If Tottenham could consistently finish top three with a thin and brittle squad, how much better would they be with a true depth in quality? If Mauricio Pochettino could take them to the Champions League final having bought only a single player in 18 months, what could he do if he was fully backed by the chairman?

With high calibre midfield talent brought in, as well as key players held on to, the 19/20 season could not be precluded by much more promise. So it is no wonder that a thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich, along with exiting the League Cup at the first hurdle, and an increasingly poor start to the Premier League season has created a miserable and fearful mood for Spurs fans.

The season before was not predicated with such excitement. Having failed to complete a single purchase all summer, Tottenham started the season still systemically reliant on an aged Mousa Dembele and injured ball-winners, Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier.

The overarching principles that Pochettino had spent four years instilling, and flourishing with, at Spurs were built around the idea of control. Safe but progressive passing in deep and central areas on-the-ball; aggressive suffocating pressure off-the-ball. Dominating midfield in this manner Tottenham provided the best possible foundation upon which their attacking talent was free to play boldly and take risks.

But with Dembele quickly injured and sold in January and Wanyama and Dier largely missing from the campaign, and way off the pace in their cameos, control was no longer an option for Tottenham in 2018.

Instead, Spurs lent into a looser and often counter-attacking game; frequently utilising a diamond formation and cramming as many attacking players as possible into line-ups. This “Air Raid” plan saw Tottenham to fourth place and the Champions League final but it was clearly not sustainable

By embracing chaos during this time, Spurs would throw the dice, every game, on whether or not the front line would magic up a hefty scoreline and, if not, the team would suffer for it.

In a 6-day Christmas schedule Tottenham put 6 past Everton at Goodison, beat Bournemouth 5-0 before losing at home to Wolves 3-1. Towards the end of the season Spurs defeated Dortmund, Man City and Ajax all over two-legs on route to the final while around the same time putting together 4 losses and a draw in 5 consecutive league games. Across the 18/19 season Tottenham were highly unpredictable while averaging out to merely decent.

This summer seemed to be about laying the foundation in order to return to the previous methods; re-establishing control over games. Perhaps even taking that to new heights, given the new found flexibility they had developed in the mean time.

Aston Villa, Newcastle and Colchester all gladly surrendered midfield, sitting deep and inviting a Spurs side – who were without their primary playmaker but for 30 minutes of each match – to attempt to unlock a defence, and did so to mixed results. Draws away at the Etihad and Emirates largely make for anomalies and poor measuring sticks as does the 10 v 11 match against Southampton.

The historic 2-7 loss at home to Bayern Munich provided a kind of Frankenstein tactical performance. Tottenham impressed in the first half, pushing hard for around 30 minutes before tiring and/or changing approach. In the second half; collapse as Die Roten put on a finishing masterclass and continued to work for more after Spurs surrendered the fixture around the 70 minute mark.

It is the series of matches against Crystal Palace, Leicester, Brighton and away in Athens – teams who utilised medium blocks and intensity to contest possession – that showcase the continuation of last season’s chaos, the wildly varying scorelines that come with it, and the general sense of unwellness present at the club.

Tottenham fans, as a group, are always keen to imagine the worst. The current situation certainly invites the idea of dressing room fallouts, training ground break-downs and staff room malaise. All projects have a sell by date, all tactical ideas become outdated, all squads lose motivation, eventually, right?

Pochettino himself has helped light this fire. Complaining of “different agendas” in the playing staff and referring to the final weeks before the close of the continental transfer window as the worst during his time at Spurs.

Certainly the last few weeks have not been without losses in concentration or motivation but this diagnosis doesn’t paint a full picture either. At least up until the disallowed goal, Tottenham’s performance against Leicester was full of energy, creative movements and aggressive passes. Then there’s rallying against being a man down and equal on goals at home to Southampton to find the win. Absolutely, again, there have been moments of emotional failure, but overall these are not the performances of a team who have completely lost faith, given up or exhausted themselves.

There is one specific area in which Spurs are seemingly lacking the necessary effort. Pochettino offered the analysis himself “We know very well we need to increase without the ball our aggressivity and togetherness and the will to chase people and to run and be desperate to recover the ball as soon as we can.”

Tottenham’s counter-press is failing. No longer able to box opposition sides into their own third and suffocate their counter-attacks, there is a flimsiness off-the-ball that is not in line with the majority of Spurs’ efforts on display in possession.

The diamond formation, and more generally utilising a front two helps share Harry Kane’s workload. Twice, last season, Kane’s ligament issues resurfaced. Both occasions were the rare ones in which Pochettino played Kane up top alone – although, one of them was the result of heavy contact.

The three-man-midfield also helps spread out some of the responsibilities previously held by Mousa Dembele but, as recently alluded to by Moussa Sissoko, the formation’s narrowness asks them to cover too much ground when trying to press out-of-possession. Additionally, the diamond’s narrowness has been creatively restrictive against defensive sides.

Away from formation though, there are two more fundamental explanations for this season’s counter-pressing issues. The first is that, if we accept that last season’s move away from a constant pressure game was a deliberate tactical adaptation to circumstances, then re-establishing the pressing game is something that will take some time.

Pochettino’s pressing system is more complex than simple hard running – it took Spurs most of the entire of the first season to come to terms with it – and yes, most players will already be familiar with it, but learning something for the second time comes with difficulties as well as advantages.

The alternative option is that instead of a conceptual or coaching misunderstanding, there is simply an inability within the existing personnel to perform such a game. If this is the case then, it seems, the aforementioned physical restraints on Kane does Spurs some harm in this area. Equally plausible, however, is that problems also lie in the deepest midfield role.

Where previously Victor Wanyama, and before him Eric Dier, imposed themselves on duels and loose balls, now, both players offer only zombified versions of themselves. Regular starter, Harry Winks, can not be faulted for effort and his defensive activity numbers are certainly not poor by any means – 2.1 tackles and 0.9 interceptions per 90 – but he perhaps lacks the elite levels in either defensive reading or athletic prowess that were crucial for his predecessors.

Coaching issues are, of course, coachable, and Pochettino is certainly the man for that. Personnel issues are potentially solvable as soon as January. There is also a very slight possibility that injured newcomer Gio Lo Celso offers a solution, though he is most likely similar to Winks; no slouch defensively, but neither a master. A conflation and combination of both personnel and tactical issues certainly seems possible, and within that, there are two routes for improvements.

Regardless, the feeling in and around the club is as bad as it has ever been during Pochettino’s reign. Solutions, at least partial ones, to Tottenham’s counter-pressing issues are in urgent demand as even the best coaches in the world have their jobs at risk when combining a string of poor performances with being on the receiving end of a thrashing at home.