"Ashamed," was the word used by Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas after his side's crushing 6-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, and few could disagree. From start to finish, the title outsiders proved why they won't come close to challenging for league honours this season, a worrying conclusion to what had been a very encouraging opening few months for the club. Before the game the team had one of the best defensive records in the league, conceding just six goals, and they duly doubled that tally in a result that was their heaviest defeat in the league since 1996. Just 14 seconds into the game at the Etihad and the tone was set, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris messing up a clearance that fell straight to Sergio Aguero, whose shot was saved by the Spurs keeper, but was then followed up by Jesus Navas who fired home the opener. Five goals followed, with Navas ending the scoring as he had started it, and Spurs dropped to ninth place in the table, eight point behind bitter rivals and league leaders Arsenal. So after an ambiguous start to the league season, where does AVB take Spurs from here? This is a club who before Sunday really only had their defensive prowess to call upon when describing their strengths, and one whose lack of scoring was only beaten by two teams, Crystal Palace and Sunderland, who occupy two places in the relegation zone. These teams have scored just seven and eight goals respectively whilst Spurs have nine in their 12 games this season. These are of course just statistics, and are made to look ridiculous when you see that Spurs had more possession and 13 shots on goal to City's 15, but they are quite vital when considering the scoreline. These are put into perspective when you see that Aguero, who scored twice on Sunday, has scored 10 on his own already this season. Spurs fans immediately took to Twitter and other social networks in the aftermath of the game, launching a tirade of abuse on the Spurs manager, believing him to be at fault for the club's ills this season. There were also calls for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to sack the Portuguese coach sooner rather than later, and start afresh with a new man at the helm. Whilst the fury vented by the fans is understandable after such a dreadful performance, is sacking the man that has taken them so far really the answer to Spurs' problems? Before the weekend, all that was needed at Spurs was to score goals, something that should happen in time when Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen start clicking. Replacing Gareth Bale was always going to be tough assignment, and the general consensus amongst Spurs fans was that they couldn't have wished for a better summer, even taking into consideration the sale of Bale. Football fans are a bitter bunch though, and now the fans are lambasting him for buying the wrong players. Whilst it is true that the new players have not settled as well as they would have hoped, it still doesn't mean they are wrong for the club. Indeed, there was a time when having Bale in the Spurs squad playing at left back meant instant defeat for the club, and look where he is now. Lamela was the direct replacement for Bale in the summer, with the Argentine having a wonderful season with Roma last season, scoring 15 goals in 33 appearances for the Serie A giants. In the season before that however, whilst still adjusting to life in Italy, Lamela scored just four goals all season, meaning there is a big chance he will come good once he finds his feet at Spurs. It may be hard to believe, but Spurs have had more shots on goal this season than any other team, with an average of 18.3 shots per game, the problem has been in taking those chances. Soldado has only scored four goals this season, and three of them have been from the penalty spot, but the lack of creativity in what should be a very inventive midfield have negated the Spaniard's scoring chances. Once Eriksen is back from his short spell on the sidelines, things will improve the longer he gets the chance to play with Soldado, who is very dangerous when finishing off attacks, especially in the penalty area. At present, Eriksen has played the sixth most key passes in the league, with an average of 2.6 per game, and that's pretty good considering out of 12 league games he has only started five of them, but Spurs have so far come unstuck in the final third. Against Newcastle United they came up against a master class in goalkeeping from Tim Krul, who was forced to make an astonishing 14 saves as opposed to Spurs keeper Brad Friedel's three. Can all the blame for Spurs' lack of goals be put down solely to AVB? Probably not, but when you think about Soldado's backup in Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, you do wonder why he didn't strengthen the front line, especially with his obvious distrust for the latter two. He can hardly be said to have been leaking goals either aside from the City thrashing, and a combination of a lack of scoring goals and a recent habit of conceding them have led to a lot of worried Spurs fans who were confident of a solid season for the club. Their last two games have ended in defeat, and with their next game coming against champions Manchester United at White Hart Lane, fans feel that enough is enough. My question is what is the point of sacking a man who has obviously had a plan of action after selling Bale but hasn't quite made it yet? The former Porto boss was in the same position at Chelsea when the fans were heavily in favour of his departure despite his best efforts to reinvent what is still an ageing and not very effective force even in Jose Mourinho's capable hands. The 36-year-old has proved his ability to succeed at Porto, where he went unbeaten in the league before winning the Europa League a year later. Such success was good enough for Mourinho to survive at foreign club, why not then for AVB? His reputation was no doubt tainted by his failure at Chelsea, but in a sense, the Blues failed him, with their promised desire for change quickly dispelled by the more senior players in the squad, some of whom were older than AVB was. If Spurs continue to perform badly over the next couple of weeks, AVB's job will certainly be called into question, and he is in danger of being failed by a club once more. Whilst he is not blameless, he is still the man that can take them to the next level, with pundits and fans considering the club as title challengers before the game on Sunday. Such talk hasn't been heard at White Hart Lane since the 80's. Who could Spurs bring in to do a better job at the moment than AVB? He has to be the man to take them forward, and he will show that when his cluster of summer signings start proving their worth. The fans will just have to sit it out, as will the man himself, who will no doubt be under all sorts of pressure if they lose heavily to United next week. Consistency is key, a word Spurs fans have become disenchanted with over the last few years, with 15 managers in the same time Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal, and the club could learn a great deal from their north London rivals. All AVB needs is time, then and only then can he be judged on what he has done with the club. If Levy can hold fire for the next couple of months, he is sure to reap the benefits in the long run. Do you think AVB will be sacked? Is he the man to take Spurs forward? Tell us what you think!