Hotspur HQ

Nottingham Forest humiliated Tottenham Hotspur on their own turf, swinging the relegation battle in the Premier League by a full six points while adding a level of emotional damage that has Spurs fans wondering now more than ever if they are 100 percent doomed for the drop.

Spurs were decimated in so many ways, but watching the Nottingham Forest midfield trio of Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson, and Ibrahim Sangare, it really sunk in just how far behind the Spurs midifeld trio is.

Archie Gray had another positive game for Tottenham, but even his star was blighted somewhat by the three men on the other side of the ball. Meanwhile, Pape Matar Sarr was poor, as was Lucas Bergvall and the rest of the midfielders who came into the game.

Nottingham Forest's midfield owned Tottenham's

Tottenham have had issues with their midfield all season long. Beyond Gray these last few weeks, nobody has truly impressed. Sarr has his moments but is mediocre overall. Bergvall's been held back by injuries. Xavi Simons goes from world beater to ghost at the drop of a hat. Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur are bang average. Conor Gallagher and Yves Bissouma are not even worth rostering.

Meanwhile, the Nottingham Forest trio complements each other so well. Gibbs-White and Anderson were both creating real chances for their team, with Gibbs-White bagging a goal and the highly in demand Anderson leading the team with three key passes and six tackles. Even Sangre was passing the ball around better than any of the Spurs midfielders while playing more solid defense for Forest with four tackles.

Tottenham just do not measure up defensively. There is a lot of headless chicken play on that end of the pitch, running for the sake of running with cavernous gaps in transition that lead to clear cut chances every time the opposition, including Forest in this game, are on the break. There is an illusion of control on the ball but no real creativity of progression in their play, aside from Gray.

There is talent in the Spurs ranks among Simons, Bergvall, and Gray. But it does not come around every game, which is a huge problem. And when you watch Anderson dominate in all phases while the Spurs midfielders only do so in a few, the problem is magnified. Forest and Spurs are both in the relegation fight, but Forest were levels above on the road in large part because their midfield is simply better.

Tottenham Hotspur were embarrassed in front of their home fans on Sunday afternoon, torn apart 3-0 by a Nottingham Forest side that has a fraction of the notoriety of the majority of the Spurs squad. After receiving a raucous reception from the crowd before the game, Spurs went out and turned in a dud of a performance for the ages, and serious questions are being asked of captain Cristian Romero.

The star center back has been fairly mediocre this season. One year removed from being the best player in the Europa League, Romero did have a quality stretch of games at the beginning of the season, but, lately, he has devolved into a liability alongside Micky van de Ven.

With the season on the line in a relegation six pointer, Romero was underwhelming, and he was culpable on the second goal Tottenham Hotspur allowed with an inexcusable error in both positioning and effort.

Cristian Romero flopped vs. Nottingham Forest

Romero has been caught napping too often of late, but beyond the struggles on the pitch, Tottenham fans are no longer convinced in Romero's leadership. Rash challenge a few weeks ago aside, he is publicly making statements that do not make any sort of sense.

As the Tottenham offiical account captures, before and after this game against Nottingham Forest, Cristian Romero kept on imploring the fans to "stay together". And in a press conference after the game, when tense questions started to be asked, he simply stormed off.

Romero does a great job of calling out the board, and Tottenham fans do love that. They took his side when he lashed out against them and were glad not to see him punished. However, it is frustrating to see Romero have all the time in the world to call out others but to have no accountability for himself and to be among those who instead try to stick to the fans witih this veiled "stick together" dialogue.

Having seen the scenes of the Spurs faithful before the game, it is impossible to ever accuse a fan base that has, quite frankly, been extorted by poor club leadership, ambivalence in the transfer window, and exorbitant ticket prices of not caring.

It feels like the sky is falling for Tottenham Hotspur this week. There was positive momentum after a draw with Liverpool and a win over Atletico Madrid, but neither of those results meant a darn thing on Sunday afternoon, as Spurs were decimated by Nottingham Forest 3-0 in a humiliating defeat in the heat of the Premier League relegation battle.

Spurs are already reeling after a historically poor performance in the relegation six pointer, and as if they needed any more bad news to be concerned about, Mikey Moore delivered a quote that will have Spurs supporters reeling a bit.

Moore has been sensational for Rangers this season on loan ever since the Scottish powerhouse switched managers to a more attacking style, and the top young winger has shown why he was getting rave reviews in the Europa League last season.

Mikey Moore sounds ready to stick with Rangers

After another goal and strong performance for Rangers, Moore was asked at the post game press conference about his future. His response sounded a lot like that of a player who isn't interested in coming back to Tottenham Hotspur soon if he cannot help it.

Moore said, via Andy Newport of the Daily Record, “We'll see how season ends, who comes in. I'm going to speak to people & find the best solution for me. This loan has been unbelievable for me. If it's right for me next year, I'd love to stay. But we have to see.”

While Mikey Moore said nothing about wanting to join Rangers permanently, it is plain as day that he wants to be on loan again for at least another season by simply stating, "I'd love to say." That is more than just being polite to the current club you are at loan on; Moore genuinely sounds like a player who would be disappointed to head back to Tottenham, especially if they are relegated.

And while it is almost inconceivable to think that Moore would want to join Rangers from Tottenham permanently, Spurs are in such a bad way that this needs to be a legitimate worry. Obviously, the choice between Rangers and Spurs for one season if Spurs are relegated to the EFL Championship is a no brainer, but beyond that, if Spurs cannot guarantee Moore regular minutes on the wing, then what would they have to offer for him.

There is a lot to be said about being in an environment as a winger where you can play, attack, enjoy your football, and develop. Moore saw what happens when you do not have that at the beginning of the season, and he won't jump ship to Spurs if he feels they are not a good situation.

For months, Tottenham Hotspur have been contemplating the sale of Guglielmo Vicario, who has significant interest from top Serie A clubs, namely Inter Milan. At this point, Vicario is fully expected to leave Spurs this summer as Inter's replacement for Yann Sommer, who used to be one of the absolute best keepers in the world but has declined a bit this season.

Now, Vicario is in the midst of a disappointing season himself, which is why Spurs want to go younger and better in goal than the Italian international. But recent information on a hernia requiring surgery over the March international break has called into question whether or not Tottenham are being unduly harsh on Vic.

That being said, he has made way too many mistakes this season, and even his shot stopping has deteroriated. A change in scenery back to his home country and a league he performed better in may be best for all parties, so, now, Spurs have to be on the trail for that replacement who is actually measurably better.

Tottenham are watching Noah Atubolu

Within England, Manchster City backup James Trafford is the dream, but it is doubtful Pep Guardiola would sell him. A new name has surfaced on Spurs radar from Germany in Noah Atubolu, as the Daily Mail's Simon Jones reports that Tottenham Hotspur are interested in the young goalkeeping sensation flatteringly compared to Manuel Neuer.

Obviously, any comp to Neuer, one of the literal GOATs of goalkeeping, is hyperbolic bordering on outright unfair, but Atubolu has been incredible for Freiburg since becoming the No. 1 guy. Atubolu is a big goalkeeper with a sweeper style and an outrageous penalty saving record, and despite being a goalie, he is legitimately one of the most exciting players in the Bundesliga.

Just 23 years old, Atubolu is highly exciting and raved about by fans, but the numbers are not quite as impressive. His save percentage of around 63 is pretty poor this season, and he's never had a save percentage of 70 in a single season.

Atubolu is really raw, and whlie he is immensely talented with the upside to become the next great German goalkeeper (alongside Bayern Munich's even more talented Jonas Urbig), he could also become a massive bust in the Premier League and a downgrade on Vicario. He may actually be, then, more of a replacement for Antonin Kinsky, who will go out on loan. Still, Spurs need to be smart with scouting and find young keepers with upside, and Atubolu is one of the few young keepers with the talent worth watching and an actual shot at wanting to join a struggling Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters were looking for any sliver of optimism, and they thought they had found it after a 1-1 draw with Liverpool and a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid. Suddenly, it looked like interim manager Igor Tudor had found a winning formula, and if in the span of a week Spurs showed they could play up to two Champions League quarterfinals, then maybe they would be back in business over the weekend with the resumption of the Premier League relegation battle.

But intead of showing up in a must win relegation six pointer against lowly Nottingham Forest, Spurs were absolutely decimated and eviscerated in front of their ardent supporters, losing 3-0 in a historically inept performance.

All of the praise for Tudor has flipped right back into grave concern, and on the BBC Sport broadcast after the game, former Tottenham Hotspur and England national team goalkeeper Paul Robinson uttered the universal truth about the plight of Spurs and of Tudor's place in the problems.

Igor Tudor can't fix Thomas Frank's mess

Robinson said, via The Spurs Web, "I don’t see a structure. A game plan, or a way of playing. I don’t see a tactical idea. I see a team that’s set up in the first instance, that changes two or three times during the game. They look devoid of ideas, and a manager who is looking for something that he is yet to find, and no time to find it."

Everything Robinson said above is spot on, and not even the five members of the Igor Tudor fan club could dispute what is plainly evident before everyone. Tottenham are not in this mess because of Tudor, and the manager before him, Thomas Frank, clearly had the team set up poorly and himself was devoid of ideas.

It is a long standing issue for Spurs, yes, but Tudor has not exactly helped matters. You could see in the 3-0 dismantling at the hands of an unimpressive Nottingham Forest that Spurs still have no ideas, no patterns of play, and no way to adjust during games when things are not going well. Spurs started poorly against Forest and somehow finished even worse.

The last bit of Robinson's quote is perhaps the most biting. Because even if Tudor had a prayer of coming up with the right formula for Spurs, there are merely a handful of games left in the Premier League season to get things right. There is no time for a turn around, and Tudor, thus far, has not shown he is the right man to do it.

The Tottenham Hotspur supporters were in full force before the match against Nottingham Forest, knowing the sheer magnitude of a relegation six pointer against a side that had robbed them of Morgan Gibbs-White this past summer transfer window. With a draw against Liverpool last weekend and a win over Atletico Madrid just a few days ago, Spurs came into this Sunday's encounter with a great deal of optimism, but they left it torn into tatters, losing 3-0 to Forest in a game that left fans wondering if any of the players understood the magnitude of the match themselves.

While the vast majority of the individual performances for Spurs were simply dreadful, there were three players who, once again, stepped up in this dire moment of need. Even though it doesn't feel like a time for silver linings, positivity deserves to be acknowledged where it exists. And it did for these three, even against Forest.

LW Mathys Tel

Even though the end product still isn't consistently there for Mathys Tel, he is the only forward on Spurs who truly threatens the defense. Whereas Richarlison struggles to create or beat defenders and Dominic Solanke has become an absolute ghost, Tel is out there creating chances for himself and others and is by far the best dribbler on the team in the final third.

The former Bayern Munich man had two key passes and led the team with four dribbles completed, drawing a foul for good measure. Tel is the one player worth praising in the attack, and he is the one forward who actually bothered to show up for Tottenham vs. Nottingham Forest.

CB Kevin Danso

Kevin Danso was brilliant against Nottingham Forest, and he put both captain Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven to shame. Honestly, Danso should be in the team sheet ahead of both of them at this point, and he is probably the most underrated player on Spurs.

He saved a goal with a great header to start the game and led the way with five interceptions. Even compared to Romero, Danso reads the game so much better, and it's a good thing Barcelona and Real Madrid are too busy looking at Van de Ven to notice Danso.

CM Archie Gray

In truth, Archie Gray was better in the preceding matches for Tottenham Hotspur, but he was still the best midfielder on a team in which all the other mids struggled badly vs. Forest. Even while hobbled in this game physically, Gray was still the one player brave enough and intelligent enough to create chances and drive the ball forward with positive passes.

After huge losses in important matches against Arsenal, Fulham, Crystal Palace, and Atletico Madrid, the common referendum on new Tottenham Hotspur interim manager Igor Tudor was that, somehow, he was even worse than Thomas Frank - or, at best, just as bad.

But after Spurs drew Liverpool 1-1 with a second half comeback and defeated Atletico Madrid 3-2 at mid week, Tudor appeared to have won Spurs fans back. He was giving minutes to the team's young stars like Archie Gray and Mathys Tel, who were blossoming into the team's best players. Meanwhile, Lucas Bergvall was coming back, and it seemed like Spurs had more heart and desire under Tudor. Plus, unlike Frank, Tudor was unified behind the fans instead of pitting them and the player against each other, which was one of Frank's many cardinal sins.

That honeymoon period lasted one week. Because after watching Tottenham flounder to a miserable 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in a loss that may be looked back on as historic, Spurs fans can only come to the same conclusion they had before the second Atletico Madrid game - that Tudor is not the right man for the job.

Igor Tudor took a massive step back from Atletico Madrid

Tudor never really had a track record of success before Tottenham Hotspur. Sure, he managed Marseille to third in Ligue 1, but they were second the season before he arrived. And he wasn't bad for Juventus last season in comparison to Thiago Motta, but, well, he wasn't exactly good either.

So far at Tottenham, Tudor has been poor, and even if he has been better than Frank, the difference is only marginal. And it's not like a comparison to Frank is exactly a high bar to set here, given Frank just might be the worst manager in Spurs history.

Tudor made so many mistakes against Nottingham Forest. It was as if he learned nothing from what worked against Atletico Madrid. Xavi Simons? On the bench. Richarlison? He was poor, but between the two strikers, it was wild to see him hooked off the pitch instead of Dominic Solanke, who delivered the worst single game performance of any Tottenham attacker this season just when his team needed it the most.

The scenes from Tottenham Hotspur supporters before the home game against Nottingham Forest on Sunday were a sight to behold. Unison, chants, plumes of smoke, and a raucous showing that would have rivaled celebratory Champions League victories at other clubs awaited a Tottenham squad that, in truth, was not deserving of such a beautiful response from their fans.

But no matter how often these supporters, who pay more money than most fan bases to watch their team, have been let down by the self inflated "stars" of Tottenham this season, nothing about the past mattered to these souls behind the barricades. All they wanted was to give their players that extra bit of strength to go out there and win a crucial, relegation six pointer against Nottingham Forest that, no exaggeration, carried strong implications for the club's future.

Instead of taking this unbridled support that they had been criticizing the fan base for not giving them all season long, the Spurs players took this unconditional love and spat it back onto the street without any semblance of decency.

Tottenham's players are not good enough

This 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was as poor of a performance, especially considering the context of the match, as Spurs fans will ever see in their lifetime's of supporting this self sabotaging club. And it was the same culprits who did not show up. Cristian Romero is barely fit to wear the arm band despite the impassioned defenses in his favor from several fans. Micky van de Ven looks like his head is in the clouds in Barcelona. Dominic Solanke just feels like a ginormous waste of money. And Pape Matar Sarr, Richarlison, and so many other don't look like they are good enough.

We have seen players like Pedro Porro and Van de Ven screaming at fans after terrible performances. We watched as Thomas Frank threw the supporters under the bus for booing him and the team's poor displays, hoping that the jeers would get them to step up. But now with only love and unity behind them, all Tottenham could do was somehow lower their level even further.

For Tottenham fans who have followed this club their whole lives through thick and thin - mostly thin, if we are being blunt - Sunday's blowout loss to Nottingham Forest had to have been the most soul crushing of them all. Spurs fans gave it their all, only to receive less than nothing in return. At this point, if Spurs go down, it is nothing more than they deserve.

Serenaded by droves of fans who wanted nothing more than to will their team to victory in a must win, relegation six pointer against Nottingham Forest, all the Tottenham Hotspur players could muster was one of the worst performances in the history of the club, losing 3-0 to a squad that cost far less to build. Spurs are staring down a very scary reality right now, but they have nobody but themselves to blame.

These three players, in particular, were so poor against Nottingham Forest that they look like they would not even belong in the EFL Championship at this point.

CB Micky van de Ven

It is laughable that Micky van de Ven thinks he can play for two Champions League contenders in Barcleona and Real Madrid. These are two of the most successful and historic clubs in history with players like Carles Puyol and Sergio Ramos that have played at the heart of their defenses.

Meanwhile, Van de Ven has no heart. He does not show up when Tottenham Hotspur need him most, and he is so woeful in these critical games that you would be forgiven for thinking he is playing againt Spurs. Van de Ven was so bad that Spurs hooked him at half time in a relegation battle, which tells you all you need to know about how pathetic his performances have been. Even playing at left back could not save him.

ST Richarlison

Djed Spence, Pape Matar Sarr, and pretty much almot the entire Tottenham team merited consideration here, but Richarlison absolutely belongs as one of the worst three players on the pitch despite both being a well known star and apparently being a relegation hero.

Well, Spurs fans have yet to see this supposedly amazing Richarlison in relegation fights. Even against Liverpool, he got all the credit for the goal, but everyone forgot about the chances he missed before that. The real problem with Richy isn't the finishing, which has actually been good this seaon considering the lack of chances. No, the problem is how sloppy he is on the ball and how little he creates for the other forwards. Spurs will be better off without this one trick pony.

ST Dominic Solanke

And yet, Richy was hooked off when an even worse striker remained on the pitch. As poor as the Brazilian international was, Dominic Solanke was somehow 10 times worse. He was by far the most problematic player on the pitch, and it is unfathomable that this player cost Spurs a record 65 million pounds when he shows up for a few games in a year then calls it quits when Spurs need him most.

Solanke was a ghost. It's like he didn't even care. He never tried to get on the ball, press, or make things happen, and Spurs supporters are livid with how he performed against Forest in a must win. Solanke looked like he was strolling about in a Sunday League match.

Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Lucas Bergvall finally made his return to the pitch after several weeks out with another injury, and Spurs supporters can only hope that the Swedish international stays healthy with Spurs in the thick of a tough relegation fight.

Bergvall is one of the biggest gems in the Premier League, even if the mainstream has neglected how high his potential is. Even though he got injured at the end of the campaign, the young midfielder was crucial to Spurs capturing the Europa League crown last season, and he is such a fiery box to box midfielder that clubs as big as Real Madrid are watching him closely.

With Thomas Frank, who seemed to always play Bergvall in a suboptimal role, out of the way, Bergvall has a massive opportunity on his hands now that he is back from injury. And Tottenham Hotspur supporters hope that their latest Swedish star will follow in the footsteps of another young gem midfielder on the Real Madrid transfer radar.

Lucas Bergvall's time to shine now

Archie Gray has been the bigget winner of the several winners of the Igor Tudor appointment. Even when Tottenham were playing very poorly, Gray was distinguishing himself positively, and he put himself on a more mainstream radar with a dazzling display in the win over Atletico Madrid.

If that is what Gray can do away from the shackles of whatever supposed system Thomas Frank was implementing at the N17, then imagine what his No. 8 counterpart Lucas Bergvall can do in the coming games once he lands into health and form.

Gray has set down the gauntlet to Bergvall of what is capable without Frank at the helm, and so Bergvall can look to what the former Leeds Unitd man is doing as an example to follow. Tottenham fans have both the utmost confidence and the utmost faith in Bergvall, who, in the next few years, should be establishing himself as one of the top midfielders in European football.

That journey can begin now. It should have already begun this season, but, again, Frank had no real clue what to do with him. Nor did he Gray, who is beginning to show his own signs of future superstardom in the iconic Lilywhite kit. Bergvall is such a tremendous athlete with the verve to get forward and add to goals, and there is no way Tudor holds him back in favor of Conor Gallagher.