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Few could have predicted last summer that Liverpool would come so close to securing their first Premier League crown while the notion of them losing only once all season would have seemed positively far-fetched.
Though their previous campaign was hardly disastrous the Reds ultimately ‘only’ squeezed into a Champions League spot in 2018 and critically finished a substantial 25 points adrift of the champions Manchester City. It would take little short of a quantum leap to significantly close that gap even factoring in the immediate improvement their record January signing Virgil Van Dijk had made to their rear-guard.
Consequently, only those wearing rose-tinted glasses were tipping Liverpool for the title and this despite a summer where they successfully addressed some long-standing problem areas, signing Alisson from Roma and committing to an expansive midfield refurbishment bringing in Fabinho and Naby Keita for £94m between them.
Corralling a nation’s thoughts is impossible but highlighting a majority view is not and in hindsight that majority view was thus: we were right about Liverpool. We just weren’t right enough.
Assessing Tottenham’s present fortunes prompts many similarities with last summer, when we all knew in our bones that the Anfield machine was revving its engines on a launch-pad: we just didn’t have the wherewithal to air our belief that it might rocket them into the stratosphere. And concerning those similarities we should start not with them – the clubs involved – but once again with us.
This week the BBC data-crunched the results of those who offered up their predictions regarding the final 2019/20 league table. Unsurprisingly Manchester City were considered the most likely to finish top – how could that not be the case after accruing a staggering 198 points across the past two campaigns? – while Liverpool inevitably were placed second. Tottenham meanwhile were placed third.
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As for the pundits, their crystal ball revealed the same outcome, with City and Liverpool duking it out at the zenith and continuing their nascent ‘duopoly’. Once again Spurs are a Champions League spot after-thought and the words of Charlie Nicholas in the first link in this paragraph are pertinent: ‘Naturally, I am going for Liverpool to finish second. These two clubs are a distance above the rest of them’.
Are they? Are they really?
It would be a fool’s errand of course to suggest that Guardiola and Klopp’s creations won’t be seriously ‘in the mix’ next May but is it so ludicrous to anticipate a three-way contest in the months ahead? After all, even though last term will forever be remembered as a high-achieving duel it should not be forgotten that as recently as late February a narrative emerged insisting that Spurs were genuine contenders while reaching the Champions League final was further proof of their exceptional quality. These feats were accomplished via a typically mean Mauricio Pochettino-constructed defence and the reliable fire-power of Harry Kane who scored 17 league goals despite missing ten games through injury. It was also achieved through a midfield that was storied in quality but less so in quantity and here we reach a key point.
As early into last term as November it was already clear that Spurs were in need of extra top-class personnel in their central area, back when Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama were either succumbing to or just recovering from injury and Moussa Dembele was very much on his last legs. Six months later, during their incredible quarter-final second leg at the Etihad, an injury to Moussa Sissoko necessitated a reshuffling of Pochettino’s pack so lacking were they in resources.
It could be said then that what Tottenham pulled off last season was done through the negotiating of a weakness. It could be said that it ultimately left them short. It can definitely be said that this not-inconsiderable weakness has now been addressed.
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This has been done courtesy of an expansive midfield refurbishment, one that has seen Tanguy Ndombele come in from Lyon. The 22-year-old ripped up Ligue 1 last year with seven assists and showed in his debut against Aston Villa that he has all the requirements to do likewise in the Premier League, marking his first outing with a goal. In addition to Ndombele, the club’s long-term interest in Ryan Sessegnon has finally been realised while the loaning in of Giovani Lo Celso is an exciting proposition.
Where previously Tottenham’s midfield was high in quality but light in numbers now it boasts a compendium of talent, balanced in their attributes, offering options to spare. Indeed go through them, so name me a better array in the top light. As they say on Twitter, I’ll wait.
If this mirrors Liverpool’s summer of last year, that facilitated a sudden elevation, there is also a comparison to be made in each club’s incremental development.
Both Jurgen Klopp and Pochettino have been in situ at their respective employers for several years now (four for Klopp, five for Pochettino) and this has given them time to firmly implement their philosophies and establish a core of players best utilised for them. That’s why just a splattering of signings was enough to soar the Reds up a whole level – because everything else was in place for success – and that’s why Spurs’ trio of new boys should have half of north London very excited right now too.
To extend on this point: in Pochettino’s time in England Spurs have finished above Liverpool four times and City twice. This is not an irrelevant historical fact either because it has been done using a nucleus of players still very much part of Tottenham’s set-up: Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Kane et al. Now they have good company.
Will Spurs win their inaugural Premier League next spring? Admittedly that is an unlikely scenario but it is certainly not impossible. They should at least be part of the conversation.
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