Defeat at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup has seen former Tottenham players round on the poor quality of the squad at Thomas Frank’s disposal.
A limp 2-0 loss at St. James’ Park on Wednesday night saw the Dane’s men crash out of the League Cup and miss out on a chance to add to last season’s long-awaited first trophy in years.
Richarlison was singled out for criticism against Newcastle by Gabby Agbonlahor, but ex-Spurs men Jamie O’Hara and David Bentley weren’t impressed with the performance, or the rest of the playing staff.
Goals from Fabian Schar, after which Richarlison was booked for dissent over Chris Kavanagh’s refereeing, and Nick Woltemade secured the victory without too much fuss for the home side.
Jamie O’Hara and David Bentley blast Tottenham defeat
After Tottenham beat Everton last weekend they are sitting pretty comfortably in third place in the Premier League, but with the cup loss at Newcastle it is just three wins in nine in all competitions for Frank.
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Debating the performance in the North East live on talkSPORT Bentley expressed his disappointment at the visitors going out of the competition so meekly.
Adding to the assessment O’Hara then launched in on the squad as a whole, suggesting they are not of the right level to deliver proper success.
Bentley said: “I just thought Newcastle were a big, physical presence, just run over Tottenham. Tottenham just got turned over really tonight. They’ve gone up there, didn’t lay a glove on them, went through the motions.
“Newcastle are a strong team. If you’re not at it [against] Eddie Howe’s teams at St. James’ Park you come unstuck and Tottenham just weren’t at it tonight, which is such a shame.
“I like the manager, I think he’s a positive influence and he’s trying to do things right, but losing football matches, specifically like that, it’s not great is it?”
O’Hara then launched him: “I look at it Dave and I go, ‘the squad just ain’t that good’. Do you know what I mean? Newcastle have got a better team than us, let’s be honest. The midfield are better, the strikers are better, Woltemade’s come in, he’s a good player, scoring goals. The back four’s decent, strong.
“I’m looking at us and Brennan Johnson, weak. Richarlison, don’t look like he can score any more, I don’t know what’s happened. I look at it and go, ‘we play alright, we play some nice football, but we ain’t like a proper side are we?'”
Chelsea clash beyond huge for Thomas Frank
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday in a game that could be a major indicator for how life will be under Frank long term.
It was almost exactly two years ago that the first significant warning signs emerged of what was to come for Ange Postecoglou in the very same fixture as Spurs’ early-season joy came crashing down with a 4-1 defeat to former boss Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentine and the Australian are both gone now, while Nicolas Jackson who scored a hat-trick that day against the nine-man hosts is out on loan at Bayern Munich.
But another damaging defeat to their London rivals could spell trouble for Frank amid an inconsistent run of form, although equally if the former Brentford boss records a first win in five against Chelsea it would be a welcome statement of intent.