Tottenham are undoubtedly going through a difficult spell currently, and Paul Merson has raised concern over their results and the future of Harry Kane.
Spurs face Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League on Tuesday night hoping to get back to winning ways after a bitterly disappointing run of results.
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Mauricio Pochettino’s men have won just one of their last seven games in all competitions, and that in turn has again raised serious question marks over their ability to compete for major honours this season.
Time will tell if they can put this dip behind them and build some momentum heading into the festive period to silence their critics, but Merson has insisted that he has genuine concern over their hopes of being a contender moving forward while also questioning Kane’s future at the club.
“They are now fighting to get into the top four. You really don’t want to move into the new stadium and within one season you are not in the Champions League. Something’s going on there. I don’t know what it is but this team, with the quality it has, can’t be turning in performances like they have done,” he wrote in his Sky Sports column.
“If you are someone like Harry Kane, you’ve got to be sitting down at the end of the season and thinking: ‘What am I going to do? Am I going to stay here and win absolutely nothing? Or do I go on and try and win something in my career?’
“I’m not having a dig at Tottenham, but you play to win in your career. Winning is the reason you play the game.
“You’d expect Spurs to be beating the likes of Watford and Brighton. They should be getting maximum points against that sort of opposition. It’s very worrying times for Tottenham.”
It’s easy to suggest that given his ties to Arsenal, Merson is simply just rubbing salt in the wound for their north London rivals.
However, it could be argued that he is genuinely raising fair points, and particularly on Kane who no doubt loves the club, but he surely wants to win trophies as he turns 27 next year, and this is the stage of his career where he’ll hope to reach his peak.
Time will tell if Pochettino can get things back on track and ensure that this can somehow be a successful season. However, considering their current slump, their target may well become securing a top-four finish in the Premier League and firstly getting out of their Champions League group in the coming months and building from there.
