Toby Alderweireld hasn't pulled any punches in his assessment of where it's all gone wrong at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season.
Toby Alderweireld has singled out Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven for criticism. The former Tottenham Hotspur defender believes the duo have underperformed this season, claiming they, more so than others, have 'not been good enough'.
The Lilywhites fell into the bottom three of the Premier League last week when they lost to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. West Ham had defeated Wolves at the London Stadium a couple of days prior, swapping places with Spurs in the relegation zone.
If Tottenham fail to beat Brighton at on Saturday night, regardless of what happens when the Hammers face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday evening, they'll remain in the bottom three. The Lilywhites are yet to win a game in the English top-flight this year, so Roberto De Zerbi will be desperate to turn things around before it's too late.
Although the Italian will be under pressure to return to north London with three points this weekend, Alderweireld believes the players need to take accountability. In an interview with ESPN NL, the 37-year-old said: "I think you also need to start looking at pure quality.
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
"What do big players do? What do quality players do? That is to be decisive at important moments, achieve your level... And that has not been happening all season.
"Players who were acquired for a lot of money but who nevertheless don't deliver, and not in just one or two matches or a period, but throughout the whole season. You just have to conclude that they are not good enough in terms of quality."
Tottenham will be without Romero when they face Brighton, having suffered a knee injury in the defeat to Sunderland. Alderweireld believes that he and the Netherlands international have let Spurs down this term.
"I look at Romero, I look at Van de Ven... They just aren't reaching their level," said the Belgian, who retired in July 2025. "Again, not for a period, but actually for an entire season. Then I also look at Romero who gets red cards too often, doesn't make the right decisions and therefore lets his team down."
Alderweireld doesn't believe Romero and Van de Ven are solely to blame for Tottenham's downfall, however. He continued: "Now you notice that the coach isn't the problem, it's really purely the squad.
"The quality in the squad, the responsibilities of the players. You could always put another coach in charge, but you notice that they just don't deliver what they need to deliver. And that is ultimately just quality."
Alderweireld also appeared to take a dig at Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange, claiming there's a 'structural problem' at Tottenham. The former Spurs defender added: "It comes down to shaping the right people, the right team.
"And those purchases have gone wrong, and that has been happening year after year. So that is indeed a structural problem. I have also read that the club is run fantastically from a business perspective, but not as a football club and as a football club everything matters.
"Your value is on the pitch, and that shows what the club looks like. And that's not good."