Mauricio Pochettino was doomed at Tottenham the moment he guided them into last year’s Champions League final and that remarkable run to Madrid is also the reason Jose Mourinho has struggled as his replacement.

Last week’s Champions League thrashing by German upstarts RB Leipzig highlighted the gulf in quality for Tottenham as they start the Premier League suspension with little hope of qualifying for next season’s elite competition.

White Hart Lane legend David Ginola believes Tottenham were lucky in 2019 and need to start achieving domestic success before they can challenge the very best on a regular basis.

The 1999 Premier League Footballer of the Year claimed: ‘I think the worst-case scenario for Tottenham was to play in the Champions League final last year.

‘I mean, it was great for the fans, great for the club, great for everyone at the club, but it put them on a stage when they weren’t really there yet.

‘You think of other clubs who have been there year in year out in the last four years, then suddenly Tottenham come out and play in the final against Liverpool.

‘That makes you a team people are going to watch and come to expect great things from.

‘You can’t forget that over the last few years Tottenham have been struggling to get trophies and that was the problem for Pochettino.

‘It’s a shame because Pochettino did a great job but on the other hand because he wasn’t winning anything, people were complaining about that.

‘I mean, they were doing great, but on the other hand they weren’t winning anything! But you play in the final of the Champions League and all of a sudden if you start losing games people say ‘oh what’s going on, last year we played in the final of the Champions League, this year we’re going to struggle to finish in the top 10 teams.’

‘That’s the issue I think, they were too quick in getting to the final of the Champions League. You have to win things in your home country first before going abroad and winning trophies there.’

But Ginola told fans who have been chanting ‘You’re not special anymore’ should not be so harsh in Mourinho.

He added: ‘It’s all about expectation. In a few games last year, they were very lucky and reaching this sort of dream of playing in the final, for the fans, for the players, and for the club and everything.

‘They started this season thinking ‘this year we have to do better’.

‘Better is what? At least winning one trophy, at least a domestic cup or the league or something like that.

‘This is my philosophy of why it went wrong.

‘At the start of the season if you have one bad result it comes to your mind and people start thinking ‘what’s going on? We’re not playing the same way. Are the players concerned in the same way they were last year?’

Ginola now hopes the enforced break will give Mourinho time to get some key players fit again and build the club up to become challengers once more in the future.

He stated: ‘Spurs have everything: A fantastic stadium, modern training facilities and one of the best set of fans in the country. But now they need to assemble a team that’s consistent enough to be able to play at the top-level year in year out.’