Sam Allardyce has slammed Tottenham players for their poor performances this season and has accused the team of ‘getting Mauricio Pochettino the sack’ with their tragic form.
Spurs’ slump continued on Wednesday night as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to RB Leipzig in the Champions League last-16.
The hosts were second-best in a sluggish performance from Jose Mourinho’s side, who would have conceded at least five goals if it weren’t for the inspired form of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
But the manner of their defeat would not have surprised many Tottenham fans, who have watched their side pick up points in the Premier League despite a number of really unconvincing displays.
They may be without top goalscorers Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, but this looks like a shadow of the team that made it all the way to the Champions League final last season, and a repeat of that European run now looks unlikely ahead of their second-leg trip to Germany.
Allardyce was asked about Spurs’ alarming run of form, that Mourinho has been unable to halt, on Thursday’s Sports Breakfast.
He pointed the finger of blame directly at the players, and said as a manager ‘you just can’t trust them’.
“The form of the whole side is concerning, and it’s not under Jose’s reign, it started before,” said the former England manager.
“What they did to Pochettino was tragic I think. Their performances and what they did to get him the sack was unbelievable, I thought it was really out of order.
“I thought he should have got a bit more time, but at the end of the day the performances were so low they chose to replace him after what he achieved and what he’d done for Tottenham,
“It just shows that sometimes you can’t trust your players as a manager, you have to keep on top of them all the time.
Tottenham were all over the place – they’re fortunate it was only 1-0! Jason Cundy reacts to Spurs’ home defeat to RB Leipzig
“He must feel very let down, I think, that the performances turned into what they did, and then Jose has had to pick it up from there and he’s found it very, very difficult.
“He knows how to get results but there isn’t the commitment, there isn’t the fluency, there isn’t the entertainment and the thrills that we’ve seen from Tottenham over the last four years.
“There’s great damage done to that squad that needs repairing and in the end all those transfer windows with no new players was one of the reasons.”
