The Good or Bad things we learnt after the match

Welcome to King or Kaboul. After matches this will be filled with fresh and raw takes from the latest Tottenham game. I will incorporate a little bit more analysis when it comes to the European games as I won’t have time to do a full match report.

King – Tactics

Mourinho’s first home match at Tottenham had only an enforced change which was at left back, with Rose coming in for the injured Davies. The rest of the team was the same as the game on Saturday at West Ham. Would we see similar tactics against different opposition?

Below is the average position of the team for the starting 11

As you can see, we had set up in nearly the same way. That right hand side comprising of Aurier given licence to get further up on that flank, which he did to great effect. Lucas maintained his right sided attacking midfield role. Constantly looking to come inside and leave the real width to Aurier. We saw him combine well with the right back with a few 121’s and making space for the Ivory Coast international by dragging players out of positon.

Rose, who started at left back was not forming part of a back three as Davies did on Saturday. But as you can see, he was more reserved, this could have been instructed by the coach. However it could have been due to the natural directness of Podence down that side. Either way it didn’t really impact us tactically. Worryingly with Davies out and Rose lacking any real sharpness, this area could be targeted by more savvy opposition. Could we see Sessegnon get a few starts, as he is the future and Mourinho did instruct UTD to bid for him during his time there.

Dire number 15

Starting again in the midfield two was Winks and Dier. The former doing the same job as Saturday, recycling the ball and playing all over the centre of the pitch. I have not heard a podcast or read an article this week that has not singled out Winks. Not for anything positive but to say he would be one of the first players Mou jettisoned. Time will tell, but if Mourinho has really learnt from his time away and his previous experiences then he might have use for a player of Winks’ skillset. He managed 91% pass accuracy during the match, with 80 touches and completed his 2 attempted dribbles.

Earliest substitute I can remember that was not forced upon us happened in the 29th minute. With the only defensive midfielder we have on the pitch being replaced for Eriksen. We were 2-0 and could not string two passes together. Dier statistically, again was not that bad, recording 90% pass accuracy with his 10(12) successful passes. But he lacked (Still lacks) the composure for that role at the minute. He played his best in a duo with Dembele, who he used to play simple balls to and let him do the work in getting the ball forward. Could Ndombele fulfil some of that role when he is back in the team?

Two number 10’s

Alli started again in the number 10 role and was great again to see him operate in that space. He looked bright as he tried to provide with those through balls from just outside the area. He was a little sloppy, as was everyone in the first half. But his goal just before half time was the start of our comeback. The skill in the area before his cross for Aurier’s Thunderbolt was sublime and shows his confidence at the minute. Another mature performance from our number 20.

Eriksen came on for Dier on the 29th minute. We were 2-0 down and needed some creativity as well as someone who could dictate and give us a little calm as we weathered the initial storm. We got a hold back on the game as Eriksen slowed things down in the frantic midfield area. Whilst also playing the ball forward with some probing passing. A change this positive when we needed it has not happened in such a long time, quite refreshing and in the end it gave us more ammunition to supply the bullets needed.

Below is the average position of the team including our Subs

As you can see from this Eriksen’s average position was that of the deeper number 10, while Alli still played in the space between him and Kane. This pushed them back as we stormed forward in the second half.

Quite a Lengthy King with this one, but as I am not doing a full match report I thought I would go a little deeper.

King – Aurier

I am sure I have been here before, ahh yes after a 4-0 win over Palace. He came back into the team and was everything we had missed in a Right back. Direct, pacey and creative. Then he “scored” a disallowed goal against Leicester then gets sent off in the next league match against Saints. Serge summed up there.

He was as I pointed out in my West ham article very good, he was given licence to perform a role to suit his strengths. Again, here he was allowed to do the same, he kept ploughing down that right side. Using the space vacated by Lucas smartly, also defending the best I have seen him for a while. Then, we have the goal for 3-2, hits a shot first time with his right foot which swerves into the bottom left corner. No one was saving that. As before i will advise caution, as we never know what is going to come next from Serge.

King – Kane

Two more goals for our Elite striker, in the most Elite competition. Harry Kane is now the quickest player ever to get to 20 goals in the Champions League, taking just 24 games to break this record. Imagine all the forwards to play in this competition. Raul, Ronaldo, the other Ronaldo, Messi, etc. He has taken the record off of Del Piero who took 26 games to get to 20 goals. He now has 23 goals from 23 games for club and country this season, and people say he is not performing as he should. I will just leave that there.

Two games under Mou, 3 goals and two really good, if different performances from our stand in captain. This will continue I have no doubt about it with some nice fixtures from now until Christmas he can easily catch the other Englishman at the top of the Premier League scoring charts.

Kaboul – Defending

Definitely been here before. We just could not get a hold of the game in the first 40 minutes. Stray passing, not pressing well, we were just allowing waves of pressure after pressure. Especially after going 2 goals down within 20 minutes. Sloppy from Rose trying to pass instead of clear then a nice hit from El Arabi. Then Rose again not going to his man at the corner allowing the ball to get to a waiting Semedo just yards out. Obviously not all down to Rose but when he is off it, he is really off it.

We really made it hard for ourselves with the score line and our performance in that first half. Once we had the momentum in the second half we pressed smarter and used the ball much better. Doing all this while dictating the tempo and creating chances led to our dominance. However, we cannot start games like that against better opposition or we might not recover as we did on Tuesday.

King wins

King wins again, no real Kaboul apart from the defending. Hopefully this is something that Mourinho continues to work on week by week. We have a game against a very open but also dangerous Bournemouth side on Saturday. Roll on King and Kaboul next week!

COYS

Mr WP

@Writehartlane