Opinion: Is Tottenham failing or not - Is the loss at Inter a further symptom of malaise?

STADIUM WOES

Tottenham has needed a new stadium for some time since the old White Hart Lane was 36,000 in capacity. This was some way behind other top clubs, and many others have either built or increased stadium capacities in the past 20 years.

But despite the need for a new ground, how Spurs has handled this development has been atrocious.

Could this have an effect on the team or fans? It's very possible. A large number of fans have been given poor season ticket allocations, and the nature of the new ground is still moot. There is to date no scheduled opening date, and for the League Cup, they requested their "home" game be played at MK Dons in Milton Keynes. For those who don't know Britain well, Milton Keynes is a large town about 40 miles north of London. So players, coaches, and fans need to travel this distance for a "home" game. Wembley is at least in Greater London, like Tottenham's old and new ground are. But MK Dons certainly isn't (it's in Buckinghamshire incidentally...)

Players are only human, and the unintended disruption may be having an effect on the team. They may publicly deny this, but it may be a private concern, who knows?