Article by Lachlan Peters @loque91
A hard fought draw away to a revitalised Everton and a mostly dominant display at home to Crystal Palace has thoroughly banished the woeful tail end of last season. But I can still have a poke around and think out loud about a few things that have caught my eye and got me thinking. Which is kind of what the next few paragraphs will be along the lines of… abit of a think, mostly about Poch’s “Plan B” and the way our two new (immediately lovable!) Spurs are settling in and potentially changing the way we line-up. Also, Eriksen. What’s going on?
PLAN JANSSEN
Ok, so. We’ve got a ‘Plan B’, and his name is Vincent. Is there anyone that doesn’t love this guy yet? He is so into it! I watched him in both games in Melbourne, and while he didn’t get on the score sheet then (and his miss against Palace was all too reminiscent of a certain Spaniard-aldo) he just gets around and hassles like a classic centre forward. Full of running, looks dangerous and wants to be involved.
Against Everton he came on and almost immediately changed the game in our favour. Now whether you attribute that positive change in our play to his harrying, skill and passing or to the space he was creating for other teammates to move into and make things happen, the end result is the same = game-changer. He was very unlucky not to have scored in that game, while some have argued that he ‘should’ have scored, I tend to think that he did everything right and was denied by a very good save. But I’m an optimistic kinda guy.
So we finally have the elusive game-changing substitute we had collectively been groaning about for an entire season, we have our class second striker ready to come on and do the business when we are in a spot of bother.
Then against Palace he was starting with two upfront. As soon as I saw the line-up I was on my phone and putting a bet down for 4-1, couldn’t go wrong. ‘Plan B’ be damned!
Not quite, I’m terrible at betting.
Perhaps in the future the two will gel together better, perhaps there was a lack of creativity behind both the forwards that was stifling some more clear cut chances (aside from the glaring miss I mentioned previously) but for some reason the threat wasn’t immediately apparent with both starting. Like I said, I think this has more to do with a variety of other factors, rather than simply either of Vinny and Harry not playing well.
While we dominated the game and should probably have been ahead by a few before Wanyama nodded in the winner, I do not think this will be our new first selection. Yes, it is exciting to have two great young strikers out there, but if this were to become a week in, week out thing – we would be back in the same position as we were last year; fingers forever crossed that one of these players doesn’t pick up an injury, the pressure still constantly up against Harry Kane to be finding the net, being left with nothing up-front for cup games and not having ‘somewhere to go’ from the bench. So yes, I agree having two strikers on the pitch is great, but having a ‘Plan B’ might be the more pragmatic approach for the time being.
POCH’S DOUBLE PIVOT ENGINE ROOM
Poch has utilised both Wanyama and Dier for his patented pivot since Dembele will still be missing for another month. This has been interesting. For starters it now seems certain that Mason is not going to be around the team very much if he is not sold. It also shows how much Poch is married to this formation - despite a lengthy suspension and new recruits - the double pivot is the gold standard.
Before we get into this, I have to say that I am really loving what Wanyama is offering to the squad. Pure steel. The way he was bursting through against Palace was very exciting and I cannot wait to see what he can offer against club’s that employ there own physicality upon or own slightly ‘slight’, squad. Not to mention his winning goal and absolutely endearing celebration with the crowd. Four thumbs up.
But questions! Is having Dier and Wanyama on providing enough creativity for our forward line? The Everton game was looking sorry until Dier came off and Wanyama seemed to push much farther forward. This seems to me to be the gap between Dembele being in the squad or not. He offers both a physical presence in the middle of the pitch, but also the vision to go forward and the uncanny ability to never lose the ball. Ever.
Having two defensive midfielders is not in itself a bad strategy, but I would still be slightly concerned about what has seemed at times to be a frailty in our defensive third. Everton ran through on goal on a few occasions and it is not like Palace were completely locked out. This would be fine if we were creating loads and loads of good scoring chances, but that hasn’t quite been the case so far. I understand that it is early days at the beginning of a season that has been hard on many players coming back from the European Championships, as well as lacking in proper pre-season cohesive games. But it has still worried me a bit that we haven’t been creating more chances and we’ve not been completely solid considering our defensive minded approach in the centre of the pitch. These issues could come out in bold against Liverpool, who will be looking to bounce back from a defeat to newly promoted Burnley.
A NOTE ON ERIKSEN
OK so Eriksen has been floating about a bit lately, both on and off the pitch. He came down to Australia (and graciously got in a photo with me) but then produced a rather tepid performance against Atletico Madrid. He has denied reports that his contract talks have stalled due to a 100,000 pound or so increase in his wages, but still hasn’t signed a new contract. He had a game to forget against Everton, and came off without making much of an impression against Palace at the weekend, with one missed passing opportunity in particular not doing his wage demands particular credence. Whats up?
I love Christian Eriksen, I thought we were very lucky to have signed him rather than Manchester City back when we did. He is a classy player who has given us a LOT of points over the last few seasons. He has also changed his game under Poch and become a great, well-rounded and at times gifted player. Emphasis on the ‘at times’, I guess. Yes, he comes under criticism for going missing for a game or two – but as has been pointed out on the Podcast, he also lacks a real challenger for his spot in the team. Holtby and Sigurdson are gone, and with them any real pressure on the diminutive Dane.
Now I am one of many subscribers to the notion that Eriksen has been played out of position for far too long. He gets shunted out on the left because of Poch’s rigid sticking to this 4-2-3-1 system. Yes I get that there is a lot of swapping around at times with Lamela or Dele, but he will often be out there near the sideline without the pace or support to be able to do what he does best. The explosion of Dele Alli last season and subsequent placement behind Harry Kane on most occasions has meant that Eriksen’s confinement to the wings has continued. Obviously Poch must know what he is doing, but I found it frustrating that even with two strikers on the pitch against Everton and Palace, Eriksen still wasn’t in that CAM/No. 10 position. Surely it is where he thrives? It also places an added burden on our fullbacks. Because Eriksen lacks that extra pace that a true winger usually possesses, Walker or Rose can be caught out a little and exposed when bombing forward as they are wont to do. Perhaps we will see more straight swapping between Dele and Eriksen like we saw against Palace, especially around the Champions League.
I don’t really have much to add to the discussion around him at the moment, other than its obvious that his wages should be met somewhere around the 100,000 pound mark and that he is a massively important player to our team. I do just wonder about whether he is being truly utilised and hope very much that he finds his form again soon and stays with the club for a long time.
Stay tuned for more of my updates and meandering musings throughout the season and as always keep up to date with everything THFC with e-Spurs on a host of different social media outlets. You can follow me at @e_spurs_aus or @loque91. Come on you Spurs!
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