Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes the players are to blame after coach Mauricio Pochettino was sacked six months after taking them to the Champions League final.
The Argentine and his backroom staff were relieved of their duties on Tuesday night, with chairman Daniel Levy labelling recent domestic results as "extremely disappointing".
Pochettino joined from Southampton in 2014 and delivered four top-four finishes across his five full seasons in charge.
But he loses his job with Tottenham 14th in the Premier League and having won only three of their opening league games - with Redknapp laying the blame at the feet of the players Pochettino leaves behind.
"When people talk about the players there all loving him - if they love him that much, maybe they should have started playing a bit better," he said.
"At the end of the day, they've got him the sack, the results have not been good enough. They've not performed well enough, that's why he's lost his job. That's what gets you sacked as a football manager.
"They've had one Champions League final, and if you look back at the run, really, everything went their way a little bit.
"But they've not won a trophy in five or six years with an incredible squad of players, full of internationals."
One of those players, Dele Alli, was quick to praise the work of Pochettino following his exit.
"I can't thank this man enough. He's taught me so much and I'm so grateful for everything he's done for me. Good luck and hope to see you again my friend," he wrote on Twitter.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust issued a statement following the 47-year-old's sacking, suggesting they felt he deserved more time to address the recent slide.
"We're shocked and saddened to hear our club has sacked Mauricio Pochettino and his coaching staff," their statement read.
"During his time at Spurs, Poch gave us many of our best moments as supporters, made Tottenham Hotspur a force to be reckoned with again, and forged a strong link with the fans. We will never forget the joy he brought us.
"Of course, results in the league have been disappointing for some time. But many fans thought Poch had earned the right to turn it around in the first sustained period of poor form we've had during his time at the club. We now have to look forward and take stock. But there are questions that must be asked of the board of THFC."
Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker was left questioning the decision and whether the club can now land a more capable replacement, with Jose Mourinho strongly linked with the job.
"Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked by @SpursOfficial. He helped the club to punch massively above their weight for years. Good luck with finding a better replacement ... ain't gonna happen," wrote Lineker.
Pochettino transformed the London club into title contenders in the Premier League and the Champions League but never managed to win a trophy.
Levy said the board was “extremely reluctant” to take the decision but was doing so “in the club's best interests”.
“It is not a decision the board has taken lightly, nor in haste,” Levy said. “Regrettably domestic results at the end of last season and beginning of this season have been extremely disappointing.
“It falls to the board to make the difficult decisions - this one made more so given the many memorable moments we have had with Mauricio and his coaching staff - but we do so in the club's best interests."
Pochettino, a former Argentina defender, took over a Tottenham team that was outside the established elite in 2014 and created one of the most dynamic and exciting young teams in recent Premier League history, despite being unable to spend lots of money in the transfer market as the club prepared to move into a new stadium.
After a fifth-place finish in his first season, Tottenham came third, second, third and fourth in his next four full seasons in charge. The intensity and energy of the team’s pressing made Spurs stand out under Pochettino, who became one of the most sought-after managers in the world.
The highlight of his tenure will be Tottenham’s run to the Champions League final, where they scraped through the group stage, before beating Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Ajax.
However, Pochettino suggested before the final that he would be ready to leave the club if Tottenham won in Madrid, and he has had a disgruntled air ever since. His squad has become fractured, too, with key players like Christian Eriksen and Toby Vertonghen reportedly keen to leave.
In the space of four days at the start of October, Tottenham lost 7-2 at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and then 3-0 at Brighton, piling the pressure on Pochettino. The previous week, the team were eliminated from the League Cup by fourth-tier Colchester.
Pochettino’s successor will have a tough act to follow, inheriting a squad potentially requiring a revamp and lacking in areas like full back and central midfield.
