Tottenham ace says Spurs haven’t yet solved a problem which has gone on over a year

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Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen has expressed his disappointment with Spurs conceding too many goals, admitting to The Express that it’s a problem that has been going on for far too long.

Spurs have conceded 39 goals in the Premier League this season, the joint highest in the top ten of the table along with Chelsea and Burnley, with 34 shipped in the 24 games overseen by Jose Mourinho in all competitions.

Tottenham failed to keep a clean sheet last time out too, conceding a soft goal to Norwich in the midweek FA Cup clash which ended up costing Spurs dear as they were taken to penalties and then knocked out of the competition.

Prior to that game, Spurs had lost 3-2 against Wolves, another five-goal match in the past few weeks along with the 3-2 wins over Southampton and Aston Villa.

“We want to do better – we are disappointed,” Vertonghen told The Express. “It is a fact that we don’t keep enough clean sheets, that we concede too many goals.

“It’s not just now, the last week – it’s since the start of the season, even more than a year ago that we started to concede too many goals. It is a problem we need to solve.”

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Vertonghen is right to be disappointed with how badly his side is doing at the back, but the fact that no solution has yet been found suggests things may get worse before they get better.

Mourinho has experimented with several defensive combinations since his Spurs arrival, with three at the back deployed on occasion, plus various centre-back combinations with Toby Alderweireld alongside Vertonghen, Japhet Tanganga or Davinson Sanchez.

However, nothing seems to have worked particularly well thus far, and players that were previously seen as defensive titans – Vertonghen and Alderweireld to name but two – simply don’t look like they can prevent Spurs from keeping opposition players and efforts at bay.

Is it simply a case of players losing form? Is age catching up with the previously indomitable Belgian duo? Or does the blame lay squarely at Mourinho’s feet, since he is the one responsible for tightening defences and having failed to do so thus far? Answers on a postcard.