It is not the end. It is a collapse. And now it is a stage that must be acknowledged. Tottenham Hotspur has completely fallen apart. Fans no longer mince words. "Kane and Son Heung-min were bigger than the club" has become reality.
Tottenham lost 0-1 to Sunderland in the 32nd round of the Premier League at Sunderland's Stadium of Light in England on the 13th (Korea time). With this defeat, they have gone 14 league matches without a win. It is effectively a declaration of collapse.
The problem is not just the result. The content of the game is more serious. The attack is listless, and the defense has collapsed. Above all, the driving core that could lift the team has completely disappeared.
Tottenham used to be different. They had the absolute axes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. The two were not just forwards. They were the team itself. Kane dropped deep to create play, and Son Heung-min destroyed space. The structure they produced was among the best in the league.
In decisive moments, the answer was always there. Kane's one strike, Son Heung-min's sprint. When the flow of the game was blocked, they overturned it with individual ability. That was Tottenham.
Now they are gone. That void was much larger than expected. After Kane left the structure collapsed, and after Son Heung-min left the identity itself disappeared.
Currently Tottenham's attack has no answer. Richarlison is the team's top scorer with nine league goals. But he is not the "decisive presence" that unsettles opponents. In fact, the reality is shown by defenders Romero and van de Ven being tied for second with four goals.
The pattern is simple. Wing crosses, repetition, failure. There is no creativity. The opponent feels no threat at all. The consolidation that Kane used to provide and the space-destroying that Son Heung-min used to provide are gone.
The defense has also collapsed. Conceding goals has become the norm. They wobble every game, and concentration does not hold. It is the typical appearance of a lower-table team with both attack and defense broken.
In the end the fans exploded. After the game, anger poured out on social media. Reactions continued: "You can't even blame the manager now," "The players are the problem," and "We will be relegated." And one decisive sentence. The phrase "Kane and Son Heung-min were bigger than the club" explains everything.
In the past, the two players who were genuine Premier League legends, Kane and Son Heung-min, lifted the team. Now it is the opposite. The team is collapsing on its own. Nobody can change the course.
There is no leader. At moments of crisis there is no center to bind the team together. There is neither Kane nor Son Heung-min. And that void has still not been filled. The appointment of coach De Zerbi also did not provide an answer. There are tactics, but no players to execute them. There is direction, but no center.
Ultimately the essence is simple. Tottenham is not the team it was when Kane and Son Heung-min were here. And now they are paying the price for that.
The fall continues. And now, there seems to be no way to stop it.
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