Swansea 1 – 3 Tottenham – The highlights

Article by David Levy

It would appear that the revolution is in full swing.

Not many would have put money on us being unbeaten in 6 in the league since Tim Sherwood et al took over the management positions at Spurs, especially not winning away at all 3 of Southampton, Man United and Swansea. Those away wins, added to the Sunderland and Fulham ones under AVB have allowed us to equal a record of 5 away wins in a row for the first time in 54 years.

Not too shabby right?

Here are my main talking points from the game.

Formation

Our trip to Swansea was being hailed as (another) big test for Tim. Having lost in the cup to a similarly good passing team (Arsenal) many wondered how or even if we would approach the game differently to the previous ones.

As the team sheet was put out to the masses it was clear to that we would be doing so, opting for a more solid 4-3-3 in an attempt to pack the midfield and nullify Swansea’s main threat.

Fans have been up in arms about the mythical 4-4-2 we haven’t been playing the last few weeks and the formation against Swansea silenced a lot of the naysayers.

The club play a 4-3-3 variation throughout the youth setup and it was only a matter of time until we saw it being played by the first team. After two fell weeks of training and most likely practice of this formation, we got to see it work on match day. And work, eventually, it did. It was great to see that we have more than one trick up our sleeve and going forward we can deploy different formations for different opponents and feel comfortable doing so.

The First 30 Minutes

We chased a lot of shadows in the first half hour of the game. Swansea moved the ball quickly and accurately with Shelvy dictating the entire midfield to dangerous effect. They looked a bit like us under AVB at times, having a lot of the possession but resorting to shooting from distance while finding it hard to get in behind us.

Its not that we looked as uninvolved as we did last week vs Palace, we weren’t slacking or allowing Swansea any easy chances, it just took us a while to get to grips with the tracking of their runs and the tempo at which they wanted to play. Sherwood was particularly animated toward our defensive players during this opening period and to good effect.

For all Swansea’s possession and long range efforts, we looked poised and ready to counter them when we won the ball back. It was just a couple of poor final balls that stopped us from clear goal scoring opportunities after hitting them on the break.

Adebayor

10 out of 10 performance. Did not stop working the whole game and was central to everything we did. Seeing him play to his full potential is what we have been screaming for and he is not only showing his class but he is doing so consistently. He could have scored 4 goals and hw could very well be the catalyst that propels us into the top 4.

Christian Eriksen….

Was everywhere. He was essentially given a free role to roam around and be our puppet master, something he did with huge success. This young man oozes class and has shown what a run of games can do for a player with such a natural talent. His cross for the goal was perfection. His engine and work ethic pleasantly surprises me and I feel like we are getting even more of a bargain in terms of the excellent work he is doing for us defensively too.

Wide Men

Both had quiet games when compared to the other offensive players. Lennon looked a bit hurried in possession and lacked consistency during his time on the pitch. Chadli didn’t do very much wrong but went missing a little in the first half and should have done better with his chance. Chadli especially needs a run in the team to show what he is truly capable of but both players will remain important to us as the season wears on. Kyle Walker had a good cameo on the right too and it is good to know he, if desperate, can fit in there.

Central Men

Bentaleb, who took 20 minutes to settle into the game, once again showed why Tim has such faith in him. His ability to pass the correct ball, not just the easy ball, is mature beyond his years. He also made 10 successful tackles and a number of great interceptions and he certainly seems to be growing defensively and improving his defensive positioning. He is a special talent, one that we should all be extremely excited to see progress.

Defence

Better. After a shaky first 20 - 30 minutes and more than one rant from Tim on the sidelines, we started to pick up Swansea’s runs and really limit the chances they could carve out. Bony was their only real threat as the game wore on. They only managed 5 chances after our goal, two of which were on target. A special shout out to Vlad for another stalwart performance against a very strong and competitive forward.

Things to Improve

Starting the game with a bit more gusto. While this week we were nowhere near as poor as we were in the first half vs Palace it is imperative we come out and get control of the game quickly and convincingly against City and for the rest of the season. If we can do that perhaps we can get a few games in where we outscore the opponents by more and get our goal difference somewhere more respectable.

Danny Rose needs to just take a second and think before he crosses the ball. Overall I think our crossing could be much better but Danny specifically needs to be more composed and patient with the ball at his feet.

Keep working on our defensive lapses in concentration. We get caught not tracking runs far too often still and while this was much better on Sunday, we will need to improve a fair bit still to keep track of Man City’s front men.

Overall however I am loving spurs at the moment. We are winning, scoring plenty of goals and our team is evolving as we put more and more training sessions behind us.

With Jan, Younes, Sandro, Lamela and Townsend amongst others are still to come back, it looks as if we are going to have a very competitive squad to end the season with. A happy squad too, which seems completely the opposite to the Anti-Tim rhetoric splayed out all over the news in the past few weeks.

All we can do is keep winning and proving everyone wrong. I am fully behind this team right now, they have earned my trust and support and long may this continue.

Bring. On. The. City.

COYS

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