Let’s start at Everton, Mousa Dembele suspended for six games at the start of the season so Wanyama lines up alongside Dier in a move I’d been dreading since we signed the Kenyan. Mauricio Pochettino (like most other good coaches) recognises the value of dominating possession of the ball, the simple logic being that if you have the ball, the opposition can’t score and vice versa.

“Without the ball, you can’t win” – Johan Cruyff

So why would he put Eric Dier (a player who has spent most of his development in the defensive line) and Victor Wanyama (a player who’s earned his move to the Premier League thanks to his physique and exceptional defensive qualities) in front of Vertonghen and Alderweireld? Why would you block their route into our offensive players like Eriksen, Lamela, Kane and limit yourselves to a much slower possession game?

With two holding midfielders in front of two centre backs, you naturally block yourself and make it much harder to move forward in a constructive manner.

Above illustrates the structural shape you create when you place two holding midfielder in front of two centre backs when the full backs don’t properly space themselves from their centre backs. You create two very dangerous passing options for the respective CBs, a sideways pass into a FB who has limited options on the ball, near the touchline so with little space to escape pressure, or a vertical passing option into a holding player. We’re forcing our holding midfielders to receive the ball with their back to play (a pressing trigger for most teams) and therefore into positions where they can only bass backwards or sideways, how fun. When the FBs don’t move high and wide as early as possible and therefore away from the CBs, the two holding midfielders have limited chances to drop either in between or to either side of the CBs which means we can’t create diagonal passing options.

I do apologise for repeating much of what many of you may already know but this is for the benefit of any new readers and it’s also always nice to reinforce present knowledge. By splitting the CBs with only one holding midfield we can cover a wider area of the pitch with less players thus stretching the oppositions first line of pressure and creating more passing options further forward thus making progression of the ball out from the back much cleaner. Creating diagonal passing options allows the receiving player to receive the ball facing more of the play and thus makes it easier for him to detect and resist any pressure from the opposition.

“A fish breathes when it is in deep water.” – Andrea Pirlo

Some of you will ask why the CBs can’t simply pass to the far side holding midfielder from the 1st image and the reason for this is that opposition teams don’t allow this to happen. More and more teams look to “split the pitch” (as Klopp calls it) by using their 9 and 10 to force the opposition into wide areas as detailed below.

Everton did it against us and we did it against Everton.

Pochettino clearly recognises the value of using only one holding midfielder (or at least he seems to) because here’s what he said on the issue.

“I think that the future and the project of the team is to play with only one (holding midfielder)” – Mauricio Pochettino, 2016

So why would he play Wanyama AND Dier? There are some who believe that, thanks to the physical evolution of athletes and the ever-improving physical performances of footballers that we’ll see more and more instances of teams defending with more and more “lines” made up of less players therefore trusting horizontal coverage of the pitch to less players. Teams like Bayer Leverkusen are perhaps seen as those leading the way in this aspect as their defensive structure involves a high intensity, aggressive pressing 4-2-2-2 (therefore defending in 4 lines). Thanks to the fact that players are fitter, stronger and quicker than they were 10/20 or 50 years ago this means your average player can cover much more ground (In a defensive sense) than he could previously. If you need proof of this, I task you to remember/watch Victor Wanyama’s performance vs Manchester City in Spurs’ 2-0 defeat of Guardiola’s men when he successfully defended an area of roughly 20×30 yards between our midfield and defensive line on his own.

Because of our high press, Wanyama was often responsible for having to cover the large gap created between our midfield and defensive line, he did so exceptionally throughout the game and his defensive masterclass helped create the chance for our opening goal in this game. Is this sustainable throughout a season? Probably not.

“Running is for animals. You need a brain and a ball for football” – Louis Van Gaal

Why would teams want to defend in more “lines”? So as to ensure opposition passes aren’t as dangerous or effective and that one opposition pass can’t take multiple players out of the game. Below are too simple images which illustrate the benefits of defending in multiple “lines”, in the first image you’ll see how by defending in only two “lines”, the opposition player can take out four players with only one pass. In the second image by defending in three “lines” (created simply by dropping the two CMs) the same opposition pass only removes two players from the game.

So again, why would Pochettino opt to play BOTH Dier and Wanyama? Theoretically we’d be much more successful defending in multiple lines which would further solidify our protection in the centre of the pitch whilst also allowing us to press higher and more aggressively further up the pitch. Why would we want to do this, especially considering our fantastic defensive record last year (conceding only 35 goals in 38 games (5 coming in that last hateful game of the season))? Going into the opening game against Everton (as well as other early games in the season) Spurs had only signed Vincent Janssen as an extra offensive threat and considering he’d need time to adapt to the Premier League and considering Kane, Alli and Lamela’s involvement in summer tournaments (and therefore lack of pre-season) we couldn’t ensure an improvement in our offensive output. Therefore, Pochettino opted for ensuring an improvement in defensive output by adding another defensive minded player alongside Dier therefore working under the theory that by conceding less goals than the previous year but by maintain a similar offensive output then we’d gain x amount of extra points.

In all honesty, this was a terrible approach from Pochettino as with little to no improvement put into our offensive output, we were scoring very little goals per game and this has so far resulted in 6 draws and 2 narrow losses in 17 games. We’re already 5 wins behind Chelsea who currently lead the table, this is a problem considering a win = 3 points and in the last 10 seasons of the Premier League at least (and probably most of the rest) the team that’s won the most games has gone on to win the League. With little/poor input into improving our offensive output, we’re putting ourselves at severe risk of throwing away any potential title challenge already.

Naturally our possession play has lacked quality this season with the introduction of Wanyama and the injuries to the likes of Alderweireld, Lamela and Kane (I will take this quick opportunity to once again question why we gave any other team the opportunity to even touch Bentaleb let alone the option to buy him in his loan contract with Schalke). It already lacked quality I should say because of the structure within which we asked this season’s personnel to play in (as highlighted in the opening paragraphs). Our quality of possession has been poor in my opinion for a long while now, well, since I started watching Tottenham (and football in general) midway through the 2011/12 season. When you put players who’ve spent their developmental years honing their defensive qualities (or in Dembele’s case, abilities closer to goal) and in countries like England and Scotland, then you occupy the most important area of the pitch with players who don’t know the true value of control. With Wanyama and Dier and Dembele as the “two” or even as the “one”, we trust the build-up of our play in players who don’t know how, when or why to receive a pass off the backline and they also don’t know how, when or why to pass the ball to a teammate. There are so many intricacies involved in any passing and receiving action in football that very few players and coaches truly understand. These intricacies solely revolve around performing purposeful and efficient control of the ball in the least amount of touches as possible so as to increase the speed at which you play at. The higher the speed and purpose of your possession play, the harder it is for the opposition to defend. Just look at Wanyama, Dier or Dembele when they receive the ball and ask yourself, “do they really need to take that many touches of the ball? Could they achieve the same or more purposeful action with only one or even no touches of the ball? Are they positioning themselves so they can receive the ball in a purposeful manner or move the opposition in such a way that creates new passing lanes?”

“Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practising. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.” – Johan Cruyff

This is why I like Tom Carroll, this is why I would start him ahead of the likes of Dier, Wanyama or Dembele because only in him do I see the necessary intelligence required of the holding midfield role. What he lacks in adventure with his passing he makes up for with his movement and manipulation of his marker. Watch him play, watch how’s he always scanning and grabbing the attention of his marker and then pulling them away from areas thus opening up more passing lanes to our offensive players (especially dangerous considering the passing abilities of our CBS). He’s a gem who doesn’t fit the profile of a holding midfielder in Pochettino’s current transition/pressing system.

Towards the end of December, Kyle Walker’s and Danny Rose’s influence has grown considerably within the team. Pochettino has repeatedly looked towards the FBs to provide the width within his teams and with Walker and Roses’ offensive outputs slowly improving, this has allowed Spurs to operate with an orthodox three at the back shape with Walker and Rose as pure WBs such as in the 3-0 win over Hull recently.

“We wanted to put them (Walker & Rose) in a higher position and use them like wing backs because Hull play very deep.” – Pochettino, 2016

I would argue Walker and Rose have been forced into operating with more offensive efficiency due to the previously acknowledged possession struggles which has forced us to enter the final third of the pitch through the wide areas. With our slow circulation of the ball, our opposition has time to organise themselves effectively and therefore force us into horizontal circulation of the ball. Naturally this means whenever a cross goes into the box, you’re attackers are always going to be outnumbered so unless the cross is pinpoint accurate, you don’t give yourselves the best chance to win either the first or second ball.

Above is an example from our 1-1 draw with Leicester after Danny Rose has hopefully whacked in a cross, as you can see it’s 6v3 in Leicester’s favour inside the box (without including the keeper). Though a slightly more extreme example, I’ve moaned already about the fact that Walker and Rose/Sissoko and Son don’t do enough to get past their respective man in order to create positional superiority in this instance or lessen the effect of the opposition’s numerical superiority.

More and more elements of Juego de Posicion (Positional Play) are becoming apparent in more and more teams, elements including occupying all five vertical channels of the pitch once inside the final third of the pitch in order to pin the opposition to a back six and therefore dominate the centre and half-spaces of the pitch and create potential 1v1 opportunities out wide.

The theory behind occupying the five vertical channels of the pitch is illustrated above (more specifically the way Spurs do it with the FBs operating high and wide with our CMs operating as the free men outside of the opponent’s defensive shape). As you can see, the aim of this structure is to create space and time for the men operating deep within the half-spaces so as to increase the chances of breaking down the opposition through the centre of the pitch and through the means of passing as opposed to crossing. This also provides us with two solid lines of ‘3’ and ‘2’ high up the pitch in order to shut down and prevent any potential opposition counter-attack.

The issue with Spurs’ execution of this tactic is involved with the personnel positioned in these areas i.e. because our initial circulation of the ball is slow, we’re forced to pass wide as we enter the final third so as Rose and Walker receive the ball in these positions, their only options involve crossing the ball or playing back inside to Wanyama, Dier or Dembele (who are positioned outside of the opponents block). Say you’re Rose or Walker and you’re faced with the same dilemma, what do you decide to do, put faith in your own abilities and try and play that pinpoint cross or trust Wanyama to break down the opposition with his passing ability? You now have an idea why Rose and Walker are putting in more crosses against teams who sit deep and why I’m frustrated at how this is quickly becoming our preferred method of breaking down opposition teams, considering we’re usually always outnumbered inside the opponents box by at least a spare CB and the GK.

There are two simple fixes to this situation in my opinion, you either deploy Eriksen as the free CM in the half-space in this situation (or you know, my beloved Tom Carroll or my lord and saviour Nabil Bentaleb) or you deploy players capable of beating their men more consistently in 1v1 duels in the wide areas. Rose is becoming more confident in these scenarios and I have no problem with his deployment in these areas, Walker still only has his Lennon-esque burst of pace towards the by-line in order to earn himself half a yard however and this presents an issue. As I’ve said before, if you’re wide men can’t beat their markers in a 1v1 duel then any delivery from the wide area will always be into a centre where your attackers are near hopelessly outnumbered and you’re therefore relying on pinpoint delivery on a consistent basis which none of our current FBs offer. This isn’t so much a problem however for a team like Spurs who dominate possession of the ball and therefore usually create plenty of crossing opportunities because after all, only one cross has to equal a goal and if you keep a clean sheet (which Spurs aren’t half bad at doing) then this will equal 3 points however it means you will struggle to regularly “kill” off games with a 2nd or 3rd goal and you therefore leave yourselves open to a disappointing results such as the 1-1 draws with Everton, Leicester and West Brom as well as the 0-0 away at Bournemouth.

“If you score 90 goals then it shouldn’t really worry you how many are conceded.” – Zdenek Zeman

This won’t happen however as Pochettino clearly favours his defence over his offence and you can always see his first thought behind his tactical decisions revolve around the defensive aspect of the game. That’s why Bentaleb is currently in Germany, that’s why Pochettino’s been comfortable with playing a starting XI which has featured Dier, Wanyama, Kane and Janssen all in the centre so as to provide as much protection against opposition set-pieces (i.e. our 1-0 home win vs Crystal Palace). This is why we’re suffering disappointing results because when you can only score one or two goals a game, you have to rely on your players not making critical mistakes such as players being sold by the opponents body shape and leaving Pedro free on the edge of our box in acres of space such as in the image below.

When you have a youthful and inexperienced squad, are you asking too much of them? Too much concentration and focus throughout the course of a season? Surely they’re going to make these mistakes? Like Wimmer’s own goal away at the emirates? Like Lamela’s foul on Firmino for the penalty at home to Liverpool? Like Wanyama’s misplaced header which led to Leicester’s equaliser at White Hart Lane? Even senior players are prone to these sorts of mistakes like Dembele above. Maybe Pochettino is pushing his luck, trying to control too much of the uncontrollable, how can he expect to control every bounce of the ball with such a youthful, emotional and sometimes naïve squad. Look at Burnley’s opener in our recent 2-1 defeat of the lads from Turf Moor, a hopeful cross from Boyd bounces kindly off Dembele’s shin and falls perfectly to the feet of Ashley Barnes six yards out from our goal.

I’m not saying Pochettino has been unsuccessful, our defensive record is outstanding and is currently the 2nd best in the League (12 goals conceded in 17 games as of time of writing) however there is absolutely no doubt that we have to improve our offensive output. We must score more goals, we must develop a more purposeful and efficient style of possession and we must stop giving the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal the chance to run away from us if we seriously want to challenge for the title. At the moment, with our current style of play, Chelsea are already 10 points clear of us, which means we’re asking the likes of Conte, Costa, Hazard, Kante and Courtois (who don’t have European commitments) to screw up multiple times before seasons end whilst we improve our own output extensively. Not only Chelsea but we’re also asking teams which boast the talents of Aguero, Silva, Ozil, Sanches and Cech to do the same, to mess up, to give us a chance, is that likely to happen? No. With this current style of play, with this current approach, we’re not in control of our own fate and when has luck ever fallen the way of the Lilywhites from White Hart Lane.

Our current output is simply not good enough and therefore indicates we’re going to finish with the same amount of points we’ve finished with for the last seven seasons i.e. 9/10 – 70 points, 10/11 – 62 points, 11/12 – 69 points, 12/13 – 72 points, 13/14 – 69 points, 14/15 – 64 points, 15/16 – 70 points. The average points total of the Premier League winning teams over the last 10 seasons has been 86.8 points and we’re looking like we’re going to finish some way off. There’s a reason why I haven’t titled this piece “Will Tottenham Challenge AGAIN in 16/17” because in my opinion we never challenged for the title in 15/16. We never put ourselves in a position to amass more points than Leicester last season, any potential challenge was driven by the hope that Leicester’s players would collapse under the pressure of it all last season and with a measly points tally of 70 we never deserved to win the Premier League. The only reason why 70 points was enough to bag 3rd place (when 72 points only got us 5th 3 seasons before) was because every other ’big’ team performed a hell of a lot worse than us last season. Chelsea finished 10th with only 50 points, Liverpool forsook their PL campaign in hope of Europa glory and finished 8th with 60 points, the two Manchester teams ended up battling for fourth place after very public managerial turnovers and finished both on 66 points.

This season is looking fantastically similar to last season and with no indication of radical changes forthcoming going into the second half of the campaign, Tottenham will NOT challenge for the title in 2016/17. Pochettino has much soul-searching to do in my opinion and while his comments regarding the usage of one holding midfielder and our tactical switches between variations of four and five at the back systems offer hope for the future, if no radical change is being considered with regards to our current ‘philosophy’, Pochettino’s long-term future is called into question. Tottenham Hotspur will do enough this season to be there and there-about the 70 point total and only time will tell whether or not that’ll be enough this year for Champions League qualification but in all honesty I’m not hopeful.

On that note, I’d like to thank you for reading and wish you a very happy Christmas! I’m sorry I cannot end on a more positive note but it’s only by recognising our faults that we may improve and move forward in as beneficial and efficient a manner as possible. Come on you etc etc.

“Attacking football is the simplest way to victory and success.” – Marcelo Bielsa

“I have learned that when you’re in the right you should fight the world.” – Pep Guardiola

“It’s no use just winning, we’ve got to win well.” – Bill Nicholson