A Point Well Made by Tottenham

Article by Gordon Grech

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Spurs may not have won the North London Derby, but they demonstrated that when they are on form they can mix it with the best teams in the Premier League. It was clear from the start that Spurs were switched on and up for the clash, which made a welcome change from the week prior.

Pochettino made 3 changes to the team that played WBA, bringing in Vertonghen for Churiches, Mason for Dembele and Naughton for Dier. The Mason move was interesting. He effectively preferred Mason over Dembele, Paulinho, Bentaleb and Stambouli in a big game, making a clear statement that he is going to prefer players who are prepared to follow instructions and play for the team. Interestingly, Townsend didn’t even make the bench. This may have been because of fatigue, but also may be because despite a performance lauded on Wednesday night by the ITV pundits, it may not quite have been what Pochettino wanted.

It’s fair to say the 3 changes worked. Vertonghen was solid and dependable, providing a pairing that was able to help Kaboul marshall the defence. Kyle (“Calamity”) Naughton was defensively solid. He provided resolute defence against Gibbs, Ozil and Carzola. He may not have gotten forward to join the attacks, but this was always going to be a game where Spurs best chance would be to soak up the pressure and hit on the counter. Mason in midfield definitely found the going tougher than against Forest, but he persevered, tracked back well and importantly played the ball forward. It’s becoming clear that Pochettino is prepared to make tough decisions and reputations count for little.

The manner of Spurs goal would also have pleased Pochettino. Pressure from Kaboul still forward after a corner, leads to a pass to Flamini who is put under pressure by Erikson and is dispossessed who gets the ball to Lamela who plays a centimetre perfect pass to Chadli....ball is in the net. The Pochettino philosophy of winning the ball back in dangerous positions was demonstrated to its deadly effect. The Arsenal players were caught out of position, backtracking to stop the wave of white shirts coming at them. Lamela’s pass in the end was so good that all Chadli had to beat was the Arsenal keeper.

Pochettino no doubt will replay this to the boys a number of times, if for no other reason than to emphasise that pressure leads to mistakes, which leads to scoring opportunities, which should lead to goals. It was ironic that in many ways the Arsenal goal came from a pressure act with Lamela the culprit this time in failing to clear a ball from defence. I suspect that Pochettino will show this to the squad to again emphasise his point.

Well done to Spurs and Pochettino to put the WBA loss and the poor first hour against Forest behind them. Away points are valuable in the Premier League and even more so against rival top 4 challengers. Bring on Besiktas and Southampton.

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