Tottenham's January transfer business, or lack of it, meant Antonio Conte struggled to make the relevant changes he needed to in Tottenham's defeat against Burnley on Wednesday night.
Spurs travelled to Turf Moor on the back of a thrilling 3-2 victory over Man City but in the wet and windy conditions, they failed to recover after conceding the only goal of the game, which was scored by Ben Mee in the 71st minute.
The defeat keeps the Lilywhites eighth in the Premier League table but leaves them still seven points adrift of Manchester United in the coveted fourth position.
In his post-match press conference, Conte was very emotional and rather than give an analysis of the match itself, he gave his thoughts on Tottenham's current, overall situation.
"I don’t want to comment on the game," he explained. "I want to comment only on the situation.
"In the last five games, we lost four times. This is the reality. Not performance, not space no space.
"The reality is this. That we lost four games of the last five. No one deserves this type of situation – the club, me, the payers and fans, but this is the reality," the Italian added.
After losing to Southampton and Wolves at home, Spurs travelled to the Etihad and produced a solid performance and showed fight to score the winning goal in the 95th minute.
Tottenham didn't dominate statistically, with Pep Guardiola's side controlling 71 per cent possession and having 21 shots, but it was the Lilywhites who made more of their chances count and secured the three points.
It was always going to be tough to beat City, especially for a second time in one season, after Tottenham's 1-0 win in the opening game of the campaign.
However, Conte's side managed to do just that and it would have given them some momentum to try and keep that consistency when they travelled to Turf Moor, which the 52-year-old mentioned in his pre-match press conference.
"The consistency is fundamental for the team, and it can be very important for us, the game against City, because in this game we have worked very hard" he admitted.
"The whole team with the ball, and without the ball because you can see that the team is involved totally. At the same time we showed solidity because we defended very well with the whole team."
Guardiola's side are top of the table for a reason and play some quality football, which includes a high line, plenty of pressing and a lot of possession.
Tottenham have been able to overcome that and deal with it twice this season, leading to a haul of six points from the two matches between the sides this season.
Sean Dyche's side set up differently to City, playing a 4-4-2 formation, with a deeper line and play long balls to try and get down the field.
Coming up against different opposition that set-up in a different way should've sparked a difference in Conte's tactics to but it didn't, which may not have been entirely through choice.
There is an argument for the fact that Spurs have struggled for years to break teams down who do play a deeper line and you can't expect to play every opposition the same way and get three points from every fixture.
In the 52-year-old's 3-4-3 system, the wing-backs play a vital role and since his arrival, fans have seen that the wing-backs Tottenham currently employ haven't been able to make the impact required.
This was reiterated on Wednesday night as Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal were the two players given the nod, but were also two of the three players taken off during the course of the game.
However, this also comes down to the decisions that were made during the January transfer window.
A right wing-back is one position that Conte had asked for an upgrade in during the winter window and that wasn't delivered.
Spurs sent four first team players out of the capital and brought just two in, leaving them short numerically.
Conte is a top manager and his CV speaks for itself, so to question his tactics may seem strange, with him finding success with his same system at Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan.
Therefore, you have to look elsewhere as to why a Tottenham team in a 3-4-3 set-up can produce a solid display against the league leaders but lose against Southampton, Wolves and Burnley either side of it.
This then brings you back to the players on the pitch and the performances they are producing.
Conte's post-match press conference was an emotional one and football.london understands that privately the Spurs boss has felt let down by some of his players' performances, including on Wednesday.
A number of the players seem to be struggling to gel on the field, but if they don't all have the quality required, there will be inevitable struggles.
It is a vicious cycle as if upgrades are needed in certain areas of the pitch, this then falls to those above who do the business during the transfer window. If they are unable or unwilling to bring in the required players, then the bad results continue and so does the cycle.
Another issue for Tottenham this season in particular has been the lack of quality in the depth of the squad, given the injuries they have had to deal with.
Changes to tactics and rotating players can only be done if you have the quality players to do so and Conte has previously stated that he wants two players for every position but has struggled to find a supporting cast as good as the first choices.
The difficult situation is that the squad Conte has can't now change until the summer, which means he has to deal with the group of players he has until the end of the season.
That is why the summer transfer window could prove to be a pivotal moment for the north London club.
Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici must back the Italian in the transfer market to ensure Tottenham have the much needed rebuild they require in order to find any level of success.
