Return of the Special One

What a whirlwind 24 hours at Tottenham last week. We barely had time to mourn the loss of Poch when the Club released a statement. This was something I had maybe been dreading more than the actual sacking. Mourinho was our new head coach. Wow, how times have changed. A manager that has turned us down twice before was now in charge. I was in the anger stage of grief by now, I think. I let my thoughts settle while I went through some difficult times myself last week and actually began to think about what this actually means. To the club, the players and most of all the future oF Tottenham, not just what it meant to me. This is summed up very briefly in my Conclusion today.

Moving on ot the actual game, Mou did not have a lot of time with his new team, probably 2 training sessions. He said he had not really changed the plan too much but reminded people about what they had to do. Five and half years is a long time for something so engrained as tactics to just disappear overnight. So, I think it will be a few weeks yet before we see the true plans formulate. However, there were subtle tweaks that I will highlight next that make for interesting reading.

Tactics

4-2-3-1 Without the ball

We looked to be set up in my favoured 4-2-3-1 formation for the West Ham game. With just a few tweaks to our actual tactics. First up we seemed to have stopped trying to play out from the back. Both from goal kicks and with our centre backs. We started hitting the long ball up for Kane to try and win headers. Then we had Dele, Son and Lucas trying to pick up on those knock downs or flick-on’s.

Positionally this is the set up for when we did not have the ball. Having a back four and a midfield two. Then we had Alli playing the number 10 closer to Kane than we have seen him recently. On the flanks we had Son playing on his favoured left side and Lucas on the right. We pressed with this shape and when we won the ball back, we changed to something a little different.

4-2-3-1 With the ball

Here we see over all it is a similar system but with a few tweaks to help us expose our opposition and make use of our strengths, With the ball we see the formation of a back three, with Davies coming inside and playing the LCB role. This allows a few different things to happen within the team structure.

Right side

First up I will highlight Aurier. We all know his main strength is getting forward so the change to a back three allowed Sanchez to move over a little. Note how he was now on his preferred right centre back role in this game. Sanchez moving over slightly allowed Serge to move up that flank and help more in the build-up on that side of the pitch.

This change saw Lucas swap between keeping the width and coming inside when he could. Often, he would make himself available with the opposition committing to the man on the ball thus leaving Lucas free after coming inside. This was seen a few times in the first half as he got more involved with the build-up as well. This also saw a move they had worked on in training for his goal. With the winger following up at the back post to score and make it 0-2 to Spurs. Positive positional shifts on that side of the pitch helping our overall game.

Number 10

Dele was preferred in this role over Eriksen, as Mou had said he was still seeing where his head was at. Good pick from the new Head Coach as Dele showed why he is still so highly rated from inside the club. He was on it from the kick off, touches, flicks and finding space. Twice he attempted to find Kane in quick succession in the first half, by drifting in between the lines and threading a ball to Kane.

He was key in the build up to the first goal by winning the ball off Diop and then later in the move playing the same kind of through ball to Son. Who dispatched his shot with venom, past the worst keeper in the league. The second goal contribution was even more impressive. Losing his footing on the touchline just past halfway, you might think that would be the move be over. Some how he hooks the ball onwards with his foot which Son latches onto. Son, then continues his run and crosses low for Lucas arriving at the back post. Incredible improvising from Dele.

So nice to have Dele playing again, he did look like the shackles had been taken off a little. Not saying it was Mou’s touch here as we know he has been out of form and had some niggles. Poch did start him more recently as well. So it could just be coincidence. Glad to have had a glimpse of the Dele we love and long to see.

Stats

Metric West Ham Tottenham

Possession 36% 64% Passes 172 294 Accurate Passes

119 (69%)

244 (83%)

Shots (On target) 2 (0) 12 (4) Tackles 4

2

Clearances

9

1



First Half Stats

Pretty conclusive in my opinion. We looked good for our two Nil lead at half time. We dominated possession even without building from the back. Our long balls although not always accurate were picked up by our players and then we started building from there.

The duo of winks and Dier in the centre was akin to Beauty and the Beast. I will let you figure out who was who. With Winks’ having an 89% pass accuracy and Dier a 77%. Although Dier’s accuracy doesn’t seem that bad it is more the type of pass or the pace which was letting him down. I wonder how many times his successful passes were then forcing his teammates into situations they did not need to be in.

Metric West Ham Tottenham

Possession 58% 42% Passes 235 177 Accurate Passes

198 (84%)

136 (77%)

Shots (On target) 9 (4) 3 (2) Tackles 2

6

Clearances

4

14



Second Half Stats

As you can see from the tables, a complete reversal in the metrics that each team was higher on in the first half. We got to Three Nil up and then invited them onto us. Giving away a few needless fouls allowing them to put pressure on us. The introduction of Antonio gave them a dual threat up front they had not had on the first half. This led to more aerial duels being lost and two physical threats for our 2 (3) centre backs to deal with. They made it really uncomfortable with this type of play, and Mou has his work cut out when it comes to fixing our defensive issues. We made it difficult for ourselves when we just needed better game management to take the sting out of the game.

Conclusions

Very nice to have a first away win for 11 months, just a shame it was not Poch that led us to it. Looking at it from the other side, nice for our new Head Coach to get a win on his first match in charge. Against a West Ham side that generally seem more riled up to beat us with each passing year.

Further to the win, we may have seen a few tactical tweaks that maybe were missing from our last 12 months. Just subtle changes that make that extra 5/10% we always seemed to be lacking. I am excited about the future of our club, nothing to do with Poch or Mou but just the club and its new chapter. Getting a new identity, hopefully one that makes me as proud as this past few years have. We do have a brilliant crop of players at the club, some truly special players in that first 11. We just need a few more signings, some renewed faith and to move on some people that have maybe overstayed their welcome.

One thing is for sure Tottenham is the club I support, whoever is in charge or wears the shirt.

COYS

Thanks for reading my Match Review on my new site. All feedback welcome as well as support. Means a lot that people still want to read my views. Please get in touch if you have any questions regarding Spurs, my aim to be THE Spurs source on twitter continues.

Further to this I will be posting about the FPL prospects of some Spurs players each week instead of looking at them in detail in this weekly article. So keep a look out for that near the end of the week.

Mr WP

@Writehartlane