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For Mauricio Pochettino, losing to Monaco on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the Champions League was a defeat as galling as their 5-1 capitulation to Newcastle United.

It wasn't about the scoreline but the attitude, or lack of it. Spurs had made it too easy for critics to fall back on old tropes.

Style over substance. A talented side with a soft underbelly. Quality undermined by naivety. This is how Tottenham had come to be defined in the minds of rivals and neutrals alike.

By the end of 2016, Harry Kane and his cohorts had compounded the agony of slipping behind Arsenal to finish third the Premier League the previous season by tumbling out of the Champions League altogether.

A seemingly winnable group that featured Bayer Leverkusen, CSKA Moscow and Monaco proved to be too tricky.

A year on and Spurs are on their way into the knockout stages as group winners ahead of the holders Real Madrid with the highest points tally in the competition and signature wins over Borussia Dortmund and the European champions.

What happened to 'soft touch' Spurs?

In short, romance has given way to reality. They have become very good at doing what good teams do: beating lesser sides on a consistent basis.

In Europe they've even developed a knack for getting results against supposedly superior opponents too. Lads, it's no longer Spurs.

Pochettino has made his intentions clear: "the project at Tottenham is to try to win the Premier League or the Champions League. The two big trophies."

Yet these aren't the words of a dreamer. Last season's struggles against the likes of Monaco at Wembley came as something of a wake up call.

It was clear that European cup competitions did not match up with Pochettino's preferred style of play - and he has met this challenge by becoming more pragmatic; a word that should be mistaken for negative.

The Argentinian works to two key principles: Positional Play and Defensive Counter-Pressing.

Positional Play (or juego de posicion) is an approach that divides up the pitch into a series of zones in which players are instructed to undertake specific duties as they move in and out of the different areas to organise a team's shape in possession.

By applying these guidelines Spurs look for connections between players and stretch the opposition out.

In attack they use two wing-backs, two attacking midfielders and a single, central striker to spread out evenly across the width of the pitch.

They seek to overload a four man defence meaning that one of the five is always free to receive the ball in space. When Spurs lose the ball, they do something very specific too.

Defensive Counter-Pressing is about never letting the opposition settle. Unlike Liverpool who use their pressing to win the ball high and attack rapidly, Spurs are only interested in forcing the opposition to play long.

Given the quality of centre-backs at Pochettino's disposal, he is able to work on the assumption that his defenders can dominate the aerial battles, win the ball and begin building out from the back.

Spurs against the rest vs. Spurs against the best

When these two principles are put to work and the game plan is properly executed, Spurs are capable of dominating their opponents, especially against 14 of the 20 teams in the Premier League.

Suffocating the opposition by commanding control of the ball and tearing open their defence with intricate, choreographed possession play is too much for the also rans to deal with.

Where Spurs have struggled is against teams who are closer in quality. Sides with great players and great systems who can play through the press cause Tottenham issues.

Take Liverpool for example. Jurgen Klopp's side pose a threat to Pochettino's way because they press high and threaten the ability of their opponents to pass the ball around their back line.

(Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

It was the same story in Europe last season. Spurs wanted to keep possession and fell short against counter-attacking Monaco and high-pressing Leverkusen.

Something had to change if Tottenham were going to make gains in the Champions League, not least against Madrid and Dortmund - two teams determined to dominate possession and commit players in attack.

For three years Pochettino had stuck to his guns regardless of the opposition and paid the price on more than one occasion.

He has often spoken about the need for bravery. Perhaps sticking with Plan A no matter what has been about instilling a mindset and testing players against a variety of challenges.

Going into his fourth season with minimal changes over the summer the system was now about as ingrained as it would ever be.

The key difference was going to be Wembley. It was to become their home in the league, not just in Europe, with a huge pitch, long grass and soft turf - a combination that does not favour teams who prefer to play a slick, possession hungry passing game.

Counter-attacking sides hold the advantage on this surface and that is what Tottenham have become, especially in the Champions League.

A big swampy pitch, tough competition in multiple tournaments, a settled squad and the global rise of high-pressing meant it was now the time for Pochettino to implement an alternative way of setting his team up.

What Does it Look Like?

Pochettino has claimed that it is always his intention to dominate the ball - just that sometimes the opposition are too good, and force Tottenham back.

This is a little difficult to believe. Pochettino repeated the claim after hosting Liverpool, recording 36% possession and winning 4-1.

In the previous five matchups, Spurs drew three times and lost twice. Across those games they averaged 51.6% possession - not deviating far each time.

It's hard to imagine a way in which Liverpool would have simultaneously forced control of the ball in this game alone, and also been obliterated on the scoreline.

Frankly, there are some clear tactical instructions across the four games in focus. Home and away to both Dortmund and Real Madrid, Spurs conceded possession, sat off a little and look to hit the opposition on the break.

In his usual possession heavy style of play Pochettino demands his team move as a tight, compact unit across the height and width of the pitch.

With this compactness everyone attacks and everyone defends. This way of playing can lead to leaving a lot of space on the opposite flank as the entire team move over to one side.

(Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

In this season's more defensive set up, the back five remain largely in place - although still fairly high and spread evenly across the width, allowing the midfield and attack to become ultra-narrow as they then follow the ball and slow down the opposition's possession.

Tottenham, then, are still compact, still pressing the ball and still, occasionally, pushing the opposition back to force them to play long.

Mauricio Pochettino is able to maintain his principles of defence by altering the application depending on the opposition.

Just as Tottenham's regular possession attack is focussed on zones, so is their counter-attacking.

After winning the ball against Real Madrid and Dortmund Spurs quickly looked for a player central, between the opposition's midfield and defence.

This player would often hold the ball for just a second, drawing their opponents towards them, ideally one or more of the defenders. Their teammates would then make runs into wide areas forming a V-shape between the three attacking players.

It is a swift and clever switch that rapidly increases the amount of space the opposition need to cover, which in turn stretches and drags them out of their shape.

Away at the Santiago Bernabeu, Pochettino deployed Fernando Llorente up front for his ability in the air.

Once they had won the ball Spurs were able to play to him directly, confident in his ability to use his height to win the aerial battles and keep possession.

(Image: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images)

This allowed Harry Kane freedom to make attacking movements off the ball, playing off the target man as an 'out ball' to ease the burden on the defence, confident they had a safe and easy option to find when they needed it.

Finishing first in a group that included Real and Dortmund was no small feat, regardless of the Germans' problems this season, but becoming Champions League contenders only remains a useful skill while Tottenham can continue to secure qualification through a top four finish.

What comes next?

Their form in the Premier League has not been so bright this season. Stretching the squad across the two competitions while suffering some lengthy injuries has caused Spurs some familiar rotation issues.

"Without Mousa Dembele, we do not exist," said Pochettino in 2016. His side's possession game is a very specific model of football that requires specialist roles and special players to perform them. Dembele and his importance epitomises this.

He has struggled for full-match-fitness for months, while Victor Wanyama's injury has deprived the team of a true defensive midfielder, leaving the squad short on centre-backs to play a proper back three, with a shortage of pace at full-back.

The challenge now for Pochettino now is that he must address a paradoxical balance while asking even more from his players. He has to effectively coach one squad to emulate two contrasting styles of play.

If inspiration is required, Spurs should go back and look at Jupp Heynckes Bayern Munich side that won the treble in 2013 or Sir Alex Ferguson's flexible Manchester United sides of years gone past.

There is of course one other method for re-qualification: winning the tournament. In which, case Tottenham's biggest boost for chasing glory isn't so much their progression to the knockout rounds but the means that took them there.

Spurs now have the tools for killing giants on the continent.

If losing to Monaco in group stages last year was such a low point for Pochettino, it was also a teachable moment too.

Leonardo Jardim's side made it through to the final four of the Champions League in 2017 by cutting teams down on the counter-attack. The question for Tottenham is whether they can go even further.

How far can Spurs go in the Champions League this season? Let us know in the comments below.