Tottenham's Champions League exit: Trophy drought goes on as Antonio Conte and Harry Kane futures are questioned
The wait for Tottenham fans will now stretch into a 16th year. It's nearly 5,500 days and counting…
Spurs' search for a major trophy continues - they won the League Cup in 2008 - and after exiting the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage at Championship side Sheffield United earlier this month, they are now out of the Champions League thanks to a tame 1-0 aggregate defeat to AC Milan on Wednesday night.
With Spurs 18 points behind north London rivals and Premier League table-toppers Arsenal, and only 12 top-flight matches still to play, another trophy-less season beckons.
Conte bemoans attacking woes after third successive shutout
Speaking after the home draw against Milan in which Spurs managed just two shots on target, Antonio Conte admitted his side had to improve in attack.
The north Londoners have now failed to score in three successive games in all competitions, and the manager said: "The game was in the balance but if you ask me if we were really dangerous… no. We can do much better offensively - I speak about the whole team."
Conte also highlighted Spurs' injury list - they are without Hugo Lloris, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Ryan Sessegnon - as well as the fact that his side are no longer competing in the third tier of European competition as mitigating factors for their disappointing exit.
"Everybody wanted to try to go to the next round," he said. "Maybe in the first game we lost a good chance because Milan was without important players. In this game, Milan recovered all the players. We continue to face many games with many injuries.
"But I can't say anything negative for the commitment of the players because they gave everything from the start until the end.
"If I have to see a positive in the situation, compared to last season we did a little step forward, because last season we played Conference League and we weren't able to overcome the group stage. Now we did a step forward but for sure it's not enough and if you want to be competitive you have to fight."
That final comment may raise eyebrows with Spurs supporters given how little fight their side displayed against Milan. The hosts knew they needed to win the game by two or more goals to progress to the quarter-finals but ended the game with zero big chances created and an expected goals total of just 0.46.
Will Tottenham stick with Conte?
Tottenham have a decision to make: stick or twist with Antonio Conte?
But this question is not aimed at what they do in the summer, it is about what they do right now, despite the Italian saying after their Champions League exit that "this is not the right day to speak about my future."
Conte has 12 games left before his contract expires and while Spurs will not win a trophy this season, they are firmly in the hunt for a top-four finish.
But having now fired blanks in their last three matches and been dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United, Spurs are heading in the opposite direction while their nearest top-four rivals Liverpool are improving.
Conte's recent absence from the touchline as he recovered from surgery wouldn't have helped, although Tottenham were still delivering inconsistent performances during that time before it all unravelled against AC Milan.
If Spurs swing the axe now, their new head coach will have time to assess the squad ahead of the summer and a full pre-season. But there is a top-four place up for grabs and a Conte departure could cause more harm than good.
Then there is the question of who could Spurs get in at such short notice to lead their push for Champions League qualification. Mauricio Pochettino is available…
Romero lets Spurs down in biggest moment
As soon as Cristian Romero decided he could beat Theo Hernandez to the ball, with the AC Milan left wing-back flying down the touchline directly in front of the managers, the red card was inevitable.
Romero is not a player that shirks a challenge. In fact, he relishes them, like a striker treasures scoring goals. But he has developed a bad habit for making tackles he doesn't need to commit to and it cost Tottenham dearly on Wednesday.
The Argentinian World Cup winner was never going to win the bouncing ball in front of the quicker Hernandez, who touched it beyond Romero before going down under the weight of his full-blooded challenge.
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Romero's red card came after 78 minutes of dreadful football from Spurs but they were playing an average side in Milan and had just over 10 minutes to finally take off the handbrake and try to level the tie on aggregate.
But the centre-back's dismissal undermined those prospects, with Conte deciding he had to bring Davinson Sanchez on for Dejan Kulusevski to fill the hole left by Romero as Spurs' Champions League campaign fizzled out in desperate fashion.
Romero's aggressiveness is one of his key strengths - he is capable of bullying attackers out of a game - but in allowing that aggression to spill over to unacceptable levels, he let his side down in their biggest game of the season.
Rose: Kane deserves so much more
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Former Spurs defender Danny Rose admitted Harry Kane, the club's record goalscorer, "deserves so much more" than he has achieved during his time in north London.
For all his individual honours, Kane has never won a team trophy, and his former team-mate Rose told Sky Sports: "I haven't spoken to him for a while so I am only speculating but for me, it's obvious where his mindset would be right now and for the remaining two or three months of the season.
"He deserves so much more than what is being given to him over the years.
"If he does leave, I hope he doesn't leave England and if he does leave, I hope he goes onto win everything possible before he retires because that is what he deserves."
Rose added: "People talk about Spurs having the best stadium. You can have the best house but if the furniture is not the best inside, it's irrelevant.
"Everybody has got to be held accountable. Daniel Levy has said about the signings not being great and that is bizarre because I'm sure I said something like that six years ago and got fined two weeks' wages.
"Everybody needs to take some blame and it will be interesting to see where they go from here until the end of the season."
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Rose said he believes Conte's failure to commit to a new contract with Spurs suggests the former Chelsea boss will not be in charge next season, saying: "What is being served up week in, week out at the football club is not good at all.
"I don't see Antonio Conte wanting to manage in the Europa League if Spurs fail to finish in the top four.
"If they do manage to qualify for next season's Champions League, which I don't see them doing because I see Liverpool catching them, Conte's going to want quite a bit of money to spend for him to go again and improve the squad in the summer.
"You hear discrete things throughout his press conferences. He references a lack of money and needing more to compete. He also said last season was a miracle qualifying for the Champions League and I'm not sure that goes down well with the fans and the hierarchy at the club.
"Also, if a manager has not signed a new deal two months before the end of the season I think that says everything.
"I don't know how much there is at his disposal and then what about if he loses Harry Kane? Tottenham without Kane is not the same Tottenham at all.
"If Kane were to leave that's not an easy decision for any manager to come to Tottenham. There's just so much work to be done at Spurs and so many questions that need answering."
