Red Star visit now crucial for Spurs

Tottenham were held to a draw by rock-bottom Watford over the weekend now need a response in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Spurs should really expect to beat Crvena Zvezda, aka Red Star Belgrade, relatively comfortably but all bets are off after their sluggish start to the campaign.
The North Londoners needed a controversial late Dele Alli strike to avoid becoming the first team to lose to Watford in the Premier League this season at home at the weekend, and their European campaign isn’t going to plan either.
 
Last season’s beaten finalists were pegged back by Olympiacos in Greece in their Champions league opener and then slipped to a chastening 7-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the last round of fixtures.
The Premier League club are bottom of Group B going into the midweek matches and a defeat could end their European hopes before they have even begun, as they would be five points off Red Star and potentially nine behind Bayern with just three games remaining.
Spurs have managed just three wins in nine attempts in the Premier League but their position isn’t actually that bad despite the fact they’ve managed just 12 points from eight games so far.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men are seventh and only five points adrift of a top four spot, but the body blow of seeing their Champions League hopes all but evaporate after just three games could be too big of a hit to recover from for this side clearly low on confidence.
Striker Harry Kane, the stand-in skipper in the absence of injured keeper Hugo Lloris, has admitted Spurs are going through their toughest period since he forced his way into the side over five years ago.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino has conceded he is under pressure, despite the success he has enjoyed in his five years in charge and some have suggested the Argentine coach has taken the team as far as he can.
There has been speculation over the futures of a number of first-team players, particularly Christian Eriksen but Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Victor Wanyama have also been linked with moves, and there have been claims of dressing room unrest.
All of the pressure, the speculation and the analysis is starting to build and now Spurs desperately need to get their Champions League campaign on track to ease all of that.
A loss to Red Star would perhaps be terminal to their European hopes but a win would put them right back in the mix, and with tough trips to Liverpool and Everton, as well as the reverse fixture in Serbia, on the horizon this home game against the Serbian champions has an added significance as Tottenham bid to recover from their poor start.