Tottenham fell to a shock defeat to Watford at the weekend, losing 2-1 at Vicarage Road having led the game initially through an Abdoulaye Doucoure own goal.
On Sky Sports show The Debate on Monday Craig Bellamy and Paul Merson debated as to the reasons behind the loss.
When asked his opinion on why Spurs lost the game former Arsenal player Merson spouted some cliches, in amongst admitting that he is 'scratching his head' when it comes to their form:
I didn't think it was down to fitness, I think it's down to the mentality of the team. There's something missing, I don't know what it is, but they're not winning anything. This is such a good team. The manager must scratch his head.
[Pochettino] should be angry. If you want to win this league you have to have consistency and you have to churn out results. You are not going to have the rub of the green like the in the Manchester United game when United could have had a penalty. You've got to grind it out.
Every week you've got to turn up. That's what I'm left scratching my head about with Tottenham. It really does my head in with Tottenham.
Bellamy then made a salient point about the squad's potential fatigue issues following the World Cup, and proffered the fact that many of Mauricio Pochettino's players have not had a full preseason, and indeed only two weeks of holiday:
They've got nine points out of the last four, okay they are very disappointed to lose (against Watford).
What do you expect from this team at present? They had nine Premier League players in the World Cup semi-final! They've had no preseason, they've gone straight into games so we're looking at this saying 'how dare you not be fit'. They're not going to be on form at this present moment!
Harry Kane's not the same at the moment, Dele Alli is nowhere near it, Eriksen's nowhere near it. You look at Dembele, he tired massively. These are all players who had no time off.
When these points were put to Merson he hummed and hawed, but still maintained that it wasn't fitness, though he didn't offer up any other plausible reason.
Bellamy then hammered home his point about fatigue, reasoning that there is no way these players are in top condition, before Merson bizarrely tried to flip the spotlight on Bellamy:
PM: I think this is where it all gets carried away in football. They'll be listening to this and they'll be going 'you know what, we are a bit tired'... that's rubbish. What about all the other players that have come back from the World Cup?
CB: Who's doing well then?
PM: Hazard.
CB: Did he start the first game of the season? These boys did.
Merson remained adamant that tiredness was not an issue, claiming 'I can't buy into this tiredness stuff!'.
Bellamy tried one final time to win Merson around, pointing to Lucas Moura as Tottenham's best player against Man United, a man that was sat at home while his team mates were in Russia, but it was no use as the pundit was left floundering against Bellamy's reasonable argument, at loathe to admit even slightly that fatigue may be a factor for Spurs after a gruelling summer of World Cup action. His pig headedness was almost admirable. Almost.
