Best XIs from the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, plus analysis of where Spurs have succeeded and struggled this season

It’s been quite a strange season for Tottenham, but that’s nothing new to their fans. The word “Spursy” has been coined in the current campaign and the capitulation at the hands of a previously toothless Manchester United side would certainly fall into that category. A crushing defeat to a heavyweight rival has not been uncommon in recent years but, on this season’s form, United are no heavyweight.

Mauricio Pochettino has been praised in the most part after a relatively slow start to the season, not least for an encouraging run of results going into the New Year that culminated in a 5-3 win over Chelsea. José Mourinho’s team had their revenge in the League Cup final, however, and the recent build up of fixtures seems to have cost Spurs some consistency.

This season, on the face of it, does not look too dissimilar to the one the supporters were glad to see the back of last time around. Indeed, the loss at Old Trafford ensured that Tottenham have now lost by at least a two-goal margin in the league more often than they have won by such a margin for the second season running.

Their win ratio in the league has dropped marginally (55% to 52%) along with their points-per-game ratio (1.82 to 1.72). Most fans were pretty keen to forget the combined efforts of André Villas-Boas and Tim “59% win ratio” Sherwood in the previous campaign but things haven’t exactly picked up as they might have wanted.

Tottenham are scoring more goals this season, thanks in no small part to the frankly heroic exploits of Harry Kane – for which the new manager deserves some credit – but they are also conceding more (1.45 per game to 1.34 last season). Considering the heavy blows they suffered at the hands of the top four clubs last season, that statistic looks surprising.

These defensive downfalls are really hurting Spurs. Their league record at the back is now the sixth worst in the Premier League (42 conceded), with only Leicester, QPR and West Ham (five) keeping fewer clean sheets than Tottenham (six). When you consider that Pochettino’s men avoided conceding in their first two matches of the season, their lack of clean sheets since is quite remarkable.

They have conceded 19 goals in the nine matches since they last kept a clean sheet, despite possessing one of the finest goalkeepers in the Premier League. Their 3-0 win over West Brom at the end of January was their first and remains their only win without conceding in the league since early October.

The defence has underperformed and, despite warranted praise for their efforts this season, the midfield partnership of Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason has proven weak on occasion – most recently at Old Trafford. With the depth of central midfielders on their books it appears that Tottenham still need more quality in front of the back four, which is staggering given the money spent on the likes of Moussa Dembélé (£16m), Paulinho (£17m), Étienne Capoue (£10m) and Benjamin Stambouli (£5m) in recent years.

With that in mind, defensive reinforcements seem to be required again. Renewed links to Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin will surely be forthcoming in the summer and it’s a deal that would make sense for Spurs. The Frenchman is key to a Saints side that boast the best defensive record in England’s top-flight and, with a WhoScored.com rating of 7.47, the 25-year-old is their highest rated player this season, averaging 3.6 tackles and 2.7 interceptions per game.

Elsewhere in Europe there have been a number of star turns from players that would suit the role in front of Tottenham’s back four. Granit Xhaka (7.55 league rating) is improving all the time with Borussia Mönchengladbach but has recently signed a new deal at the club, so would command a high fee, while the likes of Lyon captain Maxime Gonalons (7.46 rating) and Malaga’s Ignacio Camacho (7.40 rating) would also fit the mould, albeit for a considerable price.

One thing is for sure: if Tottenham dip into the market once again for a midfielder to protect their error-prone defence, they must get it right. More expensive deadwood on the wage bill would be a disaster, so shrewd business is required this summer. For the time being though, it seems Spurs’ defensive frailties will see them do well to better last season’s points tally, which would have to go down as a disappointing first season for Pochettino.

Premier League team of the week

Infographic: WhoScored

La Liga team of the week



Infographic: WhoScored

Serie A team of the week

Infographic: WhoScored

Bundesliga team of the week

Infographic: WhoScored

Ligue 1 team of the week

Infographic: WhoScored

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings. You can follow all the scores, statistics, live player and team ratings with the new free-to-downloadWhoScored iOS app



• Follow WhoScored on Twitter and Facebook

• Follow Guardian Football on Facebook