AVB and his boys looked to kick off their top 4 campaign in a positive fashion and they did just that with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. New signing Paulinho starred prominently as his smart distribution in the ‘regista’ role ensured that Tottenham always had time and space to keep the ball retention flowing, whilst Palace looked to stay compact with a low defensive block in an attempt to thwart the attacking talents of Tottenham.
Being the first game of the season, it was intriguing to see just how Villas-Boas would instruct his team to break down low block defences, which was a problem area for the team last term. Especially at White Hart Lane, where lower table opposition would remain extremely compact and very deep inside their own halves for the majority of the game. As a result, Tottenham only managed to score 29 goals (the second lowest of any team in the top 10 positions) which was quite worrying. However, it’s a new season and Villas-Boas may have already found the answer.
Tottenham with the ball:
The start of the first half was played at a slow tempo by Tottenham, with largely horizontal passing strategy in place. In fact, Mousa Dembele usually Spurs’ primary central playmaker boasted a forward pass % of just 10% throughout the game. The reason for this extended level of probing throughout the first half was to try and force the Palace full backs to expand from their compact state by falling into 1 vs 1 battles out wide, leaving the inside channels exposed for Nacer Cahdli (the inside forward) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (the advanced playmaker) to either A) Getting shots off or B) play slide rule pass for the extremely dangerous Soldado to latch onto.
The double defensive pivot of Dikgacoi and Jedinak did and impressive job of creating 2 vs 1 situations in wide areas to prevent Spurs’ 1v1 specialists from having a level playing field, here’s an example:
Dikgacoi (highlighted in red) is very quick to prevent a 1 vs 1 situation in a wide area with one of Tottenham’s dribble specialists; Mousa Dembele. The rest of the Palace defence are compact and are in a decent position to cover the inside left channel as Nacer Chadli is marked. Spurs’ struggled to penetrate this defence at first, with the same thing happening on the other flank with Aaron Lennon.
This time, Aaron Lennon is boxed in by 4 Palace defenders with the ball at his feet and found it difficult to find his way out these situations at first without passing the ball backwards, as a result 38% of his passes were actually played backwards, more than any other player in the match. However, Tottenham found a way to spring this trap by pre-rotating the players positions and runs.
Here, Walker’s position is already advanced as opposed to a late supporting run up the right side. Also, Nacer Chadli is already in a central position as the inside forward, as opposed to moving infield to join in play later. Lennon draws the full back wide before darting in behind with a diagonal run. By receiving the ball on the run in full flight he can prevent the other Palace players coming over to congest his operating room; whilst also forcing the left back Moxey to expand from the rest of the defence, creating space for others to manoeuvre.
Another Aaron Lennon mazy run won Spurs’ their first Premier League penalty in over a year early in the second half, which was dispatched calmly by Roberto Soldado for his first competitive Tottenham goal. Capoue’s introduction into the game for Dembele on the 57th minute saw Spurs’ shift to a 4-4-2 shape and expand the distance between the midfield and the attack. The reason for this was to utilise the full range of Etienne Capoue’s expansive passing range.
The passing support range got a lot wider, further apart and more vertical with Capoue’s presence on the field. Capoue played 43% of his passes forward, more than any other midfielder or forward to attempt more than 10 passes in the match. The increased level of verticality in the second half from Tottenham allowed the defence to sit slightly deeper as they tired slightly, with Capoue as the anchor man initiating attacks from deep. Capoue was extremely effective in this role and in fact; made more interceptions in his 33 minute appearance (6), than West Brom (5), West Ham (5) and Sunderland (4) made as a team in their entire matches which is just staggering.
(The teams’ shape of the introduction of Capoue)
 Tottenham without the ball:
Without the ball Spurs employed their familiar high defensive block system with high intensity pressing. Looking at the defensive block:
Tottenham look to use their athleticism to apply pressure on the ball. If they haven’t won the ball back within the first 6-8 seconds of losing it, they transition into the shape above. Soldado apples pressure from the front, Dembele leaves his position within the double-pivot and moves slightly further forward to use his defensive ability and strength to delay the oppositions move. Paulinho looks to protect the back line with his presence. Sigurdsson, Chadli and Lennon fall back into defensive positions to help with numbers.
Tottenham’s transitional play:
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Defensivley
As I mentioned earlier, Spurs look to press and win the ball back quickly (usually in the first 8 seconds.) They hunt in packs of 2 or 3 with a very high closing down radius; meaning if Kyle Walker the right back were caught out of possession upfield for example, he would stay there and press high up the pitch, as opposed to reverting straight back into his position.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Offensively
Tottenham are a side heavily constructed of dribble-first players and this game showcased that. The likes of Dembele, Lennon, Walker, Rose carried the ball up the pitch in a purposeful manner, covering large amounts of ground. They look to overload the box with numbers too, with Paulinho and Sigurdsson making late, well timed runs into the box.
We’ve seen a few interesting new wrinkles into Tottenham’s system, albeit against newly promoted Crystal Palace. Spurs’ athleticism means they can also add much more verticality into their game which looks like it could be their key to unlocking the more stubborn Premier League defences. All in all, Tottenham are well equipped for a top 4 challenge, but the question is, will this style of play get them there? What do you think?
