As Cristian Romero made an early exit at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, I think most fans knew that his tears were for Argentina, not Spurs.
Adding to Tottenham's ridiculous injury list, Romero appeared distraught despite his team-mates' efforts to console him. This raw emotion was from a man who had just realised his World Cup dream might be over before the tournament has even kicked off, not one who is desperate to keep the club he captains in the Premier League.
Therein lies the issue at Spurs. There doesn't seem to be anyone taking responsibility for this relegation battle, nor is there any sense of panic about our plight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting it would be helpful for our players to run around in alarm. Clearly, they need calm heads. But where is the sense of urgency?
Instead, there is an ominous air of resignation in the Spurs camp. The fans are still giving it everything we have, including those who travelled to Sunderland in the fragile, and ultimately futile, hope that we might secure our first league win of 2026.
However, the stony expressions on the faces of our board members watching on told a different story. Their final, desperate gamble of appointing Roberto de Zerbi – a decision that has divided the fanbase for good reason – has started in the worst way possible.
Any dreams of this mythical "new manager bounce" were destroyed by a cruel deflection which led to the only goal of the game and yet another defeat. If De Zerbi was under any illusion about the desperation of this situation, the scale of his task was brought into sharp focus for him in his first match in charge.
Whichever league we end up in next season, there must be a full-scale review of the club over the summer, resulting in a change of leadership from top to bottom, on and off the pitch.
For now, if we have any chance of surviving the drop, these players need more than a big brother or a father figure. They need a miracle-worker.
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