Before the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was built, there was a brief period where it looked like Spurs could move out of White Hart Lane and into what is now known as the London Stadium.
But a lost bidding war with current tenants West Ham United saw their London rivals claims the keys to a new home in Stratford. Not that recent results would indicate that.
Spurs seem to have settled into what was once the Olympic Stadium anyway, winning their last three games there and only losing their opening match in 2017.
Harry Winks’ (second left) stoppage time goal saw Tottenham win at Fulham back in January
The victory at Craven Cottage remains their last away win in England as form has plummeted
So they should be full of confidence as they return to face West Ham on Saturday in what is a pivotal London derby for both sides. However, among the teams neither promoted nor relegated, Spurs head into enemy territory as the worst Premier League side away from home in 2019.
For a team with ambitions of challenging for a Champions League spot, it is a catastrophic failure but the statistic is even more alarming when in 2018 under Mauricio Pochettino they had the entire Premier League’s best away form in the division.
Domestically it has been dreadful year on the road for Spurs who have not won away since stealing a barely deserved last minute winner at doomed to relegation Fulham all the way back in January.
Of the ever present Premier League teams in the last two years, Tottenham have gone from having the best away from in the league to having the worst
Those three points are just a third of their takings this year with the other six points coming with a win at Cardiff (also relegated) on New Year’s Day and in draws at, strangely, Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton.
Spurs are so bad on the road now they still have not eclipsed Cardiff’s nine Premier League points for the year despite playing five more games than the now Championship outfit.
So how have they gone from wanderlust to a state of hodophobia and what can new boss Jose Mourinho do to arrest the slide?
Tottenham’s last Premier League away game saw them concede in stoppage time to a Cenk Tosun effort to draw 1-1 with Everton at Goodison Park
Is it just away form that is the issue?
Away form has been unforgivable but it is worth noting just how bad Tottenham have been in any domestic game in 2019. Their last 24 Premier League games have seen them produce just 25 points.
That sort of points return is one of a team involved in a relegation battle and over the course of a season has seen sides relegated in the past.
Even cup competitions have not been kind to them. Since winning 7-0 at Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup third round they have lost a Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea, been knocked out the FA Cup at Crystal Palace and been humiliated with a penalty shootout defeat at Colchester United in this season’s League Cup.
Tottenham’s form has been poor throughout 2019, with a humiliating League Cup exit at Colchester United this term one of the many low points
Is the squad too unsettled?
How does a team just turn rubbish almost overnight? Well many of the key figures in it looking for an exit at the time certainly doesn’t help. A core part of Tottenham’s team in the past four years includes a centre-back pairing of Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen. All are out of contract next summer.
It’s no surprise that a drop in form for all three has impacted the rest of the team. The defence now looks a shambles, Dele Alli looks a shadow of his best, Harry Kane can hardly get a kick in attack and Son Heung-min can only get going in short bursts.
Christian Eriksen is among a list of first-team stars who want to leave the club in the summer
Has losing Mousa Dembele had a bigger impact than expected?
This one may be more of coincidence than direct impact. Dembele’s best already started to look a shadow of himself at the start of last season and although he was officially sold in January, he had not played for Spurs since November due to injury.
What cannot be overlooked though is how vital he was to Tottenham’s starting XI. He flourished in Pochettino’s side with his ability to bring the ball out of the Spurs half and start an attack, all the while showing excellent strength to retain possession and in general control a midfield.
Spurs haven’t replaced him and although there are hopes Tanguy Ndombele can be the new pivot, his skill set is not comparable to Dembele. Pochettino was still trying to find a way to get the best out of him before he was sacked.
Spurs have been unable to fill the void left by midfield powerhouse Mousa Dembele
Has the squad grown stale?
There is an excuse for everything in football. While some teams are criticised for not keeping a team unit together, Spurs have curiously done the opposite and been accused of not freshening it up.
Seven of the side that started their first home match of the 2015-16 season are still at the club and more to the point, when fit, those seven players of Hugo Lloris, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Ben Davies, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane are a realistic combination to all start another. That’s before you factor in the subs from that 2-2 draw with Stoke also featured Michel Vorm, Danny Rose, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela.
Before this season the only players to arrive at the club and seriously play a first-team role since have been Son, Moussa Sissoko and Lucas Moura.
That’s a large group of players to stick around for a long time and not win anything, especially when there had only been one manager calling the shots in that period…
Eric Dier (left), Ben Davies and Eriksen are are among a squad that has largely stayed the same during Pochettino’s five-year reign. The trio are pictured in a 2015 game against Stoke City
Did Pochettino run out of ideas?
Did the buck simply stop with the manager? Just 25 points from 24 games was a terrible run for Pochettino before he was dismissed – and he was given plenty more leeway to turn it around than his predecessors.
Tim Sherwood, Andre Villas-Boas and Harry Redknapp all had better records over their final 24 games at the Lane. Pochettino’s record in his last 24 matches was only marginally better than Juande Ramos in the same spell – and he took just two points from his final eight games at the start of the 2008-09 season.
Pochettino does deserve credit for the way he has turned a Spurs side on the cusp of the top four to Champions League regulars while not having to sign too many players.
Mauricio Pochettino looked out of ideas in his final few games as Spurs boss with his last coming in the laboured 1-1 draw with Sheffield United before the international break
But his failure to land a single major piece of silverware in that time has perhaps played a big role in the wheels falling off at the Lane.
Why would a player want to commit his future to Tottenham if the same guy they have been listening to for the last half-decade is not helping them achieve their career goals of winning trophies?
His tactics were also suspect – Moussa Sissoko publicly criticising the unpopular diamond midfield claiming it was a too tiring workload for the players.
Despite claims of not being backed by the board, he made the club’s record signing with the addition of Tanguy Ndombele for £63million, who appeared to struggle with the incredibly high fitness demands at the club.
However since then he has elected to stick with out of form and wantaway stars such as Eriksen, instead of handing playing time to new arrivals such as Giovani Lo Celso even after his return from injury.
Pochettino failed to inspire his players when it mattered most, including in the Champions League final where he is pictured with Harry Kane after the Madrid defeat by Liverpool
How can Mourinho get Tottenham firing again?
The decision from Spurs to sack Pochettino and replace him with Jose Mourinho suggests they believe the manager is most at fault for the drop in form.
By default, a new face and voice taking charge in the dressing room should at least boost effort levels from players eager to impress their new boss.
Already drills on the training ground look more energetic. Rondo drills focused on one touch passes under pressure have gone from error-strewn, tired looking affairs (even on the eve of a Champions League final) to more urgent routines that have featured far more successful passes.
Jose Mourinho will hope to get an instant reaction from his players for the clash at West Ham
It was also intriguing for Mourinho to instantly back his squad on arrival. The nearly years under Pochettino appear to have carried mental scarring on the Tottenham squad who have already been told by a manager he can turn them into winners.
If nothing else it’s a confidence and with a talented squad, who will now have fresh hope they can achieve something at the club – even if it is not a guarantee.
Either way, it should be enough to at least lift them off the bottom of the away form table but Mourinho will find out soon enough if the turn around in form will begin instantly with a return to the previously happy hunting ground of the London Stadium.
Mourinho instructs Son Heung-min in training as he targets Tottenham’s first domestic away win since January when he takes charge for the first time against West Ham on Saturday
