Officiating Both Helped and Hindered Tottenham Against Leverkusen

Tactically speaking, Tuesday’s match between Tottenham and Bayer Leverkusen was about what you’d expect. Both sides pressed, both sides thrived in transition, and everything evened out.

There was an underlying story here that speaks to both Tottenham’s success under Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics and its inherent limitations.

That story is present entirely within match officiating. Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır, a veteran of this summer’s Euros and international club competitions, held the whistle for this match. He made it clear from the first kick just how the subsequent 90 minutes would play out.

Both sides tested Çakır’s limits in the opening ten minutes, each coming in hard in their pressing and generally attempted to out-aggress the other. And Çakır let it happen.

There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s in the game’s best interest if the referee declines to put himself at the center of things, particularly early on. There’s a limit to this, of course, and Tottenham and Leverkusen would take the cue and walk that limit for the remainder of the match.

In the first half, this was a direct benefit to Tottenham. The Premier League, after all, features relatively loose officiating standards, or at least loose enough for the English game to earn its “physical” label.

More from Match Reports

This means that teams like Tottenham can be more robust in their pressing without fear of play being frequently stopped. It allows played like Érik Lamela and Mousa Dembélé to get away with a style of play that might not fly elsewhere in football.

German referees tend to be a bit more liberal in their foul calls. This keeps players more disciplined in their play, but also affords slightly more chances for teams to regroup and catch their breath. A fervent pressing style like Leverkusen’s is thus made all the more easy.

Without having those breaks as often in the first half, Tottenham’s physical superiority was brought to bear. Victor Wanyama could retrieve and retain the ball with virtual ease, and borderline challenges in defense left several Leverkusen players rattled.

Higher up the pitch, Lamela, et al could press with less fear of a whistle being blown for a misplaced foot or hasty challenge. It made for a perfect storm, amplifying Tottenham’s strengths to a degree that they should have felt aggrieved to not have the lead going into half-time.

Like the match against City, Tottenham’s freedom to play their own game in the first half came at a cost. Several players, particularly in attack, grew slower and more sluggish. Pochettino didn’t have the options on the bench to sustain their momentum either, and players like Heung-min Son, Lamela and Dele Alli stayed on the pitch longer than they had to.

Add to that the fact that Leverkusen caught on to Çakır’s officiating style in the second half and adjusted accordingly. Their defending — particularly through the center of the pitch — became much more vicious. Suddenly runs through the center were virtually impossible due to some harsh challenges, ones not often called for fouls.

Next: Tottenham Player Ratings: Away at Leverkusen

On the other end of the pitch, Leverkusen pushed back against Tottenham’s full-backs and kept them from influencing the game higher up the pitch. It was, admittedly, a near perfect reaction from Schmidt and his team. Only the magisterial form of Hugo Lloris kept them from finding the back of the net.

And so Tottenham’s fate was most intimately wrapped up in the actions — and inactions — of Cüneyt Çakır. Had they exploited their advantage in the first half more, we might be talking about a Tottenham win rather than a 0-0 draw. That the same environment which allowed that advantage worked against them after the interval is just another small irony of football.