Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a tremendous start to life under manager Ange Postecoglou in the Premier League. Spurs were undefeated in their first 10 Premier League fixtures of the 2023/24 season, winning 8 of those games.
There were victories over Manchester United and Liverpool plus a good 2-2 draw at Arsenal.
After 10 matches, Spurs were top of the Premier League on 26 points and were playing excellent attacking football.
To mark @Sonny7 hitting 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ @premierleague appearances, enjoy our captain's 1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ league goals in 1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ seconds 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gYgn9zO2UB— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 8, 2024
To mark @Sonny7 hitting 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ @premierleague appearances, enjoy our captain's 1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ league goals in 1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ seconds 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gYgn9zO2UB
However, on the 6th of November 2023, Spurs lost 4-1 at home to Chelsea, a team who were in midtable at the time of that result.
Spurs then lost away to Wolverhampton Wanderers and at home to Aston Villa.
They did pick up a good point in a thrilling 3-3 draw at Manchester City but that was followed by a disappointing 2-1 loss at home against West Ham United.
If we fast forward to the 16th of March 2024 and Spurs have suffered another decline in results which has all be ended any hope they had of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Spurs lost 3-0 at Fulham on that day in March and have won only 2 of their last 8 fixtures in the Premier League ahead of their clash with Burnley on the 11th of May.
A 3-1 home win over Nottingham Forest on the 7th of April saw Spurs move back into 4th place in the Premier League but 4 successive defeats have seen them cut adrift by Aston Villa, who are now 7 points clear of Postecoglou’s team, having played 1 game more.
Spurs have lost each of their last 4 matches against Newcastle United, Chelsea, and Liverpool away plus Arsenal at home.
In fairness to Postecoglou, they are 4 of the toughest games in the Premier League but Spurs have conceded 13 goals across those 4 fixtures, at an average of 3.25 goals per game and that is not good enough.
The football Spurs have played under Postecoglou this season has often been a joy to watch.
They have always conceded chances to the opposition in games but the tactics employed by the Australian was winning over, not only Spurs fans, but football fans generally.
It is worth remembering Spurs lost Harry Kane in the summer and Postecoglou has done well to keep the team scoring goals without the England captain.
However, following the 4-2 loss at Liverpool, Spurs have kept only 2 clean sheets in their last 26 Premier League fixtures, which is simply not good enough.
It will be interesting to see if the manager adopts are more defensive approach for the visit of title chasing Manchester City on the 14th of May.
Missing out on Champions League football will come as a disappointment and Spurs do not want to add to their misery by suffering a big defeat in their final home match of the season.
Postecoglou may already be looking ahead to the summer transfer window but Spurs cannot afford to finish the season by dropping into the Europa Conference League.