Three issues hurting Tottenham so far this season

Bengaluru, August 27: Manchester City and Liverpool are by far the two strongest sides in England at the moment and the duo are well above the rest of the pile in terms of quality and consistency.

The title race last season was largely between the two and it was probably the most exciting, unforgiving and nail-biting ever in the history of English football and in the end, City managed to beat Liverpool to the Premier League by just one point.

While most people believed it will be between the two once again this campaign, there was certainly a fuss regarding Spurs as the third major power in the League who can challenge the duopoly. However, in reality, Spurs have been quite average so far this campaign.

They trailed to newly-promoted Aston Villa for the major parts of their opening game but a late comeback saw them win the game 3-1. Meanwhile, they managed to hold City to a 2-2 draw away from home in the second game which was a brilliant result, but a 1-0 defeat at home to Newcastle United inexcusable.

So, what is holding Spurs back? Let us discuss that in this article.

1. Absence of Jan Vertonghen at the back

Jan Vertonghen is inarguaby one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and with his former Ajax teammate and also his Belgium defensive partner Toby Alderweireld by his side, the 32-year-old is even better. It was a huge shock when Vertonghen was not named either in the starting XI or the bench in Spurs' opening day encounter against Villa and the shock was doubled when it was revealed that he has no injury concerns. The Belgian is yet to play a single minute this season and Spurs are struggling without him at the back. Davinson Sanchez is a good player but he is nowhere close to Vertonghen. It is a mystery why Pochettino has omitted Vertonghen from the squad but he must restore him to ensure Spurs perform better defensively.

2. The Christian Eriksen factor

Christian Eriksen has played all three games for Spurs this season but in two of those three games, he has come on as a substitute. It is a public knowledge that Eriksen has been seeking a move away from Spurs for quite some time now and has rejected contract renewals at the club which probably has led Pochettino to make such a bold decision to bench the Dane whose creativity is unmatched by anyone in the Spurs side. However, it does not look likely that Real Madrid, Eriksen's dream club, will make a move for the Dane this summer after spending so much already and Pochettino here is making a big mistake that has already started hurting the north London giants.

3. Incompetent full-backs

In modern football, the two full-backs are largely important and their importance is growing day by day. Just look at Liverpool. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson create more chances than most of the midfielders in the league. On the contrary, Spurs' full-back options are much inferior. Kyle Walker-Peters is not good enough for a club like Spurs who are looking to challenge for the title, while Danny Rose at the left full-back looks like a shadow of his former self. Ben Davies is no better either. Spurs should have invested on full-backs this summer and this might prove to be a costly mistake which might come back to haunt them later.