Getting a read on Tottenham ahead of the North London Derby

Tottenham got better this summer, but Mauricio Pochettino seems restless and there’s a malaise bubbling under the surface at the club.

There was a certain symbolism to the way Tottenham Hotspur finished the 2018/19 season. After nearly a full year of overstaying their welcome as tenants at Wembley, the North London club returned to their newly rebuilt spiritual home for the final few games of a campaign which also saw them reach the Champions League final for the first time. Having been typecast as pretenders for so long, Spurs were now contenders.

The summer was meant to represent the transition into a new era, the point at which Spurs finally became the elite outfit they’ve always aspired to be. In some sense, this transition materialized, with close to £100 million spent on the signings of Jack Clarke, Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso. This was big for a club that hadn’t spent a penny in the transfer market for 18 months.

And yet there is a malaise bubbling under the surface at Tottenham. It is unavoidable and has carried over from last season, when Mauricio Pochettino said he harbored his “worst feeling” as Spurs manager, to this. It is most evident in the remarks of the Argentinean and he had more to say after Sunday’s shock home defeat to Newcastle United.

“You need not only quality players to create a very strong team, but also dynamic and bonding,” Pochettino, slumped in his seat in front of the press, attempted to reason. “At the moment, that is very far from what we expect. We know this can unsettle the group, but we know in 10 days and things will be clear.”

This certainly wasn’t the first time Pochettino had grumbled about the way things currently are at Tottenham. Last season, the 47-year-old even raised the prospect that he could leave the club and he hinted at this again on Sunday. Spurs are just three games removed from playing in the final of the Champions League final, but things seem to be spiraling somewhat.

The root of Spurs’ frustration largely comes from the glass ceiling and the bashing of their head against it. Pochettino has established his team as the best of the rest in the Premier League, but the gulf between third place and Liverpool and Manchester City as English soccer’s predominant force remains vast.

In Pochettino’s individual case, the Argentine seems somewhat uneasy with the structure of Tottenham as a club. “I am not in charge,” Pochettino sighed after a pre-season game during the summer, even going as far as to suggest his employers should change his job title from ‘manager’ to ‘coach.’

All this was designed to emphasize the lack of control Pochettino has. While some other managers dictate transfer policy, the Argentine is a passive observer to his club’s own strategy in the market. Pochettino’s power-play worked to a certain extent, with two big-name signings delivered in the final two days of the summer transfer window, but the 47-year-old still doesn’t seem appeased.

Of course, Spurs’ structure has been key to their rise over the past five years or so. Despite Pochettino’s grumbles, Daniel Levy remains one of the shrewdest boardroom operators in the Premier League. It’s also this structure that means Spurs’ identity stands a better chance of being sustained after Pochettino leaves, whenever that ultimately happens.

Pochettino might well be making mountains out of molehills. Contrary to his downbeat demeanor, the outlook is positive at Spurs. At this moment, they have a platform to take the next, and final, step in their development under Pochettino. This is the start of something and yet it’s impossible to shake the feeling that it’s also the beginning of the end of something else.