Not League Title Contenders Yet with Mixed Results

Last Sunday Manchester United shaded Tottenham simply down to better defensive tactics, the kind that made Jose Mourinho so successful in prior incarnations with Chelsea, but United are still playing well below par as there new players are still gelling into the Mourinho system.  That is the measure of where Spurs are currently, that more acquisitions are necessary.

Having been knocked out of the Champions League by Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen, it would be ironic if Spurs are able to nab striker Javier Hernandez.  That is the quality of striker that can put some fire back to a forward line that is powder-puff as at present.  While Sissoko has shown some improvement, his woeful performance in terms of trying to score are no where near the quality expected from his £30 Million fee - described at the time by some pundits as "staggering" sum especially for what looked like a last minute panic buy to snatch him from the noses of Everton.  When Spurs lost Willian to Chelsea, that was a brilliant bit of business, unlike the over-priced purchase that put money into Newcastle United's coffers.

Thanks to goals today from a resurgent Christian Erikson and an assist for Victor Wanyama to tap in, Spurs did not need its strike force to deliver.  Against United on Saturday, the usually dependable partnership of Delli Alli and Harry Kane were rendered incapable of a single piece of good play.  Alli was better today with his touches against Hull and Kane still provides a battling performance, but it is goals that count and hopefully the Midas touch will return on Sunday against another struggling team Burnley - though Burnley have had good performances against the top teams.

A 3-0 win today against Hull City was par for the course, though Hull on the half hour and hour mark twice had opportunities to draw the game level to 1-1.  In the first half, some good pass play ended with a shot that Lloris had covered, but it was a second half error where Erikson tried to play for a penalty (which hardly fooled the referee) that led to a counter-attack which if Hull were playing with confidence, they would have surely scored - but as it was, Lloris had that breakaway and shot covered also.

This Hull City by the end of the game was fielding four ex-Tottenham players in Michael Dawson, Jake Livermore, Tom Huddlestone and Ryan Mason - and it was bit like playing a Tottenham team of yesteryear, except no Spurs team in recent memory have been as bad as the Hull outfit.

With Manchester United just two or three wins from getting back into the top four mix, Tottenham need to find their shooting boots and at least Erikson is one who has found them and is having a good little run of scoring, and his first goal had the same bang and decisiveness that was in Henrikh Mkhitaryan's goal for Manchester United against Spurs on Sunday, perhaps he learned his lesson in that game, because the goalkeeper stood no chance with his shot.

That clinical finishing now needs to spread to other members of the Tottenham squad and so long as Victor Wanyama learns that he needs to play the ball to his strikers rather than seek to score himself, then he won't waste the kind of chances that could have increased today's score against Hull but more importantly help draw the game against United. 

The Christmas holiday period is now fast approaching and it is this period that will dictate whether Manchester United will be a forced to reckon with and continue their good run of form lately, but it will be the dealings Spurs make in the January transfer window, which will determine whether Spurs will be a force in the Premier League or finish outside the Top 4, and whatever the finishing position, they need extra legs to make a run in the Europa League, which this year is becoming more and more the competition Spurs may need to badly win.