Should Mourinho get the sack?

This could be a question that becomes more apparent if we lose again on Thursday night, leaving us with a rather dismal total of 9 points from a possible 30 - barely above relegation form.

Especially if the performance is as lifeless, flat and nothingy as the weekend, when we were thoroughly outplayed by a team who hadn't won at home all season. I'm sure I wasn't the only Spurs fan who didn't really want us to equalise, because we didn't deserve to.

I've seen a lot of dross as a Spurs fan, but that was one of the worst performances I've seen from a Spurs side. So utterly lacking in anything.

The question then follows, would Mourinho deserve the sack if the league form doesn't improve?

I honestly can't see Levy dispensing with him before the League Cup final, with silverware so tantalisingly close and Jose's record in finals. But that is now a lot further away than it should have been, and is it worth it to play laboured, turgid football for the foreseeable with the caveat that we're in with a good chance of a trophy?

We're also still in the FA Cup and the Europa, and somehow still 6th in the table despite our recent troubles. On those metrics, it would be harsh to get rid. But there is no indication that things are going to improve, performance-wise. Even in those excellent wins over Arsenal and City, they were built from a defensive, counter-attacking platform. It worked then but hasn't worked since.

The Palace, Wolves and Fulham draws were utterly depressing in all following the same pattern. The Leicester defeat was well-deserved. The only games where we've really turned it on this year was Soton and United away. The only games where players have really been let off the leash.

Other than that, there's been periods of great football - bursts against Sheff Utd, Leeds, Newcastle, Fulham, Arsenal, City, Liverpool - but it's all been less than the sum of its parts.

And the reliance on a moment of magic from Kane and Son has started to show up. The lack of a plan B, the lack of game time for Carlos V, Bale and Lucas, has started to become clear.

The alienation of Dele - way too personal for my liking; he's not been that bad whenever he's played and hasn't thrown his toys out of the pram or spoken out publicly - and the lack of goals from the support acts (Lamela, Bergwijn, Lucas, Bale) has left us creatively stuck at times without the Son/Kane combo. They have produced the lion share's of our goals, and we are left relying on a moment of brilliance from Ndombele or the odd goal here and there from someone else. It's not a great long-term strategy.

There are mitigating circumstances, of course - with Covid and the sheer number of games we've had to play in such a short space of time. By remaining in all the cups, we must have played more matches than any other side in the division.

But we also have one of the biggest squads, and a back-up striker in Carlos V who has shown he's more than decent.

Mourinho has undoubtedly done well with Ndombele and, until recently, Aurier. The same can be said for Dier and the reintroduction of Toby. He was also getting the best from Kane and Son earlier in the season.

But he has been found wanting in a number of games against younger, fresher managers and I find his football personality off-putting in the same way I did Sherwood's and sometimes AVB/Harry. His words and mind games get tiresome, especially when they don't work anymore.

Being without Harry Kane is a blow, but also an easy excuse. We should've known it was coming( for however many seasons, he always has a spell out with injuries. It's nothing new. And we've coped OK without him before).

I think there's an argument that Mourinho gets less leeway from fans because he was never wanted in the first place. I didn't want him - I've always made that clear. I thought it would end in disaster, as it nearly always does. The meltdowns at Man Utd and Chelsea were fresh in the memory and worrying.

We all knew his playing style would be troubling at times. He's not anti-football or ultra-defensive, and his teams can play some great stuff, but he is a pragmatist and that can lead to an inhibited style. It's not the free-flowing stuff we came to expect under Jol, Harry and Poch.

It was the same with Santini and AVB - the playing styles were far from great, so it was less difficult to see them go. AVB was probably harshly treated, as the form then was much better than our form right now, but I'm not sure that many were that disappointed to see him go, in hindsight.

In truth, there have been issues since January 2019 - and we've been on the decline since that point. The last 10 months or so under Poch, CL aside, was not fun.

But you always felt it could return to something great. Under Jose, I can't see a positive, rosy future long-term. We just have to work out whether it's worth it to win a trophy at long last, or if we'd prefer to see more of the old Tottenham way.