LukeBB
Well-Known Member
- Aug 4, 2013
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Spurs again lined up in what appeared to be a 4-2-3-1 shape. Ben Davies made his debut at left back, while Lamela, Eriksen and Soldado all lined up in what was an intimidating starting XI for a mediocre-looking Toronto side.
Players such as Soldado, Lamela, Mason, Kaboul and Veljkovic were given the chance this game to start and test themselves against a fully fit Toronto side whilst Pochettino saved the likes of Townsend, Kane, Walker and Fryers to play against either a more tired or inexperienced second half Toronto side (it turned out to be an inexperienced side).
The likes of Naughton, Lamela and Soldado picked up where they left off vs Seattle and Spurs got started by forcing the front 6 deep into the Toronto half, early on pressuring the hosts’ defence on the ball and minimising the space, forcing Toronto to lump the ball forward. This worked especially well for us considering Toronto lined up with Defoe and Gilberto up front, neither of whom are likely favourites to win any aerial duels. The below diagram highlights how one forward player triggers the pressing movement, those in support of the pressing player position themselves to cut off the opposition passing lines and force the opposition to either pass backwards or knock the ball long.
When Toronto was in possession of the ball, Lamela occupied the central attacking role supporting Soldado in pressing the CBs and Eriksen was tasked with cutting off passing lines to the wide areas. This is likely because of Lamela’s defensive work rate and his physical presence; Lamela is physically stronger than Eriksen and is much more willing to chase down the ball with ferocity.
Against Seattle, Holtby was positioned on the right of midfield and was expected to drop into the centre in the build up to create a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 shape, helping the ball move from defence to attack. In this game, this role was handed to Eriksen. When Friedel or one of the CBs received the ball, Kaboul and Veljkovic would split to the edges of the 18 yard box, leaving Capoue to occupy the space they had created. In turn, this created space for Eriksen to slot in alongside Ryan Mason in central midfield, which also created space for Naughton and Davies to stretch the pitch, allowing Lamela and Lennon to overload the central areas in support of Soldado.
The disciplined movement of Eriksen and Lamela left little for Lennon & Soldado to do in terms of assisting the build-up, so their role was to pin the CBs to their defensive areas and, in Lennon’s case, drag the FBs inwards to create space for Davies to exploit. Lennon grew into the game as the first half wore on and gradually his movement increased and he drifted into central areas, allowing him to play a large part in both of Lamela’s goals. Lennon moving inwards pulled Toronto’s RB into the central zones, therefore allowing Lamela to run into and exploit the space created – to devastating effect. Lennon’s central runs also allowed Soldado to drift into the wide areas and therefore lose his marker. This would lead to the Spaniard playing a vital role in both goals, by picking up the ball away from his natural areas and before passing to an onrushing Lamela.
A side note on the first half, I was very pleased to see an impressive attention to our set-pieces. Both attacking corners were played short because, realistically, with only Kaboul as the obvious target, we were never going to score by putting the ball into ‘the mixer’, so we played short and placed emphasis on retaining possession. Likewise when defending the corners, we appeared to use a mixture of zonal and man marking, which gives me hope Pochettino can solve our issues at set-pieces once and for all in the future.
The first half ended 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, both goals courtesy of Lamela.
The Second half produced a whole host of changes from both sides with both teams replacing experience with youth. Tottenham line-up in a 4-1-4-1/ 4-3-3 shape.
Holtby was positioned in a deeper role but certainly led the line when it came to pressing the opposition. The tenacious Germany spent most of his time in the opposition half, allowing Falque, Kane and Townsend to interchange and play off him; this presented problems in our build-up and defensive play.
Carroll was acting as a single, central pivot and was tasked with the duty of receiving the ball off of the CBs and playing it into midfield. One problem we had with this was that, unlike Capoue, little Tommy Carroll is inexperienced when it comes to positioning himself in defensive situations and is physically not as dominating as the Frenchman.
This contributed to the first goal we conceded. Ceballos gave away possession cheaply in midfield with a poor pass and the Toronto attackers charged down on our goal in a 4v4 situation. Carroll needed to step up earlier and reduce the amount of time the Toronto attacker had to pick a pass. I know Carroll’s playing style doesn’t rely on him breaking up opposition attacks but if he is to continue playing in this deeper role as a single pivot, then he needs to learn how to press the opposition and when. Had Holtby been supporting/positioned closer to Carroll then he may’ve been able to make up for Carroll’s reluctance to tackle the opponent and therefore cut out the Toronto attack.
The second issue we had with Holtby playing further forward was that there was too large a distance between defence and attack. When Carroll turned after receiving the ball from defence, he was faced with a large number of Toronto players and not enough options in between the lines of the Toronto attack to pass to.
The lack of an easy central pass led to Walker and Rose seeing more action in the wide areas, something which was drawing Pochettino off his seat on more and more as the second half wore on. Holtby’s high positioning did give us options on the counter attack which eventually contributed to our 3rd goal but when we were 2-0 up, emphasis should’ve been placed on possession, and considering Townsend, Falque and Ceballos were playing ahead of him, Holtby should’ve realised no one else would drop deep to take the ball off Carroll.
Saying that, maybe it was Poch’s idea to play Holtby further up the pitch, whether it worked or not, this game left Pochettino with enough to think about. The signing of Vorm will provide our CBs and playmakers an extra option in the build-up of play and I’m sure will prove to be a clever acquisition for the club.
Townsend and Ceballos spent equal amounts of time switching from central and wide areas; their relationship was a positive to take away from this game, as it kept the Toronto defence occupied allowing Kane to drift away from his markers and link up with the counter attacks and Falque. Kane was much more mobile in this game than he was vs Seattle and he crafted himself a chance from a Rose cross but ultimately, he didn’t attack the ball with enough belief and his best chance of the game went begging.
The equalising goal was a poor one to concede, a long ball from a Toronto defender produced a fantastic one touch pass to another Toronto forward to slot home. Dawson and Fryers in this case simply weren’t strong enough in this case; Dawson should never have allowed the young Toronto forward the necessary space to produce a lay off and Fryers allowed his forward to get goal side of him too easily.
The response was magnificent however and our lads really got their act together and began to show us glimpses of what is hopefilly to come. When it wasn’t Holtby, the likes of Falque, Ceballos and Townsend provided Carroll and the FBs with much needed support to take the ball away from defence and advance towards the Toronto goal with some smart one-touch play and aggressive dribbling. The pressing became more aggressive and we recovered the ball in the Toronto half several times leading to chances for Ceballos and Townsend, eventually for Townsend to score a very nice effort form the edge of the Toronto area.
3-2 to Tottenham Hotspur was the full time result, three great goals scored but two poor goals conceded, leaving Pochettino with plenty still to work on but ultimately another pleasing performance from the lads showing great application and adaption to Pochettino’s system.
My MOTM has to be Erik Lamela; two classy finishes after some clever movement to exploit the space created by Lennon and Soldado and showed fantastic application and work rate in pressing the opposition and responding to the movement of Eriksen.
A quick word on Ben Davies as well. The deubtant showed genuine intelligence in attacking positions, taking his time to pick out the right cross or pass and picked the appropriate occasions to move forward. But against tougher opposition, questions will be raised regarding his defensive qualities when a ball is played in behind him or a tricky winger is running at him. Overall a solid start for Davies, however.
A link to the original post: http://www.thetottenhamway.com/2014/07/24/toronto-fc-vs-spurs-detailed-tactical-analysis/
Players such as Soldado, Lamela, Mason, Kaboul and Veljkovic were given the chance this game to start and test themselves against a fully fit Toronto side whilst Pochettino saved the likes of Townsend, Kane, Walker and Fryers to play against either a more tired or inexperienced second half Toronto side (it turned out to be an inexperienced side).
The likes of Naughton, Lamela and Soldado picked up where they left off vs Seattle and Spurs got started by forcing the front 6 deep into the Toronto half, early on pressuring the hosts’ defence on the ball and minimising the space, forcing Toronto to lump the ball forward. This worked especially well for us considering Toronto lined up with Defoe and Gilberto up front, neither of whom are likely favourites to win any aerial duels. The below diagram highlights how one forward player triggers the pressing movement, those in support of the pressing player position themselves to cut off the opposition passing lines and force the opposition to either pass backwards or knock the ball long.
When Toronto was in possession of the ball, Lamela occupied the central attacking role supporting Soldado in pressing the CBs and Eriksen was tasked with cutting off passing lines to the wide areas. This is likely because of Lamela’s defensive work rate and his physical presence; Lamela is physically stronger than Eriksen and is much more willing to chase down the ball with ferocity.
Against Seattle, Holtby was positioned on the right of midfield and was expected to drop into the centre in the build up to create a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 shape, helping the ball move from defence to attack. In this game, this role was handed to Eriksen. When Friedel or one of the CBs received the ball, Kaboul and Veljkovic would split to the edges of the 18 yard box, leaving Capoue to occupy the space they had created. In turn, this created space for Eriksen to slot in alongside Ryan Mason in central midfield, which also created space for Naughton and Davies to stretch the pitch, allowing Lamela and Lennon to overload the central areas in support of Soldado.
The disciplined movement of Eriksen and Lamela left little for Lennon & Soldado to do in terms of assisting the build-up, so their role was to pin the CBs to their defensive areas and, in Lennon’s case, drag the FBs inwards to create space for Davies to exploit. Lennon grew into the game as the first half wore on and gradually his movement increased and he drifted into central areas, allowing him to play a large part in both of Lamela’s goals. Lennon moving inwards pulled Toronto’s RB into the central zones, therefore allowing Lamela to run into and exploit the space created – to devastating effect. Lennon’s central runs also allowed Soldado to drift into the wide areas and therefore lose his marker. This would lead to the Spaniard playing a vital role in both goals, by picking up the ball away from his natural areas and before passing to an onrushing Lamela.
A side note on the first half, I was very pleased to see an impressive attention to our set-pieces. Both attacking corners were played short because, realistically, with only Kaboul as the obvious target, we were never going to score by putting the ball into ‘the mixer’, so we played short and placed emphasis on retaining possession. Likewise when defending the corners, we appeared to use a mixture of zonal and man marking, which gives me hope Pochettino can solve our issues at set-pieces once and for all in the future.
The first half ended 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, both goals courtesy of Lamela.
The Second half produced a whole host of changes from both sides with both teams replacing experience with youth. Tottenham line-up in a 4-1-4-1/ 4-3-3 shape.
Holtby was positioned in a deeper role but certainly led the line when it came to pressing the opposition. The tenacious Germany spent most of his time in the opposition half, allowing Falque, Kane and Townsend to interchange and play off him; this presented problems in our build-up and defensive play.
Carroll was acting as a single, central pivot and was tasked with the duty of receiving the ball off of the CBs and playing it into midfield. One problem we had with this was that, unlike Capoue, little Tommy Carroll is inexperienced when it comes to positioning himself in defensive situations and is physically not as dominating as the Frenchman.
This contributed to the first goal we conceded. Ceballos gave away possession cheaply in midfield with a poor pass and the Toronto attackers charged down on our goal in a 4v4 situation. Carroll needed to step up earlier and reduce the amount of time the Toronto attacker had to pick a pass. I know Carroll’s playing style doesn’t rely on him breaking up opposition attacks but if he is to continue playing in this deeper role as a single pivot, then he needs to learn how to press the opposition and when. Had Holtby been supporting/positioned closer to Carroll then he may’ve been able to make up for Carroll’s reluctance to tackle the opponent and therefore cut out the Toronto attack.
The second issue we had with Holtby playing further forward was that there was too large a distance between defence and attack. When Carroll turned after receiving the ball from defence, he was faced with a large number of Toronto players and not enough options in between the lines of the Toronto attack to pass to.
The lack of an easy central pass led to Walker and Rose seeing more action in the wide areas, something which was drawing Pochettino off his seat on more and more as the second half wore on. Holtby’s high positioning did give us options on the counter attack which eventually contributed to our 3rd goal but when we were 2-0 up, emphasis should’ve been placed on possession, and considering Townsend, Falque and Ceballos were playing ahead of him, Holtby should’ve realised no one else would drop deep to take the ball off Carroll.
Saying that, maybe it was Poch’s idea to play Holtby further up the pitch, whether it worked or not, this game left Pochettino with enough to think about. The signing of Vorm will provide our CBs and playmakers an extra option in the build-up of play and I’m sure will prove to be a clever acquisition for the club.
Townsend and Ceballos spent equal amounts of time switching from central and wide areas; their relationship was a positive to take away from this game, as it kept the Toronto defence occupied allowing Kane to drift away from his markers and link up with the counter attacks and Falque. Kane was much more mobile in this game than he was vs Seattle and he crafted himself a chance from a Rose cross but ultimately, he didn’t attack the ball with enough belief and his best chance of the game went begging.
The equalising goal was a poor one to concede, a long ball from a Toronto defender produced a fantastic one touch pass to another Toronto forward to slot home. Dawson and Fryers in this case simply weren’t strong enough in this case; Dawson should never have allowed the young Toronto forward the necessary space to produce a lay off and Fryers allowed his forward to get goal side of him too easily.
The response was magnificent however and our lads really got their act together and began to show us glimpses of what is hopefilly to come. When it wasn’t Holtby, the likes of Falque, Ceballos and Townsend provided Carroll and the FBs with much needed support to take the ball away from defence and advance towards the Toronto goal with some smart one-touch play and aggressive dribbling. The pressing became more aggressive and we recovered the ball in the Toronto half several times leading to chances for Ceballos and Townsend, eventually for Townsend to score a very nice effort form the edge of the Toronto area.
3-2 to Tottenham Hotspur was the full time result, three great goals scored but two poor goals conceded, leaving Pochettino with plenty still to work on but ultimately another pleasing performance from the lads showing great application and adaption to Pochettino’s system.
My MOTM has to be Erik Lamela; two classy finishes after some clever movement to exploit the space created by Lennon and Soldado and showed fantastic application and work rate in pressing the opposition and responding to the movement of Eriksen.
A quick word on Ben Davies as well. The deubtant showed genuine intelligence in attacking positions, taking his time to pick out the right cross or pass and picked the appropriate occasions to move forward. But against tougher opposition, questions will be raised regarding his defensive qualities when a ball is played in behind him or a tricky winger is running at him. Overall a solid start for Davies, however.
A link to the original post: http://www.thetottenhamway.com/2014/07/24/toronto-fc-vs-spurs-detailed-tactical-analysis/
