When staring at the painful truth of it, it might just be that Tottenham Hotspur don't have enough quality to remain in the Premier League.
There are absolutely mitigating factors for the Londoners, who have been shorn of fit players and stripped of confidence over the course of the campaign, but equally, some of these players have spent too long punching well below their so-called weight class, and when does poor form become a permanent standard?
What Tottenham would give for a player like Gareth Bale in attack. A maverick and difference-maker. How about Luka Modric in midfield, pulling the strings and orchestrating like a conductor, inspiring all the qualities that have been absent under Thomas Frank and then Igor Tudor and now Roberto De Zerbi.
It isn't De Zerbi's fault that Conor Gallagher was picked by ENIC Group as the star signing of the January transfer window, arriving from Atletico Madrid for £35m, but the England international clearly isn't the solution, and he may already be approaching the end of his career at the club.
Why Conor Gallagher's Spurs career could be over this summer
Gallagher is still waiting for his first Premier League win in a Tottenham shirt, and on the basis of the evidence since he arrived in January, he may well complete his time down N17 without meeting that objective.
The 26-year-old is emblematic of Tottenham's poor recruitment and symptomatic of the wider malaise that has consumed the club. Watching him in the centre of the park over the past several months has been tough, and though De Zerbi clearly likes Gallagher, his abject performance against Sunderland will surely see him dropped ahead of next weekend's clash against Brighton.
In fairness to the fans, they are not asking Gallagher to play like Modric in the middle of the park, but a bit of purposeful passing and athleticism wouldn't go amiss, with the one-time Chelsea man losing possession more than nine times per game on average despite the fact he hasn't yet created a big chance for one of the forwards.
De Zerbi's decision to pair Gallagher with Joao Palhinha in a midfield pivot at the Stadium of Light was "absolutely hilarious", according to statistician Tactically Matt, with the industrious duo lacking any kind of progression or enterprise on the ball.
Palhinha is an excellent ball winner, and he has to play, and if De Zerbi is going to enforce a swift change, it might be worth drafting in a young midfielder who could be Tottenham's new version of Modric.
Spurs' new Modric is bad news for Gallagher
While he's got an awful long way to go, Lucas Bergvall has the making of a special midfielder, his innate ability on the ball suggesting that he could be a difference-maker over the coming years.
He needs to start, though, and a significant role in the centre for De Zerbi could prove the difference in the fight against relegation.
Bergvall did not play a perfect game against the Black Cats, but he certainly stood out among his struggling teammates, once again bringing more maturity and ambition to the side.
His penetrative midfield play has even seen The Athletic's JJ Bull as possessing a "first touch like Modric", and he's pretty good when passing the ball forward too.
Having completed 64% of his dribbles in the Premier League this season, the Sweden international has shown that he deserves to start for a side lacking talent in attacking areas. Though he has missed matches due to injury, the fact that he has only started 11 times has perhaps played into Tottenham's problems, with the varying central pairings throughout the campaign tending to fall by the wayside. i
Bergvall is not Modric, but he's closer to the Croatian legend than Gallagher, and if the Englishman is truly to be the centrepiece of this midfield over the closing weeks of the season, Tottenham are going to be in big trouble, with their current struggles to create chances potentially going to tip them into the second tier.
Bergvall has played his fair share of Premier League football this season, but probably not enough. Going forward, it's fair to argue that he should move ahead of Gallagher in the pecking order, with his natural technical ability and desire to get forward things that Gallagher simply isn't bringing to the table.