When?

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You define your experience, any experience, by what you get out of it and in the case of Tottenham Hotspur I'm getting absolutely nothing. The football we're playing is turgid. Yes, this is a consequence of what came before. The dismantlement of momentum by virtue of football management that is in synch with the club's business model rather than appreciating the importance of a strong spine and statements of intent. A disjointed structure that is meant to support but ends up destroying is as worthy of a tag-line as the ones on display at White Hart Lane that have been lost in memory.

It doesn't work and because of how close we came to seeing a Spurs side truly contend we have also invested far too much expectancy in what we want to see from our team. Which is why after the last debacle or two I stated I simply want us to reclaim some pride, some self-respect and start entertaining again, just so that I can associate myself with that unrivalled joy you get as a supporter when you see your team win and win with style. They can't even muster that with even a pretence of consistency.

I know I've repeated myself countless times that we need time and patience. That (our coach) inheriting a mess with players that should have never been signed is hardly the starting point you'd desire. However, I've slowly started shifting towards a middle ground. I citied the fact earlier in the week that if Tim Sherwood can get the same group of players resembling a unit with semi-functioning capabilities, then how difficult is it to hope for the same application here and now?

Is it the tactics? Is is the erratic selections? Is it the stubbornness to one's personal ethics or the realisation that no matter the instructions our not so carefully assembled squad is a shambles?

Why doesn't Pochettino attempt to salvage some confidence and drive by appeasing the basics, the fundamentals, and get this team playing with some zest, urgency and forward thinking that doesn't require anything more than blood and thunder. I'm not suddenly going to knee-jerk and dismiss the fact that we have managed to de-construct what we had from a tower reaching out to the heavens, brick by brick lost, all the way back down to its foundations. I'm not suggesting that Pochettino is yet another victim of this cycle of self-fulfilling prophecy that sees our hopes raised then lost at the first sign of struggle. I'm just asking for a little graft from all involved.

Daniel Levy, considering how the last three appointments ended, must appreciate the delicate nature of this potential crisis. The easy option would be sack Pochettino but then how could he possibly do so when he handed the Argentine a contract because of the circumstance he created in the first place?

"Here's something I botched up again, please fix it, but do so quickly otherwise I'll need to fix this too because this will also be another botched up mess"

Time, patience; I'm still backing these romanticised notions of faith. But I'm sick of having to continuously cite the politics of the club rather than focus on the football itself. It's because it's nigh impossible to detach one from the other. If we want to wake up from this narcoleptic slumber then you have to open your eyes, take your medication and embrace the lucidity of real life.

The attitude of the players, the lack of concentrated effort and focus with even something as basic as passing the ball...it was pathetic. We wanted our Tottenham back and got 1990s Tottenham. We didn't need a time machine, just 100 million quid and the type of naivety more accustomed to amateurs rather than professionals. This is like Dr Evil planning to take over the world and buying an army made up of Little Ponys and Care Bears. I don't want to hug or cuddle any of them, just strangle them all within an inch of their life.

When I said (at the start of 2014/15) that I decided to write this season off in-order to give Pochettino the season to work at fixing it, I should have mentioned the small print that states we need to be working towards it rather than walking away from it.

So the question is now...when exactly can I knee-jerk? At what point do we demand the shirts off the backs of the players? Another three games of despondent football? Five games? When does Pochettino become completely accountable or is the disease within THFC festering so deep, so ugly, that there is no way to remove it without cutting it out, losing a ton of blood and then spending an age recovering from what is a self-inflicted infection.

We don't need a surgeon. We need Jack the ****ing Ripper.