A Tale of 2 Parts: Welcome to the Big Stage Ryan Mason

Article by Gordon Grech

It really was a game of 2 parts at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night. The first 60 minutes were dour, little created by either Spurs or Forest until, out of nothing, Grant found himself free in the Spurs box and put Forest 1-nil up. You could hear (despite the noise coming from the away fans) the collective groan as the White Hart Lane faithful sighed “here we go again!”

From the Grant goal onwards though an otherwise dour affair sprung to life. Spurs, facing the prospect of being embarrassingly eliminated by a competition underdog, rallied. Pochettino, having seen enough of the little impact his team was having made 2 bold, but ultimately inspired changes.

The first was Harry Kane on for Paulinho. Paulinho, (otherwise known as the Ghost, because you can see him but still pass right through him) had minimal influence on the first 60 minutes. Whilst he seemed to bob up in the box from time to time, there was no link between the forwards and the midfield, with Bentaleb and Stambouli constantly having to run to the box in order to play a pass. The result was congestion which played into Forest’s hands, stifling any real forward threat. Kane, in comparison to Paulinho, was a mobile tall target who was a threat both in the air and with the ball at his feet. He is a smart footballer, gets into good positions and is developing poise and assurance that he belongs at this level. His movement created space, encouraging Townsend and Naughton in particular to head to the by-line and pump crosses into the box.

The second Pochettino masterstroke was the introduction of Ryan Mason. Mason, a 23 year old midfielder who has spent more time on loan away from the club than actually in it, impressed pre-season, but there was still some disbelief that Pochettino has made this change. Firstly, Stambouli was having a fairly decent game and secondly, surely you would bring on Eriksen or Lamela to win the game. The decision proved decisive with Mason showing why the club have put in so much time and effort with him. He immediately got involved; shooting passes right and left, releasing both Townsend and Lennon, stretching the previously compact Forest defence. He was involved in everything and suddenly pedestrian, ponderous Spurs looked both lively and likely.

Mason’s goal was a superbly taken shot from outside the box. Having created space in the middle through his passing, he received the ball back from Davies, took a touch and beautifully slotted it between the keeper and the near post, enough, pace, dip and swerve to beat the keeper – the way in which he took his time, created space and executed the shot should be shown time and time again to Townsend.

From the time that the equaliser occurred, you knew Spurs had their tails up and that a second was likely and so it came from the boot of Soldado, when he turned another Townsend speculative effort past the Forest keeper and into the net. By the time Lamela was introduced to play a sublime pass through to Kane to make the game safe Spurs were playing with the tempo and zest fans have come to expect.

To me the game displayed clearly that there are some players at Spurs who don’t fit the Pochettino way. The Ghost (Paulinho) is clearly one. Equally though it showed that Spurs have emerging players in Kane and Mason who do fit Pochettino’s game plan and I would expect that they will, as the season progresses, play an even bigger part in games. Who knows, Pochettino could even spring a surprise and hand Kane a start in the North London Derby.

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