It never takes much for the word to re-appear - a bad performance here, a surprising defeat there – and, sure enough, “Spursy” surfaces again.
So it was as Wednesday night turned into Thursday morning. Tottenham had unexpectedly lost two consecutive Premier League games at Burnley and Chelsea and 'Spursy', a euphemism for weakness, was out and about.
The term has not been seen for a while. But Tottenham conceded two against Burnley in 26 second-half minutes and two against Chelsea in 27 second-half minutes and Spurs’ spine, literal and metaphorical, was being questioned afresh.
Suddenly everyone agreed that whatever remote chance there was of Tottenham winning the league for the first time since 1961, it was over. Mauricio Pochettino shared this opinion, so it was hardly controversial.
After the loss at Turf Moor Pochettino not only confronted irritant referee Mike Dean on the pitch, he said afterwards: “It’s easy to go to Chelsea and be motivated to play, and play against Arsenal or Borussia Dortmund. That’s easy.
“But you play for the Premier League in the big games like Burnley.”
It is a valid point and although Pochettino advocates will not wish to hear it, this was one made consistently by Sam Allardyce down the years. As manager of Bolton, it was no issue for him to raise his players for the visit of Manchester United or Liverpool, it was the matches against Bolton’s relegation rivals that he focused on. In that sense Burnley is a “big game”.
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Pochettino mentioned the dry pitch and “the changing room is not so big”, as if he perceived his squad were de-motivated by the apparent ordinariness of Turf Moor. It was an alarming comment, though it gained less newspaper inches than his remark that it might take him “10 years” to change this mentality.
To Pochettino’s critics, that was him buying time. Again.
It has been filed alongside his curious statement that trophies were about building “ego”. That was made after Spurs had exited the FA Cup at Crystal Palace, which came three days after they had lost their League Cup semi-final at Chelsea on penalties. Two more trophies down.
The constant jibe that Spurs have not won one under Pochettino returned with force.
But it is also a fact that in the two competitions which matter most to the Tottenham manager, his players and his superiors – a place in the top four of the Premier League and a long run in the Champions League – Spurs are still placed handily.
It is fragile, however, after those losses at Burnley and Chelsea. There is anxiety over the form of Hugo Lloris and Kieran Trippier.
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This makes the next four days possibly definitive in terms of Tottenham’s season and their future. At lunchtime at Wembley Tottenham host north London rivals Arsenal; on Tuesday in Germany they go to Borussia Dortmund with a 3-0 first leg advantage and the prospect of a place in the last eight of the Champions League.
As Pochettino said, there can be no question of his players not being “up” for these matches. These are occasions and the first them – Arsenal – offers an opportunity for Spurs to put seven points between themselves in third and their neighbours, who start the game fourth.
It is also a chance to rectify the 4-2 defeat at Arsenal in December, a result that undoubtedly hurt Spurs.
It was a misleading outcome to a degree. Tottenham led at half-time but then conceded a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wonder goal and two deflected shots – small deflections, but deflections.
Just over a fortnight later Spurs won 2-0 at the same ground in the League Cup (to rather less fanfare) and with Unai Emery only in post eight months, Tottenham are the better, most balanced team. They should win.
The problem is if they do not, then they will appear in Dortmund with some doubt around them. The first leg’s final score – 3-0 – suggests dominance, but Spurs’ goals came in the second-half, two of them in the last 10 minutes.
It was a closer contest than it looks and it seems unlikely that Dortmund will not score on Tuesday – they have scored three goals or more 12 times at home this season already. Moreover, it is easy to imagine Dortmund being reminded that Burnley have just got two against Spurs and that if they do the same, the visitors will be rattled.
That said, Pochettino’s staff will have noted that in the two games before the first leg, Dortmund let in three twice.
So while it is a moment of tension in Tottenham’s season, opportunity knocks. And if Pochettino’s team – having coped with no new stadium, no new signings and major injuries – get through these two games undefeated, that word 'Spursy' will be back in its box.
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