Tottenham are in crisis and facing the real possibility of relegation after they crumbled to a shocking 3-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace, following Micky van de Ven's sending off.
Igor Tudor is just 21 days into the job but looks to have no solution.
Spurs - last relegated from the top flight in 1977 - are just one point above the drop zone and it's Liverpool at Anfield next in the Premier League. But every game now looks enormously difficult for a Spurs side on a club-record 11 league games without a win.
They blew the chance for a victory in this derby spectacularly. Archie Gray's exquisite footwork to tee up Dominic Solanke was a brief moment of hope for the home fans.
That opener came just moments after Palace had seen Ismaila Sarr's deflected strike ruled out for an offside check which appeared to judge his face ahead of play. But the real swing in momentum came when Sarr got in behind the Spurs defence again and Van de Ven tugged him back.
Penalty. Red card. A second Spurs captain in five games heading for the tunnel before half-time. Sarr coolly rolled in the spot-kick and it cued a Spurs collapse.
The difference in intensity between the two teams was laid out for Palace's second, with Evann Guessand beating Pape Sarr to Mathys Tel's poor pass before Adam Wharton glided in to feed Jorgen Strand Larsen. The England playmaker had time and space to find Sarr for a third before the break, sparking a mass exodus from the home sections.
Guglielmo Vicario - who had allowed Strand Larsen's shot to go through his legs and Sarr to lift the third over him - was booed by his own fans who had stayed. And not for the first time this season.
Spurs' players at least showed some fight in the second half to limit the damage - but they looked out on their feet, down to 10, ravaged by injuries and with confidence on the floor.
Next comes a brutal and defining run of games through Tuesday-Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday, including a relegation six-pointer with Nottingham Forest and Champions League ties away and then home to Atletico Madrid, around that trip to Liverpool.
They must somehow find something from somewhere or it could be Championship football in this billion-pound stadium next season.
Speaking after the game, Tudor insisted he saw enough to increase his belief that Spurs will avoid the drop.
"I understand the fans, they wanted more," the Croat said after a third straight loss since taking charge. "We also wanted more. The red card changed everything.
"It might sound strange, I believe more after this game than I believed before.
"I saw something. I need to choose the right guys because the boat is going in the direction that I need to go, and who is in the boat can stay, otherwise [they] can leave the boat.
"When the other players come back, I'm sure we'll have a good team and come back. It's not easy to accept the moment we are in now."
Meanwhile, Palace boss Oliver Glasner said he was pleased with his side's progress after a second successive win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
"We had more time in the last weeks to train again, integrate the new players," he said.
"We can see the new players are knowing the way we want to play better and better.
"It's not my right to talk about Spurs. I talk about Crystal Palace.
"I remember we lost 3-1 here. And we had no chance to win this game. They were so much better and when I see the last two games we've won here, I think we were better than we were and that's the development of Crystal Palace, and that's what I'm looking at."
