Chadder View: Tottenham must act in January to save their season after yet another devastating blow
Matthew Chadder is a lifelong Tottenham fan who grew up just down the road from his beloved club in North London. He’s now putting his passion for Spurs into words with a daily fan view for Tottenham News…
Daniel Levy’s festive celebrations would have been rudely interrupted by some frustrating news coming out of Tottenham on Wednesday 27 December.
Cristian Romero will essentially miss the entirety of January. I still cannot believe it as I am writing it.
Perhaps I am biased, and I am sure rival supporters will point me in the direction of their own issues, but never have I seen quite an injury crisis like at Tottenham in recent months.
Every time it looks as if we are about to get back on track and get our squad back together, we are dealt another blow. In a season where we have had no European exploits to contend with, and a relatively light fixture schedule after we were dumped out of the Carabao Cup as early as August, this is quite unprecedented.
Rodrigo Bentancur finally returned from an excruciating injury which kept him out for nine months, and in his first start back, he was gone again. Not just gone for a few weeks, but for a few months.
We finally got Romero back after a three-match suspension, and after four games in which he helped turn our fortunes around, he is now gone again. And once again, not just for a week or two, but for four or five.
Every injury blow feels as if it has been a major one, and to be honest, I wouldn’t blame those at Hotspur Way for feeling sorry for themselves.
Unfortunately in football, there is no room to feel sorry for yourself, and luckily for Mr. Levy, January is here to solve his crisis.
Tottenham fans know that the club are often reluctant to go big in January, instead choosing to look for low-key deals which can be done over an extended period for smaller fees. However, there is no time for this now, we need a centre-back by the beginning of January.
And this isn’t me moaning for a new central defender from a spoiled point of view, we are desperate for one. Ange Postecoglou is desperate for one.
Luckily, January isn’t the most action-packed month from a fixture point of view, but potentially two FA Cup games and a trip to Old Trafford represent huge matches.
Spurs cannot afford to be dumped out of both cup competitions at the first hurdle, and losing against Manchester United would reignite the race for top-four football. These are big games, and Tottenham need their key players.
Playing with a back-two of Emerson Royal and Ben Davies is simply not good enough for games of this magnitude, and Levy should have left his family midway through carving the turkey to get on the phone and line up deals wherever he can.
There is no time to waste, Tottenham must act now, or risk seeing yet another season which started with so much promise, fade into something mediocre.
In other Tottenham news, one pundit has shared whether or not Postecoglou will risk a player walking a disciplinary tightrope when Spurs travel to Brighton.