FUL1
MAN1
BOU0
LIV1
LEE0
CRY0
MNC5
SUN3
NFO0
COV1
BHA3
ARS0
EVE1
IPS0
NEW2
HUL1
TOT2
AVL3
NOR3
BOL4
WOL1
WBA0
BIR2
MID2
BUR1
DER1
LCN1
SWA2
ILLUSTRATION — FLAGSIDE
Why Spurs' talented squad still can't win
Tottenham lost 3-2 to Aston Villa at home and are winless in five league games, already out of the EFL Cup, despite a squad that looks considerably better on paper than the ones that dragged through the last two seasons. The gap between the names on the sheet and the football on the pitch is the story, and it's a management and structure problem more than a talent one.
The squad-quality argument only gets you so far
Tottenham's business over recent windows has genuinely upgraded the group: more depth, more attacking variety, better options across midfield than the sides that stumbled through the last two campaigns. That's exactly why the current run is so jarring. A team with this level of individual quality shouldn't be losing to Brentford or Newcastle, and shouldn't be drawing with Nottingham Forest and Everton either. Good players losing to good and mid-table sides alike, in the same handful of weeks, points away from a talent gap and towards something systemic.
Set pieces are a coaching problem, not a player one
Struggling to defend dead balls repeatedly isn't bad luck, it's a pattern, and patterns in a Premier League season are almost always down to organisation: marking assignments, zonal responsibilities, who's picking up second balls. Conceding from situations that are entirely coachable, over and over, sits on the training ground and the manager's setup far more than it sits on any individual defender having a poor afternoon.
The bigger issue: no shape in open play
The more damaging symptom is the lack of a clear attacking plan when Tottenham actually have the ball. Struggling to create in open play with the amount of attacking talent in that squad usually means one of two things: either the tactical framework isn't giving players clear roles, or the players have stopped trusting the framework they've been given. Both point to the same place, which is the relationship between the dressing room and the coaching staff, not the raw ability sitting inside it.
Two seasons of scar tissue don't disappear with a good transfer window
This is the part that gets underweighted. Tottenham have had two miserable seasons running, and confidence in a football squad doesn't reset just because new names arrive in August. Body language, decision-making under pressure, the willingness to take a risk in the final third: all of that is shaped by recent history, and a squad that has spent two years losing games it should win develops habits that are hard to coach out inside a few weeks. Losing to Villa at home while making it easy for them, as happened this weekend, looks a lot less like bad opponents and a lot more like a group that expects things to go wrong and then makes sure they do.
Is this on the manager or the players?
Both, but not equally. Players ultimately have to defend a corner and finish a chance, and there's no tactical instruction that excuses basic errors. But the consistency of the problems, poor set-piece defending week after week, no attacking identity, visible anxiety in moments that should be routine, is what you'd expect from a group that isn't clear on what it's being asked to do. That's a management issue first. A manager's job is to turn individual quality into a functioning team, and right now that conversion isn't happening at Tottenham, regardless of who starts up front or in central midfield.
Where it leaves them
Zero wins in five league games and an early cup exit isn't a blip, it's the continuation of a two-season trend that a stronger squad hasn't interrupted. Nothing about the names on the team sheet suggests this group should be here. Everything about the shape of the performances, the recurring set-piece failures, the shapeless attacking play, the fragile mentality under pressure, suggests the problem sits with how the team is being organised and led, not with who's wearing the shirts. Until that changes, better signings will keep producing the same results.
Can the current manager turn this squad around, or does Tottenham need a fresh start?
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