and as best you can, try and enjoy playing football’, because at the moment they do they do look a bundle of nerves. They really do look on edge, which is dangerous.

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365…

* Six Tottenham ‘jokes’ destroyed as Igor Tudor ‘has to go’ – ‘An absolute disgrace’

* Pedro Porro ‘smashes everything’ in ‘real headloss’ but did he ‘berate Igor Tudor’? Did he f***

* Tottenham ‘broken for seven years’, club source tells BBC amid calls for ENIC to ‘sell now’

“West Ham made a couple of signings, Summerville’s come back from injury and he’s absolutely flying, him and Bowen together in the side, they’ve got a centre-forward now. West Ham are starting to believe, their crowd are amazing, they’ll stay with them. I could see them getting themselves out of trouble. They did look dead and buried five weeks ago.

“Forest are picking up one or two results, they got some decent players, they played three at the back the other night, looked physically strong, they’ll be difficult to beat.

“Leeds don’t deserve to be there, they’ve played very well this year, they had a go in every game, the games you’ve watched where they’ve led and been pegged back last minute don’t seem to have gone their way. But I think I think Forest, you know, got every chance of staying up. So Tottenham are bang in it. There’s absolutely no doubt about that at the moment.”

When asked if he would accept an offer from Tottenham to return as manager if they asked him, Redknapp responded: “Of course I would have to, wouldn’t I? But it’s not going to happen.

“No, I can’t see that happening. I think I’ll be at Cheltenham on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

“Wednesday I’ve got a runner, Taurus Bay, he runs in the first race on Wednesday. He’s got a chance, a 20/1 shot, it’s an open race but he’s got a shot.”

Joe Cole insists what Archie Gray did for Tottenham vs Crystal Palace on Thursday highlighted a “massive problem” for Spurs in their relegation scrap.

Gray provided an excellent assist for Dominic Solanke to give Spurs the lead, but the hosts then capitulated in staggering style.

Micky van de Ven hauled Ismaila Sarr down in the box to conceded a penalty that the Palace winger converted and was show a red card for denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Jorgen Strand Larsen put Palace ahead in first-half stoppage-time and there was still enough time before the break for Sarr to put the visitors 3-1 up and push Spurs and Tudor further into crisis.

There were few positives for Spurs as the defeat was Tudor’s third in three games at the helm and leaves them just one point above the relegation zone.

But both Peter Crouch and Joe Cole were full of praise for Archie Gray, who excelled and exposed a “massive problem”.

Crouch began: “I look around there now, and I think Archie Gray was the best player on the pitch for Tottenham. he is a young lad, he’s 19 years old. Where are the leaders? I know van de Ven went off, Romero is out suspended. There’s not enough leaders out there.”

Joe Cole then added: “Archie Gray played like a boy, today, who had the club in his heart. He thought ‘I’m going to lead this pitch’ and he covered every blade of grass. He stood out an absolute mile. When you have a 19/20-year-old doing that, you have a problem…a massive problem.

“They miss Maddison, he gives you quality and personality. He wouldn’t be out there hiding, but he is injured in the stands. You are searching for leaders.”

Jamie O’Hara chose instead to lambast four “Championship players” after watching his former side crumble to yet another defeat.

When asked if Spurs are going down, O’Hara, speaking on talkSPORT, replied bluntly: “Yes.

“This team is terrible. The players are terrible. They’re Championship players. They’re Championship players.

“Pape Sarr is a Championship player. Conor Gallagher. How he played for Atletico Madrid, I’ll never know. He’s been awful. He’s been absolutely awful.

“Souza, who is this kid? He looks like he’s got two left feet. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Seriously, the team is absolutely awful.

“Mathys Tel. I could have told you. A donkey could have told you last season that he was garbage, a donkey could have told you last season that Tel was not good enough.

“He ain’t good enough. And we signed him on a permanent. It’s unbelievable.”

Barcelona have already held initial talks over the surprise signing of a Tottenham player Spurs will be banking on to win promotion back into the Premier League next season, according to reports.

There’s precious little to shout about right now at Tottenham, though it can always get worse. Spurs are staring down the barrel of their first relegation since 1977, but given the club’s resources, you’d think they’d be a shoo-in to come straight back up.

A recent report from The Athletic listed the 15 players Tottenham are expected to part ways with if they drop a division.

The outlet also cited a number of fringe and younger stars who’d walk straight into Spurs’ starting XI in the Championship, and who would be relied upon to achieve promotion at the first time of asking.

One of those named was highly-rated centre-back, Luka Vuskovic, who is currently thriving on a season-long loan at Hamburg.

But per the latest from Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Barcelona could poach the 19-year-old Croatia international before he ever kicks a ball in a Tottenham shirt.

Taking to X, Plettenberg wrote: “FC Barcelona are closely monitoring Luka Vuskovic and have added him to their shortlist for the summer.

“Hansi Flick appreciates him. Initial talks have already taken place. Hamburger SV are pushing for a second loan.

“Tottenham’s clear plan is to bring the 19 y/o gem back in the summer.”

Of course, the simplest way for Spurs to avoid yet another nightmare scenario is by avoiding relegation. They sit one point clear of the relegation zone with nine games remaining.

Igor Tudor has shown little in his three matches so far to suggest he’s the man to guide Tottenham to safety, and yet more change is reportedly on the horizon.

Our colleagues over at TEAMtalk have been informed Tottenham are giving serious consideration to firing Tudor before their next match – a Champions League Round of 16 clash with Atletico Madrid.

Spurs bosses are beginning to acknowledge they got the Tudor appointment wrong, while signs of the players and fans not buying in are there for all to see.

Sources also explained it’s club icon, Robbie Keane, who Tottenham are likely to turn to if Tudor is fired.

At the very least, the return of Keane would get the increasingly disillusioned fans back on side and prevent the mass early exoduses we saw in the stands against Crystal Palace on Thursday night.

The Irishman scored 122 goals in two spells at the club and has earned rave reviews in his brief managerial career so far at both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ferencvaros.

One Spurs star decided to ‘berate’ Igor Tudor while another ‘broke’ their ‘silence’, sadly not on his decision to become a fourth official.

We also have an ‘ex-Tottenham star’ hosting his own half-time walk out in tribute to the future Championship club.

While Kylian Mbappe is treading a dangerous, Raheem Sterling-adjacent path which should have us all worried.

Sol searching

The imminent relegation of Spurs is great fun and it is easy to get carried away as a result but there is no excuse for this sort of nonsense from the Daily Express website:

‘Dominic Solanke breaks Tottenham dressing room silence after Crystal Palace embarrassment’

The ‘silence’ lasted less than an hour, and was ‘broken’ at the first available opportunity in a post-match interview with Solanke still in his full kit. Bore off.

Porro form

But that is nothing compared to this doozy from talkSPORT:

‘Pedro Porro appears to berate Igor Tudor as he smacks bench in furious rage’

It is a headline somehow both unequivocal and vague. The ‘appears to’ is pure tabloidese, a crutch allowing them to heavily imply rather than outright state something happened and thus avoid any nasty consequences down the line.

Yet there still needs to be an element of truth to the story, a suggestion that Pedro Porro did indeed ‘berate’ his manager. You can’t just say ‘Mikel Arteta appeared to curl one out in the middle of the Etihad pitch’ without some evidence.

And how quaint that it is a caption to the first picture which undermines the entire construct of the article:

‘Porro appeared to berate the fourth official after he was taken off in Spurs’ latest loss’

Mediawatch would not put it past Spurs for their failing interim coach to transform into a lambasted fourth official during a game in a showcase of peak Spursiness, but it already appears as though Porro did not appear to berate Tudor at all.

How unfortunate that it takes until the ninth paragraph for the truth to be revealed:

‘As Porro left the field, though, he turned back in his manager’s direction to berate the fourth official.

‘He could be seen shouting back at Ruebyn Ricardo as the official pointed towards the bench in an attempt to calm the Spanish defender down.’

So that headline is just an outright lie? The story was published at 10.23pm on Thursday evening and updated at 8.12 the following morning, but the claim that ‘Pedro Porro appears to berate Igor Tudor’ is still there by Friday lunchtime and presumably continues to rake in the clicks.

O my word

Without wanting to look beyond the absolute surface level of Jamie O’Hara ‘storming out’ live on talkSPORT (just before an ad break) at being teased by Jason Cundy in an Ange Postecoglou mask, this is quite clearly a step too far in the description of the incident from The Sun website:

”Pointless doing a show with you’ – Ex-Tottenham star walks out of talkSPORT slot after old side’s defeat to Palace’

‘Ex-Tottenham star’? With 34 Premier League appearances for them in six years? Fewer than Mathys Tel, Jake Livermore and Ryan Sessegnon? Absolutely not.

Awful impediment

The instinct is to think that Martin Lipton might have been stitched up with this Sun headline:

‘Scholes, Neville and Keane have formed a punditry hit squad on Michael Carrick – they could stop him getting Man Utd job’

But there, eight paragraphs deep, is this incriminating line:

‘Indeed, even some die-hard United fans are now asking if the biggest impediment to Carrick’s chances of taking the helm full-time is the opinions of the influential old boys.’

It feels like losing to a Newcastle side reduced to ten men for an entire half and previously on a run of one win in seven Premier League games might actually be ‘the biggest impediment’ to Carrick getting the permanent job, even if Paul Scholes does insist on being weird.

In for the Kyl

The media has, for some time now, collectively struggled to decide what a footballer should do with their money.

The days of Raheem Sterling being criticised for spending too much on a house, too little on flights and never precisely the right amount on everything in between have thankfully passed. But the quest goes on to find out what the tabloid media deems acceptable.

And how unfortunate that said quest continues to revolve specifically around how successful young black men spend their money.

‘Kylian Mbappe spotted driving modest £35,000 car despite earning staggering £12.8MILLION-a-year salary’ – MailOnline.

‘Kylian Mbappe spotted driving modest vehicle after passing driving test at 27, despite having stunning supercar fleet’ – The Sun.

‘Spotted’! As if he should somehow be ashamed in some way! And you can almost taste the impotent fury on both the occasions ‘despite’ is used there.

Please, Kylian, do not buy your mum a house any time soon. Yes, we know you earn a staggering £12.8m-a-year salary, but still.

Best show of perspective of the day

‘Marseille fans left fuming by what Mason Greenwood did during embarrassing defeat’ – The Sun website.

Standing away from the team during a penalty shoot-out is definitely the worst thing Mason Greenwood has ever done. Good to see those fuming Marseille fans have their priorities right.

According to reports, Tottenham Hotspur are ‘now willing’ to ‘change’ their plans regarding Igor Tudor and could be ‘forced’ to sack him.

Tudor is only three games into his reign at Spurs, but there is already talk of the former Juventus boss losing his job.

Under Tudor, the north London side have shown very little sign of improvement and have been deservedly beaten by Arsenal, Fulham and Crystal Palace.

Spurs were under pressure to respond against Palace as West Ham beat Fulham on Wednesday to move to within a single point of their London rivals, but Tudor’s side produced another nothing performance.

Tudor has penned a deal until the summer and been tasked with guiding Spurs to safety, but he has had no impact and a new report from our pals at TEAMtalk claims the board are ‘willing’ to ‘change’ their manager plan.

READ: Spurs doomed for relegation under Tudor as worst self-destruction yet sparks ineffective ‘headloss’

The report explains:

‘Tottenham’s initial plan had been to appoint a short-term manager to steady the ship until the summer, allowing the club time to properly assess long-term options – particularly with the possibility of structural changes and new leadership at boardroom level.

‘However, we understand that the club’s current hierarchy are now willing to put that plan aside if results do not improve, with the door open for another managerial appointment before the end of the campaign.’

The same report also states that the club are ‘assessing replacements’, with club legend Robbie Keane ’emerging as the leading contender’ to take over.

And a report from Pete O’Rourke for Football Insider claims Spurs ‘could be forced into a sack decision’ if “thing don’t improve and they drop into the bottom three”.

“Well, it wouldn’t be what Tottenham want to do. They obviously brought in Igor Tudor as a firefighter to try and get them out of trouble,” O’Rourke told Football Insider.

“He had a tough start with his first game against North London rivals and league leaders Arsenal, they obviously lost that game, then lost to Fulham.

“As long as they’re not getting results, pressure and scrutiny is going to build on Igor Tudor.

“He’s not been shy in his press conferences, he has left it on the line and been quite honest about the situation Tottenham find themselves in.

“The Palace game was huge after West Ham closed to within a point of Tottenham, and obviously Nottingham Forest got a big point against Man City.

“Spurs, ideally, don’t want to have to make a managerial change, but if things don’t improve and Spurs drop into the bottom three, the club might be forced into it.”

Conor Gallagher was one of four “Championship players” to feel the wrath of Jamie O’Hara after Tottenham’s defeat to Crystal Palace on Thursday.

The 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Thursday leaves Tottenham just one point above the relegation zone as thousands of Spurs fans left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in their droves long before the final whistle.

Spurs took the lead when Dominic Solanke smartly diverted Archie Gray’s cross past Dean Henderson, but th hosts capitulated in staggering style.

Micky van de Ven hauled Ismaila Sarr down in the box to conceded a penalty that the Palace winger converted and was show a red card for denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Jorgen Strand Larsen put Palace ahead in first-half stoppage-time and there was still enough time before the break for Sarr to put the visitors 3-1 up and push Spurs and Tudor further into crisis.

When asked if Spurs are going down, O’Hara, speaking on talkSPORT, replied bluntly: “Yes.

“This team is terrible. The players are terrible. They’re Championship players. They’re Championship players.

“Pape Sarr is a Championship player. Conor Gallagher. How he played for Atletico Madrid, I’ll never know. He’s been awful. He’s been absolutely awful.

“Souza, who is this kid? He looks like he’s got two left feet. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Seriously, the team is absolutely awful.

“Mathys Tel. I could have told you. A donkey could have told you last season that he was garbage, a donkey could have told you last season that Tel was not good enough.

“He ain’t good enough. And we signed him on a permanent. It’s unbelievable.”

O’Hara earlier insisted that Igor Tudor “has to go” and labelled his former club “an absolute disgrace”.

He shouted on talkSPORT: “The manager’s got to go. He’s got to go. Get rid of him.

“He’s lost three games on the bounce. We are the only team in the Premier League ever to bring in a new manager to get a new manager bounce and we get a worse bounce.

“Honestly, he’s a joke, this club is a joke, the owners are a joke, the players are a joke, the recruitment’s a joke, the staff are a joke, the manager’s a joke.

“Everything about the football club is an absolute disgrace. Honestly, I’m hurting, I’m actually hurting. It hurts.

“I didn’t think it would hurt, because I was like, we’ve had some good moments, won the Europa League last season.

“This is just awful. This is so bad. This is the worst I’ve ever felt as a Spurs fan, ever.”

Dominic Solanke admits the Tottenham team held a dressing room summit after their damaging 3-1 home loss to Crystal Palace on Thursday night, a result which club legend Peter Crouch admits leaves them ‘bang in trouble’.

With just nine games remaining in the Premier League season, Spurs sit a point above the relegation but are in complete freefall after suffering a third defeat in a row under interim coach Igor Tudor. The new manager bounce is clearly not applicable in N17.

Indeed, Tottenham have now failed to win any of their last 11 outings and will also be without skipper for the night, Micky van de Ven, for the trip to Liverpool on March 15 after his red card against Palace. At least Cristian Romero will be back for the Anfield clash, though.

Tudor was strangely bullish after the one-sided contest, admitting: “After this game I believe in [them] more than before, maybe it sounds strange but this is it. I saw something in the team, I saw that there is something, even now in the dressing room after the game.

“When we will be complete and I choose the right guys, it will be good I believe. I saw something, some good energy, some wish to do, some passion. The fight, I saw it was there.”

And now Solanke claims the squad engaged in honest conversations regarding their current predicament.

“We’ve just had a big conversation.

“We know the position we are in is definitely not where we want to be so we need to figure out how we are going to get out of it as soon as possible.

“We know there’s been difficulties but we’re not in a position to make any excuses anymore.

“We need to do the job on the pitch. It is easy to say we want to be better but we want to be better on the pitch. We need to fight and realise the position we are in.

“We know the club is not used to being in this position so we need to understand it and understand it’s not going to be easy and we need to fight every single game, every single minute, to make sure we improve.”

Meanwhile, former Spurs striker Crouch was critical of the squad strength, given the number of players still missing, adding: “I don’t think there is quality. The best players are out injured.

“Tottenham are bang in trouble. I look at Manchester United and they looked to Michael Carrick, he has managed to get a tune out of those players straight away. Tudor is a massive gamble.

“There are no players who have come through from the youth team, players who know the club.

“Archie Gray was the best player for Tottenham, and he’s 19 years old. There aren’t enough leaders out there.”