The Clarets fell to a heavy defeat in North London yesterday.

Here's three things we learned...

Reinforcements in January are a must

Injuries are taking their toll on the squad at present but the problem goes back further than this current spell.

Recruitment over the last few windows hasn’t done enough to strengthen the squad at every level and that needs to be addressed next month.

We know the budget constraints that exist at Turf Moor – and I’m not advocating for throwing silly money at players – but the club need to be smart with how they recruit.

The arrival of Mike Rigg was meant to improve scouting and recruitment but if the Clarets don’t strengthen in key areas in January then there’s little point in him being in post. It’s an experiment which isn’t working so something needs to change.

Performance felt like déjà vu from last Christmas

Everyone knows how bad the Clarets were last season in the first half of the campaign with the tipping point the heavy defeat at home to Everton on Boxing Day.

Saturday’s performance at Spurs felt a lot like that game – there was a real lack of quality on display and a complete lack of spark.

Burnley recovered with a win over West Ham a couple of days later last year and need to do the same against Newcastle on Saturday.

What they definitely need to avoid is the poor run of this last week turning into a full on rut because the run of games over Christmas could really detail the season.

Burnley need to start playing smarter

Sean Dyche touched on it after the game but for the Son goal Burnley really need to be doing more to stop him.

There is no way on earth he should have been given the chance to run from the edge of his own box and score.

Lowton (twice), Brady, Tarkowski and Pieters all had a chance to halt the Korean but didn’t.

Of that quartet, only Lowton really has an excuse not to take one for the team because he’d already been booked but the rest really should have been committing what Dyche described as ‘technical foul’.

At 2-0 down there was the briefest glimmer of hope. At 3-0 down at that stage the game is lost.