Tottenham Hotspur must sign 'special player' to spark Champions League charge says Glenn Hoddle

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Glenn Hoddle says chairman Daniel Levy must bow to Mauricio Pochettino's demands to sign new players in the January transfer window or risk failure in the club's challenge to qualify for the Champions League.

Spurs are 10<sup>th in the Premier league, six points adrift of the Premier League top four after just 15 games, with the club having suffered four home defeats already this term.

Pochettino has failed to inspire consistent performances from many of the players he inherited at White Hart Lane, with Erik Lamela and Emmanuel Adebayor among those to have failed to recapture their best form for Tottenham.

And Hoddle believes, with the Argentine manager likely to want fresh resources in the new year, Tottenham are still short of a "special player" to inspire their European charge.

"He [Pochettino] may want to bring in some fresh people," he said. "Whether Daniel [Levy, the chairman] is going to be up for that remains to be seen.

"It is very difficult nowadays. There is a lack of world-class strikers and midfield players which control the game, express themselves and that is what I think they miss. They have some good players but they don't have a special player."

Though Tottenham have qualified for the knockout stage of the Europa League, Pochettino continues to be hamstrung by the poor showings of many of the players signed following the sale of Gareth Bale.

Vlad Chiriches, Roberto Soldado and Paulinho are among the players who continue to flatter to deceive in north London but Hoddle is optimistic Pochettino can galvanise improved performances.

"There's a lot of talent there and the manager will try and get the best out of the talent there," the 57 year old added.

"He's tinkered with it [the style of play]. I saw them at home to Everton, they were very positive. At Southampton he wanted a tempo and he got it.

"The personnel at Tottenham are different - they won't press as hard. It is something they have worked on at Spurs and something they will try and improve on.

"They have got to put a really good run together but if you win two or three games in this league it can turn around. The strikers have to start scoring goals. I think then the team can feed off that."