The Way To Do It - Spurs 3-0 Stoke

Article by David Levy

At last, 90 minutes of Spurs domination.

We have been waiting since the start of the season to watch a home performance like that. Clinical, dominating and at times sublime. It was our most thoroughly deserved victory this year and one which Tim Sherwood will take to the bank and hopefully use as a benchmark for performances to come.

Here are some of the talking points from the game.

Where were Stoke?

Nowhere to be seen if we are being completely honest. They have one of, if not the worst away stats of any team in the league thus far and had 2 players missing through suspension. It’s fair to say that they never really turned up but we have played sides in worst league positions at WHL this year and not looked anywhere near as convincing as we did on Sunday. We dominated from start to finish and did so with a certain flair the likes of which have only been witnessed at rare moments this season. I’m not going to take any credit away from us - we deserved to be winners by our own making.

Little Paul needed a rest….

A number of people (myself included) had been pointing this out for weeks and the sending off against Liverpool provided this in the way of a 3 game suspension.

His return on Sunday was nothing short of sensational.

92% pass completion rate during his time on the pitch (100% in the first half) which included two completed back-heel flicks. That alone is an impressive statistic but beyond his passing, he appeared to have a greater freedom to roam forward and get into the box. His performance was the Paulinho we saw at the Confederations Cup in the summer and in small pieces at the beginning of the season for us. Composed on the ball, neat little touches and beating his man each time he attempted to (5 out of 5 times).

The performance would have been encouraging for all Spurs fans to see and we all hope his form will now be a mainstay until the end of the season.

But Dembele was a beast!

70 out of 72 passes completed, 3 out of 3 successful attempts at beating his man (brushing his man aside), 1 goal and absolute midfield dominance. Dembele was the deeper of the two midfielders on Sunday, protecting the back line and patrolling the centre of the pitch like a man possessed. It wasn’t the amount of challenges he had to make, more the space he would find to pick up the ball and re-distribute it to near perfection. He and Paulinho complimented each other in the middle of the park and gave us everything we needed from a Central Midfield pairing. Let’s hope they both get on the score sheet more as the season progresses.

What Soldado brings to the party

I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for a striker to just be that little bit off form in the shooting department. Roberto Soldado once again put away a penalty convincingly for us but what of the rest of his game? With Jermaine Defoe seemingly out of favour and potentially off this January we need to rely on Roberto more but he isn’t scoring as freely as he would like at the moment.

Why?

Well, firstly, he wasn’t getting the service he needed at the beginning of the season, something that in a new team and league he would have needed to boost his confidence and help him hit the ground running. He has had 9 chances in the last 3 appearances (3 a game) with Tim Sherwood at the helm which is just slightly better than the 27 in 14 (just under 2 a game) under AVB, but the quality of service has been much better recently.

Also he has had a vastly different job to do under the new management. Roberto is not the only striker anymore and so not the only focal point in attack. He is much more active across and in the opposition’s box now and he is also dropping off, combining with his team mates consistently. His unselfish play is definitely a bonus, he seems to know how to stay onside and is building a great partnership with Ade.

One finish, one glorious strike from open play and he will off and running, I’m sure of it. That confidence is brimming to the surface and is all but ready to explode.

Ade

Working hard. Very hard. He really wanted a goal on Sunday and perhaps he lost his composure a little at the end and had a couple of selfish moments, but as long as he keeps up this intensity I think we will push on and really challenge the teams above us.

Makeshift Defence

I was actually impressed with Zeki Fryars on Sunday. He looked really sharp, eager to get forward and whipped in a few delightful crosses. Kyle Naughton did very little wrong either and looked as solid as he has ever done for us. Stoke did not really test us down our flanks very often but the stand-in fullbacks did their jobs well, not pushing too forward too often and adding an extra layer of cover at the back. Games like this do wonders for young players who are on the fringes of the first team. It gives them exposure to winning games and translates a winning mentality after so many negative results that they have been involved in this year.

4-4-2

Do not buy into the drama. We do not play a solid 4-4-2. The heatmap below (courtesy of whoscored.com) shows the average position of each of our players vs stoke and you can see that it is much more of a 4-3-3 than anything else. The formation is loose and allows for many options to come in and add a different dimension. Tim Sherwood et al are not as foolish or basic as a lot of fans out there think and will surprise a lot of people as their tactical vision becomes a reality.

Once we get our preferred starting defenders fit we should also see our back 4 looking more organised and sturdy. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose will hopefully return for the New Years Day clash with Man United at Old Trafford.

The game will be open and we should expect more goals from both teams, United having also finding their form in recent performances. We need to use this new found confidence to take us to a more consistently entertaining and clinical place. There are some very good players at Tottenham at the moment and they would have liked how winning the way we did on Sunday felt. They will be eager to repeat that feeling for as long as possible, build on it and hopefully inspire each other and maybe more importantly, us.

COYS

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