"They need four or five players" - Jamie Carragher believes Tottenham are a long away from Premier League title challenge

Jose Mourinho

Jamie Carragher does not believe Tottenham will be in a position to challenge for the Premier League title any time soon.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat by leaders Liverpool leaves Spurs nine points adrift of the top four and 31 behind top spot.

Tottenham finished third and second under Mauricio Pochettino, but Carragher believes there is plenty of work to do before the north Londoners can mount another title tilt.

"Tottenham were a team that pressed from the front with energy, who played from the back," the former Liverpool defender told Sky Sports.

"Those two big things from the Pochettino era are gone now with Jose Mourinho. They don't press from the front, and when they play out from the back they don't have any idea what they are actually doing. They just go back to the goalkeeper and he smashes it forward.

"I said that this Tottenham team was gone. It was the end of a cycle with Pochettino, either the players have got to go or Pochettino has got to go. Pochettino went. We know why: because it's easier to change one man than seven or eight.

"But Pochettino was one or two players away from winning the league. I think Jose Mourinho, the team he's got now, if he's wanting to play the way he's wanting to play - which is not the way these players are used to playing - he needs four or five players just to get back to where Pochettino team was, never mind actually getting to where Tottenham actually want to get: Champions League finals and challenging for the title.

"I think they're a long away, and I think there will have to be major changes in the summer."

Mourinho's side will be looking to climb up the table and close the gap separating them from fourth-placed Chelsea when they face in-form Watford next weekend.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).