Sport
SPURS A DIFFERENT BEAST UNDER POCH
The Battle of the Bridge towards the end of last season left many casualties, but the mental damage inflicted on Tottenham’s young side looked lasting.
The final day humiliation at already relegated Newcastle was proof to many that this Spurs team had had their moment in the sun, and got badly burned.
However, those same ill-disciplined youngsters find themselves challenging at the top once again, but this season, there is a real feeling that this Spurs outfit can go all the way, and that is down to their interchangeable, constantly evolving manager.
“The day I stop evolving is the day that I have to leave this profession,” Pochettino proclaimed in a recent interview. “Coaches should be open and aware of what’s going on so he doesn’t stagnate.”
Stagnation is an oxymoron around White Hart Lane at the moment. The new stadium is starting to take shape, while on the pitch, Spurs are looking imperious.
There is something different about Spurs. Normally, there is always that feeling around this part of north London that Spurs will ‘do a Spurs’, and any form of improvement or growth breeds imminent failure or underachievement.
Yet, with a new formation getting every inch of ability out of the squad, Pochettino may have found the remedy to the Spurs faithful’s suffering.
Since the turn of the year, the Argentine has deployed an multi-faceted 3-5-2 system, and the results have been mightily impressive – four wins, 12 scored, one conceded.
When your team has already won three in a row, not many coaches would feel change was necessary. Not Pochettino, with this continual improvement philosophy clear for all to see in this recent run.
Danny Rose and Kyle Walker – widely regarded as the best full-back pairing in the Premier League – have been pushed forward to wing-back, but such is the flexibility in this new system, they act more like wide forwards, with their incredible fitness levels enabling them to track back when necessary. As Spurs exerted control over West Brom in the first half on Saturday, Rose actually finished the first half with a higher average position than Harry Kane.
That freedom is necessitated by Victor Wanyama’s contentment in front of the back three, providing the utmost protecting, which also gives Mousa Dembele licence to sashay forward in a nonchalant way only he can.
Eric Dier often dropped into defence from his midfield anchor role last season, but in this new formation, Dier is actually deployed as a third defender, alongside Toby Aldweireld and Jan Vertonghen. The Premier League cannot boast a more impenetrable backline, of that there is no doubt.
Such defensive rigidity allows Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli to concentrate on what they do best, to devastating effect.
Eriksen’s end product has deserted him at times, but without having to track back too much, and with Kane and Alli in such fine fettle in front of goal, the Dane can channel his energy into unlocking opponents with his pinpoint crossing and inch-perfect throughballs.
Alli is in the form of his life, allowed to roam in behind Kane, and those late arrivals in the box have proven almost impossible to track.
And what is left to say about Kane? Even Karen Brady had a pop at the England striker last week over an innocuous tweet announcing the birth of his child. An easy target because he rarely gets involved, Kane is accustomed to taking it on the chin and letting his goalscoring do the talking. It’s worked out rather well so far.
In the modern era of transfer committees and directors of football, the coach’s principal task is to get the most out of the personnel at his disposal, whoever they may be.
This formation change is not something Pochettino has dreamt up overnight, it is the culmination of careful planning and training to maximise Spurs’ potential. Like Antonio Conte at Chelsea, rather than sticking to a favoured system, Pochettino has worked the formation around the strengths of his players.
With so many high calibre coaches in the top flight, it makes Pochettino’s exploits at White Hart Lane all the more impressive, and with so many English players excelling, his legion of admirers goes well beyond the M25.
Now, finishing the job is a different challenge all together, but having improved what was already a top side, ‘doing a Spurs’ could soon have a different meaning altogether.
