Tottenham consider sacking Cristian Stellini after Newcastle humiliation

Tottenham are considering whether to sack the caretaker manager, Cristian Stellini, in the wake of Sunday’s 6-1 humiliation at Newcastle amid fears he will not be able to raise the players for the challenges ahead.

The obvious stand-in for Stellini until the end of the season would be his assistant, Ryan Mason, who was passed over for the interim position after the club dismissed Antonio Conte on 26 March. Mason was in caretaker charge for the final weeks of the 2020-21 season after the sacking of José Mourinho, winning four of six Premier League games.

Daniel Levy, the chairman, needs to get the next permanent managerial appointment right and he hopes to be able to persuade Julian Nagelsmann to accept the post in the summer. Nagelsmann, sacked by Bayern Munich on 24 March, pulled out of the running to take over at Chelsea last Friday; the west London club are primed to hire Mauricio Pochettino, a former Spurs manager.

Levy has made no move to go back to Pochettino despite the obvious attraction of him, especially his popularity with the fans, who have sung his name at recent matches. It has led to the feeling that Levy has somebody lined up for the end of the season. Luis Enrique, the former Barcelona and Spain manager, is another option.

The immediate priority is to stabilise after the Newcastle defeat when the team were 5-0 down after 21 minutes, bankrupt on every level. Stellini had started with a new-look 4-3-3 formation which he ditched in the 23rd minute, bringing on a third centre-half, Davinson Sánchez, for the midfielder Pape Sarr.

What was most galling for supporters who made the 10-hour round trip to Newcastle was the lack of heart in the performance, the feeling that hardly any of the players were really