The last time Tottenham were called boring wasn’t so long ago – football under Andre Villas-Boas’ reign can be summarized as possession heavy, timid, and overly reliant of star-man Gareth Bale to pull something out of his magic hat. Less than 4 years later, we find ourselves in a somewhat similar situation.
Admittedly, that’s somewhat of an overreaction as we’ve only played three games so far. But what I see seems to be indicative of the style Pochettino wants to play throughout the season. Possession heavy football that tries to work the ball through the middle. The fact of the matter is, Leicester City’s playing style is the exact counter to Pochettino’s system.
The Foxes have recorded the fewest short passes and the most inaccurate long balls in the league so far. Clearly, Leicester cares very little about build up play and hoofs the ball up to Jamie Vardy. Although he looks like he would belong to some sort of fascist cabal, he played well against Spurs and successfully linked up with his two wingers, Marc Albrighton and Riyad Mahrez.
The sheer amount of heading attempts (orange and green arrows) is a testament to Leicester’s tactics.
Pochettino’s system of narrow attacking play fell right into Claudio Raineri’s hands. The system employed is one of slow, methodical build up that requires patience and simple passing in order to create space. The wingers – in this case Nacer Chadli and Mousa Dembele – both cut inside and open up the flanks for Tottenham’s fullbacks to exploit. Theoretically, this should create an overload in the center and keep the opposition’s wide players pinned back in order to cover for the fullbacks staying central. It really is a shame that games aren’t played in theory.
The overload in the middle leaves absolutely no space for Harry Kane. He’s a tidy dribbler but he’s no Messi, and he will get crowded out. Kyle Walker’s athleticism is convincing but he provides little on either end of the pitch. Ben Davies, on other hand, can put in a nice cross but has looked suspect in the back. He fouled a Leicester player player three times just outside the box, and was caught too far up at the restart, leaving Jan Vertonghen to unsuccessfully close down Mahrez.
Vardy, Mahrez, and Albrighton successfully took advantage of the channels that were left wide open by Tottenham’s fullbacks. Leicester were hardly the wrecking ball that I thought they would be, but their attacking performance warranted at least a tie, if not more.
On the other side of the pitch, Tottenham’s attacking was sometimes laughable. Erik Lamela had a chance to impress after Christian Eriksen’s unfortunate training injury but failed to make a mark in this game. Mousa Dembele’s game was stifled, but he held the ball well and dragged defenders out of position. This matters little, though, as Spurs players rarely looked interested in making runs, and the congested middle of Leicester’s third made it nigh impossible to thread a pass.
Clearly, the system did not work for the current squad options we have. It was frustrating to see passes between Chadli and Lamela, then to Walker, and back to Lamela, to Dembele, back to Davies, and to Ryan Mason only for him to take a shot from 40 yards out. A system that requires patience does not work if a) your passes are slower than Comcast customer service, and b) you have players that lack composure.
Not exactly the attacking football Spurs fans are used to.
The only player that added some impetus and drive, indeed purpose, to Tottenham’s mindless possession was Dele Alli. Even though he only had 8 touches of the ball, he’s enthusiasm was clear to see. He made several runs forward and was happy to receive the ball. His enthusiasm, along with his smart play made him a great asset to the team. It really is disappointing that as soon as he snuck one in on Leicester’s end, Mahrez had an immediate response.
I’m tempted to pin Leicester’s goal down to freak error – everyone just fell asleep on the restart, something that hardly happens often in professional football. But I’m gonna fight that temptation with two points. First, the team didn’t fall asleep at the restart, they had been asleep for the 80 minutes prior. Playing at snail’s pace and with a lethargic disposition. Second, individual errors are worrisome occurrences within of themselves, but individual errors becoming systemic is even worse. We’ve been marred by these mistakes every game so far: Walker’s own goal, Toby Alderweireld’s tackle the led to a penalty, and Vertonghen’s schoolboy defending against Mahrez.
At some point, you can’t blame it all on a player when the system itself seems to be dysfunctional. Pochettino’s system didn’t work at King Power Stadium, but he has a chance to get it right on Saturday against Everton.
Tactics, Antics, And Semantics 