Tottenham Set for Defensive Test at City

Lingering just on the edges of Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Manchester City in September were several questions, all valid.

Could Tottenham have achieved this without officiating mistakes in their favor? How would they have coped if Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart were healthy enough to start? What would have happened if Sergio Agüero found his form then and not a week later against Newcastle? Were Tottenham really that good, or were City really that bad?

The club’s form before and after that result made it easy to dismiss those questions, but now that Tottenham are tasked with earning an especially vital three points at the Etihad this coming Sunday, they are again rising to the surface.

It wasn’t for lack of trying that City only managed one goal on that day. Particularly in the first half, they kept Tottenham on their heels, though their quality in front of goal did not diminish in the second either.

Overall, City notched 22 attempts on goal. Eight of those were shots on target, including Kevin De Bruyne’s first half goal.

That is among the most shots on target they have conceded all season. Even if Tottenham’s defensive backline was able to block eight other attempts by City, a lot rested on the shoulders of Hugo Lloris in this match.

In Tottenham’s defense, many of those shots in target were from distance or from less-than-ideal angles. Moreover, while Agüero was about to get five shots of his own away, only one of those was actually on target. Considering how much of a menace the Argentine has been for Tottenham over the last two seasons, making sure he was contained might have just been enough to keep City from racking up the goals.

So what does Tottenham need to change – if anything – to keep City’s chances poor, keep Agüero contained, or both?

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Keeping the full-backs deep and narrow would be a good place to start. Doing so limits the amount of space Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer have to cover to track down Agüero and possibly also Kelechi Iheanacho.

It also means that the full-backs will be able to contain the surges forward of City’s wider players, including but not limited to Aleksander Kolarov and Raheem Sterling. City will undoubtedly try to stretch Tottenham’s defense with players like Kolarov hugging the touchline. Kyle Walker – the most likely choice of Mauricio Pochettino on that side of the pitch – will have to remain disciplined.

Arguably, the most important thing that Tottenham can do again on Sunday is keep track of Agüero. With the amount of injuries to City’s attack, he will be the focal point of City’s attack even more than usual. Keeping him from finding angles inside the penalty box – particularly through the center – will be absolutely vital.

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The defense has its own role in attack as well. At the 4-1 win, Alderweireld kept indirect pressure of City’s own defense via the use of long punts forward. He attempted nine such balls on the day, four of which connected with a Tottenham attacker. While these kinds of passes themselves might not lead directly to goals, they do act as a deterrant to any City compulsion to press high up the pitch. Any one of Dele Alli, Harry Kane or Érik Lamela will be waiting to run down long ball attempts.

In September as well as this Sunday, most of the burden of Tottenham’s defending will actually come higher up the pitch. The midfield pair of Eric Dier and Dele Alli was close to immaculate then, and now the burden will fall on Dier and Mousa Dembélé to put on an encore performance. More on that tomorrow.