Tottenham’s season to date has been in stark contrast to the fluid, cohesive, direct and sometimes kamikaze press and counter we witnessed last year. This year has been measured, boring at times, but it feels like we are controlling games suffocating them slowly as opposed to snapping necks.
Article by James Malcolm
It feels like the club has evolved. We haven’t been at full stride, more of a saunter, then a trot, not yet at full steam. Yet, we have only lost 1 game out of 6 league and 2 Champs league games. Have we got lucky or has something changed? I’m leaning towards the latter here’s why…
The team has matured tactically, driven by Pochettino’s growth as a manager and the enhanced depth of the squad which has given us tactical flexibility. We have played a combination of formations from Poch’s go to 4-2-3-1, a 4-4-2 and more recently the 4-1-4-1 employed to good effect against Middlesbrough and ze Russians last night.
Nkoudou is lightning in a bottle and was impressive in his cameo last night. He is a genuine winger who won’t always be looking to cut inside and shoot. Janssen’s hold up play is fantastic, he is so strong and a genuine target man. Having these two in the team gives us something different, a genuine plan B as opposed to the predictable 4-2-3-1, where attackers stay narrow and fullbacks overlap tactic, favoured by Poch.
We now have a genuine squad. The gulf in quality between our starting 11 and bench last year was night and day. This season the gap is less noticeable, we have 2 quality players in every position, creating healthy competitive tension throughout the squad. This gives me hope that will not do a Nazi Germany and be overrun fighting on two fronts.
Most importantly, we are hard to beat even when we aren’t playing well. Our attack has been pretty disjointed. With the exception of Sonny there is no attacker in our side who has hit top form yet. We have been winning because our defence is unflappable. We haven’t conceded from open play yet which is remarkable after 8 games. Toby “Out of this World” has been outstanding, his 84 rating on FIFA is a joke. Jan, Hugo and our defensive mid battle axes have been consistent and the defensive unit is solid and cohesive.
Solidity in defence wins championships, winning 1-0 wins championships, ask Leicester or any side Mourinho has coached. When the attacks not firing, which happens in football, defensive solidity is the thing which earns you three points and wins you championships. Let’s hope the attack clicks against Pep and co this weekend, we will need both attack and defence firing if want to take the spoils.
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Come On Spurs. Let's keep a 100% Win Rate going - NO DRAWS Please, Poch.
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