I still can’t quite believe that a shot from a player who was supposed to be at the Africa Cup of Nations wasn’t saved. Even now close to 24 hours later I expect Vorm to save it, hold his hands up and wink at the camera saying something like: “Phew that was close.” But it hasn’t. Spurs remain knocked out of their first cup of the season, in painfully embarrassing self-inflicted circumstances.

The mistake from Vorm was unfortunate, especially as his fists had done more than most in helping keep us in the tie. All that hard work made redundant in one moment when he decided it was better to stand-with than stand-out from his teammates.The Dutchman’s fumble may have been the stroke that decapitated our FA Cup quest, but in all honesty there were many other mistakes that led to Spurs being on their knees and peering into a blood stained wicker basket.

The first mistake was conceived the moment Pochettino started pulling names out of a hat to pick his team. Against Burnley he had got away with a suspect line-up, but the devil doesn’t let you off the hook a second time. A Spurs team featuring five of least successful “Magnificent 7” was destined for disaster.

The amount of space that exists around Kaboul is perplexing and his slow reaction to any sign of danger make me question his sobriety

What led Pochettino to dice with the devil again can perhaps be linked to tiredness, squad rotation and our busy schedule, but there is a part of me which hopes that he wasn’t making a point midway through the winter transfer window. Was this an act of petulance towards the board?

“Look at this rubbish you have given me” or was it an unsuccessful attempt to say “look at what I can achieve with this dross, now give me something more.” Either way it is not a comforting thought. The last few managers to take a public stance towards the board haven’t survived much longer.

On the field the heart of the problem was the defence where Kaboul was once again entrusted to try and hold it together, but this time without the dissenter Vertonghen sweeping up alongside him. The centre back entrusted to try and limit the self-destructive positioning of our captain was the returning from injury Fazio, it proved a task just too great for him. Time after time space opened up in and around Kaboul, space that Leicester, until the last part of the tie were unable to take advantage of.

I wrote last week about the demise of Kaboul, this week is his obituary. Perhaps now with the FA Cup gone, hopefully a final in the League Cup, where rotation is not an option, and a push into the latter stages of the Europa League, Kaboul will find his playing time cut. Having now seen the TV highlights the amount of space that exists around Kaboul is perplexing and his slow reaction to any sign of danger make me question his sobriety. There are moments when he backs away from danger like a five year old girl attempting to play football with her older brothers. It is over for him, it has to be, he is now costing us games regularly.

Dembele in his current guise is pointless, directionless and more frustrating than Kaboul and Chiriches combined

Elsewhere in the makeshift defence Chiriches, now officially our 2nd choice right-back, continued to prove what a uniquely scatter gun talent he is. The Romanian has had an eventful 18 months at Spurs and at moments seems to lose his grasp on exactly where he is and what he is meant to be doing, it also takes quite a special player to make the sale of Kyle Naughton look like a bad decision already. He needs to improve rapidly.

Elsewhere we had the usual mixture of performances from players whose natural game is to operate well below par. The Dembele Show rattles on without him learning what exactly he is supposed to be doing and how. He remains one of the most naturally gifted below average performers in world football.

The inability of Dembele to have an influence on a game he has the potential to dominate is disheartening. The Belgian is a Ferrari Dino with no petrol, Mike Tyson with no fists, a Victoria Secret Angel covered in lacy lingerie on a tight schedule reclining in your bed with that look in her eyes whilst you are stuck in traffic on the M25. Dembele in his current guise is pointless, directionless and more frustrating than Kaboul and Chiriches combined. Their failings stem from a lack of ability, Dembele’s originates from a place that he should be able to unshackle through some form of mediation, self-help book or cattle prod.

The final part of yesterday’s defeat is of course Adebayor. It is perhaps not so much the man himself that causes the problems but the entourage of negativity that trails in his wake. Like an earthquake it isn’t the initial hit the causes the damage, it’s the aftershocks. He remains a good player, a striker who can be unplayable, but the ill feeling he creates is damaging. There was no reason for him to come on yesterday, Soldado, as toothless and ineffective as a number 9 as he is, was linking and causing a few problems but most importantly he had the crowd.

The moment Adebayor entered the fray, the change was remarkable. The crowd went from positively accepting the bizarreness of the team selection to openly questioning it. In the days of heat maps, OptaStats and “one stat to bind them and prove them all,” we often seem to forget that those dots are humans. They have feelings, they sense things, yesterday that game died for Spurs the moment the crowd split.

The baggage, the negativity and the ill feeling Adebayor creates is not counter balanced by what he gives in terms of end product

I have mentioned before that the job facing Pochettino is more about changing the mentality of the players and fans, than the actual brand of football. This can only be done by not allowing players with the wrong, or even perceived wrong attitude having a presence within the squad. The baggage, the negativity and the ill feeling Adebayor creates is not counter balanced by what he gives in terms of end product. He needs jettisoning quickly, unfortunately though his wages are an iron grip around the club’s throat.

Despite the errors and discontent upon full-time, there was one bright spot. It was good to see the return of Lamela. The Argentine looked bright and our few moments of real danger, pointed towards their goal and not ours, stemmed from him. Hopefully he can build upon this and use the few weeks he has had off-duty to give us the impetus we have lacked when Kane or Eriksen has operated wide.

If midweek’s game wasn’t already big, yesterday’s error strewn performance has pumped it full of steroids and MaxMuscle protein. We can afford no mistakes in Sheffield.