Football365

We remain staunch defenders here of fans’ rights to express themselves however they want in stadiums. As long as you’re not breaking actual laws or basic human decency, crack on. You’ve paid your money, you can do what you want.

There is simply no such thing as ‘over-celebrating’. If you want to boo your own team, you go right ahead and boo them. Call them silly sods and bottling frauds. Celebrate in a way that gets a clout-chasing influencer to quote-tweet a video with the simple descriptor ‘#limbs’ and casually harvesting 5000 likes.

But also, you know, we will arch an Ancelotti eyebrow when you’re booing your team when your team is nine points clear at the top of the Premier League and with one foot in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

We understand. We get the dread fear that is engulfing Arsenal fans. It does look like it really might be happening again. It does look like you might have to eat a lot of banter sh*t at the end of the season. But come on, guys, you’re not even the club in your local area that is going to spend this summer and beyond eating the most sh*t.

Tottenham

I mean, just obviously Tottenham. They won’t like us saying it, but Spurs fans’ complaints and boos and harrumphing have in the past carried a good deal of the Arsenal about them. Not the ‘nine points clear at the top of the league’ part, sure, but a general sense of entitlement and inflated air of their own worth and expectations.

What’s happened this season has, in its way, made that observation feel even more accurate. While also making this season’s at-times-unbridled fury entirely understandable.

The speed of Spurs’ descent from if not quite the top table then something very, very close to it, to what now appears inevitable relegation is staggering. To get a true idea, it’s barely three years since Antonio Conte’s infamous please-sack-me rant after Spurs blew a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 at Southampton. We all remember it, don’t we.

But here’s a fun little question. Where do you think Spurs were in the table that night, with Conte desperately trying to get himself sacked and most Spurs fans happy to pack his bags? They were fourth. Fourth! That’s what Spursy used to look like. And we still all took the p*ss then!

Back then, Spurs fans may have indeed come off as a bit entitled and up themselves when booing and complaining that they might not be in the Champions League every season. But when their team is careening towards relegation and nobody really looks like they care that much about the fact, then it does seem like yeah, fair play, you can definitely be quite annoyed about that.

There have certainly been more boos than points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this year and, despite Thomas Frank’s claims and the unstinting support of his inexplicably large and devoted fan club across this country’s football media, those dreadful results are not, were not and never have been because of the fans.

That’s a fact borne out by the defeat against Nottingham Forest when, out of pure desperation and no real idea what else to do, they decided to go entirely the other way and happy-clappily support the team quite literally to a fault. Then get criticised for that, too, because maybe it spooked the players and made it all feel too big for them to handle.

If anything, for me, Clive, they’ve almost supported these good-for-nothing wastrels too well.

Spurs fans right now are well within their rights to be absolutely furious about absolutely everything, from ticket prices, to the way this season’s omnishambleclusterf*ck has made Daniel Levy look like a genius despite his starring role across most of the decade of negligence, arrogance and hubris that has led Spurs to this point of utter catastrophe, to the boardroom overpromotion of assorted Lewis Family nepobabies, to the constant transfer-saga mugging-offs, to the self-satisfied nature of Johan Lange’s “we didn’t panic” January fiasco, to the ongoing fascination with appointing Arsenal fans to senior roles, to the inexplicable failure to see what everyone else could see about Thomas Frank until it was far too late, to the never-ending injury crisis and, finally, to Brian Brobbey.

Next season is going to feel so weird without Spurs while they go about their business of doing the only two things that are possible for them next year: racking up over 100 Championship points or fewer than 50.

Liverpool

Now Arsenal fans might point here to the fact that at least Liverpool fans got a league title to celebrate last season and having a league title to celebrate is all that Arsenal fans are asking for and really is that so much?

But Liverpool fans were sold a much bigger dream than a single title. Last season was supposed to represent the start of a new dynasty, of the country’s greatest club knocking Manchester rivals old and new off their f*cking perches and reclaiming a place firmly atop English football that is essentially their birthright. It was the start of the Arne Slot Era, but it’s turned out to just be the last stand of the Jurgen Klopp Era. Who also definitely isn’t coming back as manager as well, no matter how many times people insist on Lloyd Christmassing their way to a “So you’re telling me there’s a chance” conclusion from those quotes off that podcast.

What is real and happening is that Liverpool have this season very often been very sh*t. And in the cruellest possible way, because that sh*tness has come after an entirely misleading start that, on the back of last year’s success and the megabucks summer spending spree, had us all fooled despite in hindsight being an obvious illusion that relied on a clearly unsustainable diet of late goals and absurd good fortune.

It turned out the late goals weren’t actually that unsustainable, but after that initial five-game burst they would mainly come for the opposition.

Are also the only Premier League club since February 1 to play Spurs and emerge without three points, which is absolutely f*cking mortifying.

Big Midweek: Real v Bayern, Arsenal, Arne Slot, Rashford, Forest

Aston Villa

Hammering their heads against a ceiling they are simply not allowed to break. Stymied by rules designed to pull the drawbridge up and leave a closed club that Villa aren’t invited to and have no plausible way to break in.

There is still every chance that the glorious period in which Unai Emery has defied gravity to restore Villa to a Premier League force on if not off the pitch is coming to an end. He might know better than most how the grass isn’t always greener on the Big Six side, but you do wonder whether at some point quite soon he might fancy having another go at succeeding without one arm tied behind his back.

This summer’s increasingly inevitable book-balancing sale of Morgan Rogers feels like it might be the time.

Meanwhile, Chelsea and Manchester City continue upon their merry way without any apparent imminent consequence. At least, other than Chelsea’s self-inflicted consequences. And those can’t really count here.

Newcastle United

Imagine selling the entirety of your soul in the hope that you become the next Man City only to find to your horror you are instead on a timeline where you finish 14th, lose home and away to Sunderland, and get hammered in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Of course you’d be raging. Has any of it really been worth it? At least Chelsea and Manchester City fans got way more than one poxy Carabao out of swallowing down all those uneasy feelings and ignoring the small, nagging voices in the back of their heads.

Chelsea

You don’t have to feel sympathy for Chelsea fans – which is just as well.

But it’s not hard to understand the anger at what has become of a once-proud football club now reduced to the status of a get-rich-quick player-trading empire for the most cartoonishly ghastly Americans imaginable, while they bin off capable managers who won’t blindly follow the definitely foolproof strategy in favour of a wildly out-of-his-depth company man from the Strasbourg Office who has never met a LinkedIn post he didn’t find inspirational and motivational.

Cole Palmer isn’t even good anymore. The biggest cheer at Stamford Bridge on Sunday was before the game against Man City even kicked off when the result came through from Sunderland.

Sure, laughing at Spurs has been a core plank of the Chelsea supporter’s strategy for the longest time. But it’s come to something when it starts to look like the only remaining plank.

Crystal Palace

Still fighting the good fight this season and may well walk away from the season with another trophy. Given their history, that’s not to be sniffed at. At all.

But if there was ever a season to highlight the ‘know your place’ realities for smaller Premier League clubs it’s been this one at Palace

Since having the temerity to win the FA Cup last May they’ve lost their best attacker, their best defender, their Europa League place and, at the end of the season, the manager who has made unprecedented success possible.

Of course it wouldn’t be better if the FA Cup win had never happened. Of course the very possible winning of a European trophy would be another momentous and joyous occasion. But it also feels very much like the end of something never to be repeated.

There is no sense here of Palace being able to use any of it as a springboard to lasting success. It’s just a tantalising glimpse of the good life before going back to the 50-point grind.

In the timeless words of James, if I hadn’t seen such riches I could live with being poor.

Manchester United

Just cannot escape their banter era. Michael Carrick has now been neither good enough nor bad enough to make the next step obvious or decisive, with danger lurking in whichever option they choose.

Have endured the ignominy of a bare-minimum 40-game season that will make Champions League qualification look less of an achievement than it is and have suffered through multiple humiliations.

It was bad enough just being in the second round of the Carabao, never mind losing at Grimsby.

They’ve taken a total of two points from their home games against West Ham, Wolves and Leeds, while also managing to draw at West Ham away to allow the great haircut grift to continue with the idea of five wins in a row and an end to that particular line of embarrassment once again as far away as ever.

Tottenham again

Seriously, Arsenal, some perspective please. Look at these poor bastards.

Burnley

Imagine being significantly worse over the course of a season than this Spurs team. How could you not be fuming?

Wolves

Imagine being significantly worse over the course of a seas… well, you get the idea with that. In summary: fuming.

Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane were scathing in their analysis of Archie Gray and a second Tottenham “culprit” in their defeat to Sunderland on Sunday.

Spurs failed to reap the reward of a new-manager bounce as defeat in Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge saw them end the weekend in the relegation zone, two points from safety.

Nordi Mukiele’s goal was the difference between the sides and Carragher was eager to point out that Spurs weren’t as “unlucky” as reports suggested at losing to the deflected strike.

“You’ve got five Tottenham players here almost like a cage, all facing Mukiele,” Carragher said while analysing the goal on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“He [Mukiele] has to go there [pointing down the line]. It can’t be any other way. So five players around. So when you say you’re unlucky, that, for me, is not unlucky. That can’t be allowed to happen.

“The two biggest culprit to me are the two midfield players, Archie Gray and Conor Gallagher, in this position.

If I tell you now, this where somebody is going to score from [points to the edge of the box] that is not unlucky. It’s not. It can’t be.”

Also taking aim at the midfield pair, Keane added: “They’re not great technically on the ball, and they’re not comfortable getting the ball, then they better be good defensively.

“Gallagher has just got to slow down there. It’s far too easy. And Archie Gray has got to get out there [to close down Mukiele], leave the runner. That’s far too easy.

“And when you’re when you’re down there fighting for your lives, these are big moments. And again, it’s not unlucky. It’s got to be stopped earlier.

“It’s a bit of football intelligence, spot the danger. Again, slow it down and show them into wide areas. That, to me, that’s the basics. You’ve got to do the basics right when you’re down there.”

Carragher believes the midfield is the big “worry” for De Zerbi as their relegation rivals have superior players in that area of the pitch.

“I don’t want to pick on young players, because I actually think [Lucas] Bergvall and Archie Gray have actually they’ve been two of the better players for Tottenham.

“But I was really worried yesterday after the game, and it was because of the midfield area. The two young kids learning the trade that are supposed to be getting you out of a relegation battle.

“Conor Gallagher’s come in who the manager likes, because he’s tried to buy him, but it just hasn’t worked for him so far at Spurs. We know he’s been a decent Premier League player, but it’s just not happened for him at all, and that has been a problem from the very start of the season in their central midfield.

“I think the teams they’re fighting, West Ham have got a better central midfield than Tottenham, so have Nottingham Forest, and so have Leeds. So that is my one big worry for Tottenham in terms of going down.

“And when you think about what De Zerbi can do different, he needs to fix the midfield, because that has been a problem for three managers already.”

Keane then again attempted to find something they’re good at and failed.

He said: “When you’re thinking about what they’re really good at – because you have to hang your hat and something if you’re going to play in the Premier League – are they really good going forward? Are they a goal threat? No, not really.

“They’re not technically great. They’re not good at getting on the half turn. Are they amazing defensively? They’re not great at that either.”

We have two very different contrasting Spurs fans, blaming the referees and the club. We also have more thoughts on Arsenal.

Cop a load of Leeds v Man Utd tonight and message us at theeditor@football365.com

Spurs will let you down, too…

As a Spurs fan, I feel like one of many that have been trampled by a stampede over the course of this season (and longer?)

Week after week, not just defeats (although there have been many), but the mistakes, the bad luck, the deflections, the red cards, the biased decisions, the laughter from the opposition fans, the glee from the commentators and the pundits in the studio.

One stampede after another.

And so, after one more trampling this week, on what was hoped to be the beginning of the renaissance, I can only think of one conclusion:

I can’t wait to gloat in this mailbox when Spurs disappoint everyone else and stay up!!

Honestly, the giddy glee of everyone outside Spurs is borderline shameful. From opposition fans, honestly I can accept, and even respect that. West Ham or Arsenal fans taking the p*** out of us? Fair enough. Deserved.

But it’s the media, the F365s, the commentators. Jeez, the commentators in the Spurs Sunderland game yesterday were dreadful. Every Brian Brobbey elbow or a malicious, injury intending push was met with ‘ahhh what a physical player he is!’ while every Spurs foul or mistake was met with disdain. It’s the same every week.

F365, every podcast, every radio show, everyone delighted to see Spurs gone.

Even the referees, that’s the scariest thing. Every marginal call going against Spurs. Red cards, inconsistent VAR decisions, even that crazy handball given against Kolo Muani yesterday that came off his head on a breakaway? And when it happens to Spurs, instead of any apology it’s just ‘hah, Spursy!’. Are we the last team in the league this year without a penalty? It’s borderline corruption at this stage.

If De Zerbi and the players have *anything* about them, they’ll turn this ridicule into a siege mentality. They are being absolutely laughed at by everyone involved in English football. They need to turn that into venom that gets put to work on the pitch.

Six games left and people are salivating over Spurs demise. But I’m sorry to tell you, like they’ve done for us fans for so long: Spurs will disappoint you.

Salvation seems miles from us for now… but one win can change everything. De Zerbi will make more progress. Xavi Simons, Bergvall, Van de Ven, Porro, Tel will step up. Maddison might even return.

Spurs will stay up… and I can’t wait to be back here when they do!

Andy, Spurs, Eire

Where Spurs got it very wrong

Should, as feels increasingly inevitable, Spurs get relegated, the January transfer window won’t be the reason but it will be a huge reason why. In no world do I expect us to get in Guehi and Semenyo but I look at West Ham, of all clubs, who bring in two players who are transformative.

Spurs, and the brain trust that is Lange and Vinai, sell Johnson our final (in)consistent goal threat at the very beginning of the window, and replace him with Gallagher, giving him £200k p/w by the by, insanity. We lose Richarlison, Kudus, Bergvall and Bentancur during that same window, and bring in…..nobody. Not a single other player…oh wait, a 19 year old Brazilian…who’s barely seen the pitch since arriving.

Then, when it was clear Frank needed binning off, they waited until after the window had passed. Mind boggling.

That is bone headed arrogance and negligent to the extreme.

Spurs won’t get relegated because of that window but it was a chance to give the squad a shot/kick up the arse and it was spectacularly passed up.

No matter what happens. Those two bozos have to be relieved of their duties with immediate effect. Painful to watch, but morbidly fascinating at the same time.

Finally, a big apology to both my kids who it seems really want to support Spurs; forgive me.

Dan Mallerman

READ: Premier League winners and losers: Manchester City, Arsenal, West Ham, De Zerbi, Thiago, Rosenior

Arsenal ruining football? Not so fast…

I love this idea that Arsenal are ruining football when you have 1. Rival fans clamoring for City to win (again – even despite 115) and 2. Rival fans (e.g. Chelsea today) actively rooting against their own club’s interests (CL not looking likely now is it?) in order to root for Man City getting a lifeline back into the title race.

All because…you don’t like our Lego-headed manager, our online fanbase and that we score from a lot of set piece situations? It’s not Arsenal who’s ruining football – it’s you f***ing idiots who take these asinine positions and then actually try to defend them. It honestly seems past the point of just “bantz” now. This is what football has become and it’s kinda sad.

Now stfu and watch us still win this league.

MAW, LA Gooner (Also, to all you people who were hating on Americans – you are all also total idiots. And I imagine there’s a strong correlation between the likelihood of someone I described above also being the same type of person that I’m describing in these brackets. Or, as we call them in America, “parentheses”. F*** off.)

On those spoiled Arsenal fans…

I am not going to make silly forecasts about whether Arsenal will or won’t bottle the league but I mentioned multiple times this season that if you coach negativity you give elite players an inferiority complex. You’re telling them they’re not good enough to win toe to toe and need to, instead, resort to dark arts and gamesmanship. That is not a recipe for trophies in the long haul, regardless of how this season pans out.

That said I was surprised more attention wasn’t paid to the boos at full time. Liverpool, in all my life, have never been top of the league and been boo’d off a home pitch. I’d love to know what the players thought and felt when they heard that. I can’t imagine they felt motivated to work harder for the benefit of fans entitled enough to boo them off when they’re 6 points clear at the summit.

I remember a couple months ago Arsenal had a bad draw the same weekend Man City lost and fans were at pains to point out how actually it was a good weekend for the team; but generally if you hope to win trophies dropping easy points is never positive. Those chickens might feel like they’re coming home to roost a bit now.

Finally, fans are eager to question why neutrals might favour Man City. Some have pointed out that Man City almost get disregarded because they haven’t really got a fan base in the way the actual big clubs do. I won’t shed any tears for Arsenal because they seemed perfectly happy to jump into bed, and promote their new sponsorship, with Deel this season. If you want to partner with corporations that actively support the genocide in Gaza then forgive us all for not caring how “proper” you think your club is.

Minty, LFC

…To highlight how much this Arsenal team’s collective heads seem to have gone you only need look at the celebrations after the Gyokores penalty. At 36 minutes into the game, this was hardly a case of desperate times and at that point in time you’re sitting a solid 10 point clear of your nearest competition.

How did the Arsenal team react though? Did they go and drink in the applause, celebrate with each other or dare I say it enjoy themselves a little? No, Gyokores gave a brief showing of his trademark hand gesture and then sprinted back to the halfway line as if this was stoppage time in a cup tie and they needed another not to get knocked out. Add to this the fact that David Raya went up for a corner at the end of the game this paints a picture of a team that has a mindset of hanging on to the title rather than believing it’s theirs.

Being 9 points clear at the top is by no means a desperate situation despite what the papers and a majority of Arsenal fan social media “celebs” would have you believe. The genuine fear that has enveloped the club however is.

Maybe players and fans alike should spend some time overthinking the positives instead of catastrophising the negatives.

Anthony (Raya could’ve thrown away that precious goal difference “point” too), Kilburn

The HyperBowl starts here

The wait for the return of Villa to action over the international break and FA Cup QF’s felt like a lifetime. However, it feels like the massively overhyped build up to the City v Arsenal game on Sunday may make this week even more intolerable.

It won’t decide the title. It may influence it significantly, but it won’t decide it. We can’t watch Arsenal lose at home and then proclaim them champions if they get a result at The Etihad.

Gary AVFC, Oxford (Got to score those Watkins and Rogers).

Cescy talk

One must take these reports with a massive handful of salt of cold. But that they’re even being spread. – and are perfectly believable – shows how fast Arsenal’s season is unravelling.

Cesc Fabregas is *reportedly* being lined up to replace Arteta, in the event he wins no silverware this season. I wonder what Arsenal fans think of this? Cesc of course * knows the club * and he’s doing pretty well at Como, but he’d basically be another very inexperienced manager.

On the plus side, you would imagine he’d play a rather more interesting style of football. And there’s no way this squad needs major expensive surgery, it just needs the best getting out of it.

From potential Quadruple winners to looking at a new manager in about 3 weeks. Modern football moves *fast*.

Jamie, Liverpool

Stop lying about a child…

Did nobody else kinda pick up on how daft this fella sounded?

That being said Madueke and Mosquera lack elite “mentality. Dowman seems to be riding his lucky Everton’s cross. The boy is 16, very talented …but he make forward or side passes, cannot create chances (creating chances in different from creating chaos), he just runs, dribbles into blind alleys, get fouled”.

What are you even on about? Since that Everton game he has played 3 games. One of them was where he was Arsenal’s best player in the FA Cup in the loss to Southampton. He then played 14 mins against Sporting and 35 mins against Bmouth. He’s a winger whose main attribute is dribbling. He’s very good at it. Arsenals wide players are scared to take men on, he isn’t. What is your sample size here? Less than half a game vs Bournemouth? Why do people always speak so confidently when spouting drivel.

Dion Byrne

We end with Stewie

Sorry but I have to point out the dissembling, dishonesty and delusional guff from Arsenal fans, which goes some way to explaining why they are perennial Losers and the butt of every joke. Take that mailbox entry from (I assume Arsenal fan) Mubashir.

This is a classic case of Islington MAGA dissembling and dishonesty. First off, he states Noni “is the ball out if you dribble it past the white chalk” Madueke “cost £30m”. This is false and dishonest – Madueke cost £52m! Then, Arteta’s coaching allegedly “isn’t the central issue”…but here’s where it gets “Alternative Facts”: Mubashir goes on a few sentences later to bemoan “ no chemistry, no patterns, no coordinated pressing”. Strange, because where do players learn these attacking patterns? Ah yes through training ground drills and repetition! Where do they learn coordinated ball pressing? Again: on the training ground! And who is 100% responsible for this? Aaaah yes. The manager!

But my favourite part arrives with the moment of clarity that “recruitment is the problem”. Whose decisions were they to blow £52m on Madueke, £65m on an ashtray, £60m on a Viking Clogger? It’s subsequently concluded that “Arsenal were never good enough” – quite a conclusion to reach when the manager has had 7 years and over £1bn!!!!

Hate to go back to this point but when 4 seasons ago, the usual banal El Fraudo-lovers bandied about the “who would you replace Arteta with” bollocks, I suggested Luis Enrique. This was shot down as I was reliably informed that he “didn’t have what it takes” to compete in the PL and “my granny coulda won a Treble with that Barca side”. Interesting.

I contend that if you had given Luis Enrique the exact same conditions El Pulizon has had the past 2 seasons, he’d have back to back PL titles and possibly a CL.

This remember, is the same manager who took a punt on a Barca-reject Dembele, who’d spent his Barca career persistently crocked, or out of form. Dembele was such unwanted goods that Enrique got him for just €50m – aka a €20m discount on a Chelsea reject ashtray. A few seasons later with Enrique’s coaching, Dembele is a European champion and ballon d’Or winner! Look at Vitinha, ex-Wolves, signed for just over €40m – aka a huge discount on a Madueke. One of the best midfielders in Europe! Desire Doué – a young precocious talent, now a European champion and going to the WC with France. And it goes beyond that, look at the wealth of youth talent Enrique has put his trust in: Mayulu, Zaïre-Emery, Barcola. Nuno Mendes far cheaper than a Ben Shite etc. Examples abound. The point? Enrique is a progressive manager who trusts in youth, is attacking and demonstrated that raw attacking talent thrive under him. All this after losing Mbappe! Oh and a reminder: Enrique earns less than Arteta. Farcical.

Meanwhile….El Fraudo has signed 194 defenders, is linked with another 27 defenders this summer, has spent far more than an Enrique but is whining that duds like Fraudegaard are “injured”. It’s pathetic. 7 years and not one person can name an unquantified attacking success he’s coached! Max Dowman will be the biggest beneficiary of a new, inventive creative manager – as will Ethan Nwaneri and MLS. The talent is clearly there in those players, but having some Fake Technocrat regurgitating David Brent quotes, whilst making you do 370 hours of bleep tests (as he forbids you from shooting, improvising, or taking risks)…is the worst possible thing.

Here’s a final curveball: I will bet my bottom dollar that if Arsenal sacked Arteta tomorrow and brought in an emergency interim manager (Alonso is literally free), Arsenal would get more wins, play better, and win the PL. Crazy idea, but call it a “new manager bounce”. I even think Maresca would get the 3 more wins required at this point!

That Arsenal fan claims “title was never in Arsenal’s hands”. A 9-point lead, home to Bournemouth, with a chance to go 12 clear. With 8 matches or so left. But MAGA-style lads, “ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears”. Hilarious.

Former Tottenham Hotspur Jamie O’Hara was scathing in his assessment of Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge of his old club, with striker Dominic Solanke producing an horrific 0/10 performance in the defeat at Sunderland.

The so-called ‘new manager bounce’ proved once again that it does not exist at Spurs as De Zerbi’s first game in charge went the same way as Igor Tudor’s, another demoralising defeat.

Whilst not quite as heavy or embarrassing as the 4-1 home loss former interim manager Tudor suffered against Arsenal in his first outing, De Zerbi’s Tottenham did little to suggest they can avoid relegation at the Stadium of Light.

The 1-0 defeat, courtesy of Nordi Mukiele’s cruelly deflected strike, leaves Spurs two points off 17th-placed West Ham in the fight for survival with only six games remaining for De Zerbi to pull off what is looking increasingly like a miracle.

And reacting to the performance on Wearside, O’Hara did not hold back with his player ratings in what was another dismal Tottenham display.

Writing on X after the game, it was Solanke‘s 0/10 that was the biggest shocker, while fellow forwards Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani did not fare much better as they both received 1/10 ratings.

Antonin Kinsky at least recovered from his disaster in Madrid the last time he pulled on a Spurs shirt, earning a 7/10 as replacement for the injured Guglielmo Vicario, while Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Pedro Porro avoided complete humiliation by each being awarded 5/10.

Summarising the performance, O’Hara said: “Absolute horror. Spurs deserved nothing from this match. This fully characterizes Tottenham this season. They did nothing at all, showed nothing.

“There is no performance in any position. Gallagher – terrible. Kolo Muani – terrible. Solanke – terrible. Richarlison – terrible. Udogie –terrible. You can’t fight for survival with only six people actually involved! You need to fight and play properly.”

READ NEXT: Spurs doomed to relegation not by absence of new-manager bounce but fact this was it

Despite the managerial change, O’Hara shifted the blame toward the squad rather than criticising new boss De Zerbi.

He added: “I can’t believe how bad this team is. De Zerbi is a good coach, but he can’t perform miracles. The players have to deliver results for him.”

Next up for Tottenham is a clash with De Zerbi’s old club Brighton in north London on Saturday evening, where nothing less than three points will suffice.

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher reckons Tottenham “look like they’re going to go down” to the Championship after a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland.

Nordi Mukiele’s 61st-minute goal gave the hosts all three points as Tottenham lost their first match under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi.

Tottenham are now in the Premier League relegation zone with just six matches left to play and two points adrift of West Ham, who occupy the place above them.

And Carragher thinks Tottenham now look Championship-bound as he can’t see where Spurs are going to get their next points from.

Carragher said on Sky Sports: “I can’t believe it. Tottenham look like they’re going to go down. The other [relegation threatened] teams have something going for them.”

On playing Wolves in a couple of weeks, Carragher added: “You look at fixtures, you think that’s a good game for Tottenham. But they’re awful. Tottenham’s a good game for them.

READ: Spurs doomed to relegation not by absence of new-manager bounce but fact this was it

“Wolves are bottom of the league. Do you think Tottenham will go there, and win? No chance.”

Gary Neville admits Spurs are in “massive trouble” but is tipping Tottenham to survive as they will “just get out of it”.

Speaking about the relegation battle, Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast: “It’s as interesting as the title race.

“The Spurs question – can they go down? Will they go down? Is this the biggest club that’s ever gone down in Premier League history?

“Aston Villa are a massive club, but Tottenham have been in Champions League finals in the last five, six, seven years, and won the Europa League last year, this would be a monstrous moment.

“Some say it would be good for the game because it would demonstrate competitiveness, that anybody can go down in the Premier League, just as when Leicester won it. It was the most phenomenal story that anybody can win the Premier League.

“I actually like what De Zerbi did today on paper, putting Kolo Muani, Solanke and Richarlison up front as a three-pronged attack. It didn’t have great balance but I thought that they would potentially cause more problems.

“They’ve lost at Sunderland and they’ve got big matches to come. The unthinkable could happen.

“I think they’ll just get out of it, but I’ve got no confidence to sit here and say Tottenham are safe right now.

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“Everyone knows they’re in massive trouble and it’s the unthinkable.”

Jamie O’Hara predictably went in on Tottenham after their defeat to Sunderland and claimed the current players “are nowhere near it”.

O’Hara said: “Absolutely shocking. Spurs didn’t deserve anything from the game. It sums up Spurs this season. They did absolutely nothing, offered nothing.

“Non-existent performances all over the park. Connor Gallagher, shocking. Randal Kolo Muani, shocking. Dominic Solanke, shocking. Richarlison, shocking. Destiny Udogie, shocking.

“You can’t carry six players when you are fighting relegation! You have to fight and put in a performance.

“Absolutely woeful again. I can’t believe how bad this team have got. De Zerbi is a good manager but he can’t produce miracles; the players have to produce for him.

“Nowhere near good enough. The quality on the pitch is non-existent. These players have fallen so far off from where they think they are as footballers.

“I am not seeing anything from this team that warrants staying in the Premier League. There is nothing that says they can stay up. There isn’t enough fight, quality or passion.

“For the majority of the game, I couldn’t believe what I was watching. These players are nowhere near it.”

Spurs are gone. The last plausible chance of avoiding the most ignominious relegation in Premier League history rested with a new-manager bounce under Roberto De Zerbi and emerging with something from the Stadium of Light.

They leave Sunderland with nothing except another compelling reminder of just how many villains this story contains.

It will not, quite obviously, be De Zerbi’s fault when this wretched team is deservedly and decisively relegated. It will not really be Igor Tudor’s. It will be Thomas Frank’s quite a bit, but not entirely and probably not even mainly.

It will not even be entirely on this current crop of inadequate players, several of whom are, bless them, absolutely trying their very best.

It’s just that their very best is really quite sh*t.

Spurs will be relegated this season and deservedly so. But the chief architects are not on the pitch or in the dugout but in the padded executive seats. Daniel Levy’s mistakes have been compounded and doubled down upon by inadequate successors who can’t even point to his accomplishments. And there were many.

But 10 years of letting the playing squad drift and now, finally, rot and decay has caught up with Spurs. And almost all of that was on his watch.

His claim that he would only be appreciated after he had gone has come alarmingly true. And it’s probably the case that had Levy still been in position Spurs would not be going down this season at least.

He would not have allowed Frank to tank the team quite so hard and for quite so long. It was obvious in November that he was done for, and had Spurs moved then for De Zerbi or someone of similar ilk, then the very deepest cuts of this catastrophe would probably have been averted.

But probably only postponed, really. This has been coming. The sheer extent to which Harry Kane was keeping this team upright has become startlingly clear with Spurs’ collapse and his success at Bayern Munich.

“Keeping Spurs out of relegation trouble” isn’t quite as Ballon d’Or attention-grabbing, it turns out, as “Propelling Bayern to the Champions League” but it was no less an achievement.

Since he left, Spurs have had a wild (and on more than one occasion wildly fortunate) 10-game start under Ange Postecoglou in which all things seemed possible. But since then the all things have been, in the Premier League at least, almost exclusively sh*te. They were a mid-table team at best for the rest of that season. A team that should have been in relegation trouble in his second season. And one now doomed to that fate in the third post-Kane campaign.

The Europa League win, magnificent and cathartic as it was, cannot mask the wider, deeper failings of everyone involved from top to bottom. Especially as it seems more and more to have been accompanied by a Spurs fan somewhere out there holding a monkey’s paw.

The chronic lack of or misdirected investment in the playing squad needs studying. Spurs were, somehow, blessed with the outrageous good fortune to have the best striker in the world fall into their lap from their own academy, and another of the world’s best forwards arrive for a bargain price and inexplicably fall hopelessly in love with this stupid club and spend the best 10 years of his career here.

What did Spurs do with that outlandish good fortune? Absolutely f*ck all. Squandered. P*ssed up the wall.

And now the consequences of that are hitting home incredibly hard.

This defeat, in its own way, felt somehow even worse than the fearful hammering from supposed relegation rivals Nottingham Forest three weeks ago. That could almost be dismissed as a freakish outlier even in Spurs’ season of despair.

This defeat – a much closer, narrower one in a far tougher fixture – cannot. The most damning thing about this defeat is that for an hour Spurs were okay. Marginally the better side, even. Sunderland weren’t quite at it, and Spurs definitely were.

It’s not even hard to imagine a universe where Spurs did in fact win this game, and that’s not something that can be said about many of their games. There exists, for instance, a universe where Richarlison attempts a shot rather than a backpass with any one of three presentable chances. Or where Brian Brobbey doesn’t get away with quite so many yellow-card offences. Or where the collective response to an opposition goal on 60 minutes isn’t “Well… that’s that, then”.

But this is not that universe, and it isn’t going to become that universe. The terrifying thing for Spurs isn’t that they didn’t get a new-manager bounce, but that they did. This was it. And it wasn’t anything like enough.

They played adequately well for an hour in a scrappy game. It was better than anything they’ve served up in the Premier League this year. But it was nowhere near better enough.

And the response to conceding precisely the sort of goal doomed teams concede – a cruel deflection leaving the blameless Antonin Kinsky an agonised spectator as Nordi Mukiele’s speculative shot spun and arced and bounced into the net – tells us everything we, in truth, already knew about this Spurs team.

They don’t have the minerals.

There was still a third of the game left when Sunderland scored, but everyone knew that the game was over. Sure, Sunderland don’t lose when they score first and Spurs certainly don’t win when they concede first, but you’d expect what remains for now a Premier League team to at least look like they thought the idea of getting something out of a game you’re losing 1-0 with half an hour still to play wasn’t entirely absurd.

This Spurs team can win games. But to do so they need the entire game to go pretty much flawlessly.

They cannot react to any kind of setback, and setbacks are baked in to football even when you aren’t alarmingly bad. There simply isn’t time left for Spurs to have the multiple perfect days they require.

Spurs really are a heady, unstoppable combination of powerfully sh*t and undeniably unfortunate. They do seem to invite setbacks. The goal, obviously. And the neverending injury crisis continued with Cristian Romero leaving the field in tears – we’re assuming, perhaps unfairly, over doubts about his own World Cup hopes rather than any real concern for the fate of his soon-to-be former club – after being shoved into Kinsky by Brobbey.

Even when Spurs appear to get a bit of luck, it kicks them in the arse. They were – absurdly – awarded a penalty in the first half here. When VAR inevitably and uncontroversially overturned it, the corner Spurs should have had in the first place went the same way as the penalty that should have never been.

A small thing, sure, but the small things feel so much bigger when you’re this bad and need every tiny bit of help you can get. Which is the key to it all: the misfortune is real, but let’s not pretend it is anywhere close to being as important as the sh*tness.

And the good news does just keep coming for Spurs fans: when you’re in the Championship next season, you can also look forward to a great many more co-commentaries from Don ‘Duty of Care’ Goodman.

New Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi is “sorry” to the players he is coaching, and feels they need him to be a “father” to help them through the next six games.

Spurs were in danger prior to the 32nd Premier League game week, and that danger has now increased markedly. They began the week a point above West Ham, who occupied the final relegation spot.

The Hammers absolutely walloped bottom-side Wolves, 4-0, to leapfrog Tottenham, who had a chance to go back ahead of the Hammers with a win of their own in manager De Zerbi‘s first match in charge.

But they were unable to return a positive result, losing 1-0 to Sunderland, who scored in the 61st minute and hung on for the rest of the game, in which there were 11 added minutes that Spurs failed to do an awful lot with.

De Zerbi has not been dealt a great hand, being the third manager this season of a club whose players look devoid of ideas.

READ: Roy Keane tells Tottenham they’ll be ‘in the Championship’ next season

It’s not his fault they’re in trouble and he is sympathetic to them, suggesting they need support, rather than coaching, to deal with the next six games.

De Zerbi told Match of the Day: “Sorry because we didn’t deserve to lose the game. We played a good game, maybe not enough to win but we were unlucky in a few situations in the first half.

“I cannot say anything to players because they gave their best in terms of attitude and spirit. We can play better for sure and you can feel better. We have to work on that. My work is not so much on the pitch because they are good guys and I am sorry for them. I want to give them confidence in what they need.

READ: Tottenham made ambitious move for manager far too successful for them before De Zerbi

“Tactically, we played a good first half. With the ball and without the ball. We don’t have confidence to play great football but we did what we have been working on this week. The players can play better if they are feeling confident.”

I can be a big brother, father, they don’t need a coach. They don’t need to improve football. They can play better and they will play better once we reach a different level of confidence.”

De Zerbi feels IF he can lead his side to victory once in the remaining games, more will follow.

He said: “Absolutely, I’m sure if we are able to win a game then everything will change.”

Former top-flight attacker Pat Nevin feels Tottenham are in “seriously deep” towards the bottom of the Premier League table, and relegation is “staring at you.”

There is no secret that Spurs are in danger. At the beginning of this week, it was hanging over them, with the north London club just one point above the Premier League relegation places.

But after West Ham thumped Wolves in convincing fashion, and Tottenham lost 1-0 to Sunderland, the danger is all the more real, with six games left and Tottenham two points from safety.

Now onto their third manager of the season, it’s been evident that things are not right in north London for some time, but Nevin feels that’s been hammered home now.

He said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “Spurs are in deep. Seriously deep. For all of the effort today they made very, very few real chances in this game.

“Now they are officially in the relegation zone, people are taking it seriously. It’s been serious for much longer than that. It’s been sitting staring at you.

“We’ve seen teams in the past start to fall and they have faltered, they have started to lack belief. There was no lack of effort from the Spurs players today, but was there a desperation about the desire? I’m not sure there was.

READ: How many players have scored 20 goals in a Premier League season?

“It’s not like they didn’t try today, but was that the desperation level that they need? I’m afraid not. Nothing feels easy. Nothing feels certain. I don’t know where the points are coming from.”

Indeed, Tottenham had less shots than their opponents and not many of their chances were the most convincing, though they did have six shots on target.

There was visible emotion from some of the players during and after the game, suggesting they understand just how grave things are now.

READ: Liverpool icon ‘verbally agrees’ next move with ‘all terms in place’ – Fabrizio Romano

Of the six games remaining this term, Spurs are yet to play rivals Chelsea, fourth-placed Aston Villa, and two more top-10 clubs in Brighton and Everton.

The trip to Wolves in two games’ time is an absolute must-win, especially seeing what West Ham did to them.

If the result of that game is not a positive one for Tottenham, they might be as good as down. It would have seemed crazy at the beginning of the campaign to suggest Spurs could be relegated from the Premier League, but as the weeks go by, it looks more and more likely, and there’s not much currently to suggest they’ll escape.

Andy Robertson has struck a verbal agreement to sign for Tottenham in the summer, though there’s a very clear reason why that might not matter.

Liverpool announced on Thursday that Andy Robertson would leave the club once his contract expires at season’s end.

The Scot, 32, will go down as one of Liverpool’s greatest ever full-backs, and certainly their best ever left-back in the Premier League era.

Nevertheless, it’s since emerged the Reds didn’t even make a single attempt to extend Robertson’s stay. Explaining why, reporter, Ben Jacobs revealed Robertson – who was quickly displaced in the starting eleven by Milos Kerkez this year – still believes he should be a regular starter.

With Liverpool believing in Kerkez and thus unable to satisfy Robertson’s demand, an amicable split was deemed the most suitable outcome for all involved.

Robertson came close to joining Tottenham in January, only to see the move crumble when Liverpool failed to engineer Kostas Tsimikas’ early return from a dismal loan spell at Roma.

However, David Ornstein recently confirmed Spurs are back in for the veteran left-back, and are the clear frontrunners to secure a free transfer.

And according to the latest from transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, Robertson and Spurs have now verbally agreed terms that’ll see the Scot arrive in north London this summer.

“Tottenham have a verbal agreement to sign Andy Robertson in June 2026, all terms in place,” declared Romano on X.

Nevertheless, the story doesn’t end there, with Ornstein and now Romano both insisting the move hinges on Tottenham avoiding relegation.

“Nothing signed/sealed yet as staying in Premier League will be a key factor ahead of proceeding,” added Romano.

“Robertson, ready to pick #THFC project if relegation battle has positive outcome.”

DON’T MISS: The final Premier League table to push every manager to the exit

As such, all eyes are now on Roberto De Zerbi and whether he can make an instant impact at Tottenham.

His reign is off to poor start through no fault of his own, with relegation rivals, West Ham, thumping Wolves 4-0 on Friday night.

That victory jettisoned the Hammers out of the drop zone at the expense of Tottenham. For the first time all season, Spurs are now in the relegation zone.

In the event Tottenham do drop down a division, it’s also been established De Zerbi WILL remain in charge in the Championship.

However, if Tottenham do fail to retain their Premier League status, De Zerbi’s promotion push next season will not be aided by Robertson who’ll have ignored his verbal agreement and signed elsewhere.

Insider Miguel Delaney has revealed the pair of Premier League managers Tottenham tried before Roberto De Zerbi – one who’s far too successful to have said yes to them.

Spurs have burned through two managers already this season. After seeing the back of Ange Postecoglou in the summer, they hired Thomas Frank, who lasted just a few months when his struggles were ended and he was replaced by Igor Tudor.

His spell was only a few games long, and it’s now Roberto De Zerbi’s turn in the hot seat. He’s been given the difficult task of engineering Premier League survival, with Tottenham just one point above the drop zone.

De Zerbi was clearly very high on Spurs’ list of managers, as Delaney reports for the Independent that they went back to him ‘multiple times.’

But prior to them going back to him and the Italian accepting the job, there were others in the mix.

Former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino remains held in high regard at the club, but as he was essentially ‘ring-fenced’ until his World Cup with the USA is over, he wasn’t a viable option.

Marco Silva was also reportedly in the mix, with an informal approach made to Fulham, but there was no deal able to be struck.

READ: De Zerbi picks out two Tottenham stars as key to Premier League survival – ‘He’s a clean guy’

The biggest name Tottenham tried, though, was Unai Emery, with investigations made into whether the Aston Villa manager could be lured in.

It’s reported, though, that Villa ‘wouldn’t countenance letting him go’ and the Spanish boss himself would ‘have designs on returning to one of the absolute top-tier jobs’ were he to leave Villa Park.

In short, Emery is too successful to take the Tottenham job. He boasts four Europa League trophies and Ligue 1 among his career haul, and currently manages a Villa side fourth in the Premier League, 13 places above Spurs.

READ: Roy Keane tells Tottenham they’ll be ‘in the Championship’ next season

In any case, De Zerbi is seen as a good appointment in north London, with multiple sources stating the players ‘love’ him already.

It is suggested there’s a confidence in staying up. To do so, Spurs will have to outperform West Ham for the next seven games, as they’re the side posing them the most competition – just a point below them and having picked up four points in their last three games.

Between now and the end of the season, Tottenham play top-half sides Brighton, Villa, Everton and Chelsea.

Everton, Arsenal and Brentford are the only top-half sides the Hammers have left to play, so they may have the more favourable run, but not by much.