How We Drew: Swansea v Tottenham
By Ryan Wrenn
On the surface, Tottenham’s 2-2 draw away at Swansea is relatively easy to dissect.
It was a game of two halves. In the first, Swansea had the advantage, almost entirely by the grace of Jefferon Montero. The Ecuadorian winger was a frequent target of passes coming from Swansea’s midfield, all in an attempt to undo Kyle Walker the same way Montero had undone Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanović. Both of Swansea’s goals came as results of Montero’s runs down the left flank. The first, a cross expertly converted by André Ayew. The second, Harry Kane’s own goal from a corner Montero had won against Walker.
Tottenham learned their lessons and came back after the interval with a plan. Montero’s service would be cut off at its head. No more easy passes from Jonjo Shelvey and Ki Sung-Yueng at the center of Swansea’s midfield. Érik Lamela then Andros Townsend diligently tracked back and frustrated Swansea’s buildup play on their left.
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Walker should be given a heaping portion of the credit as well. But for some notable exceptions, the England right-back did well against Montero in the first half as well. He might have lost him at two crucial moments, but there were plenty more times when Walker successfully nullified the winger. He continued that trend in the second half, only allowing Montero one successful take on and effectively shutting him down.
All of which removed Swansea’s primary means of getting the ball up the pitch toward Tottenham’s goal in the first half. As it happened, their secondary method of long balls up the pitch in the direction of Bafétimbi Gomis synced well with their attempts to defend their 2-1 lead in the second half. That method kept Tottenham’s defenders awake but accomplished little else.
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In truth, Swansea’s attack throughout the 90 minutes was fairly impotent. They managed precisely two shots on goal, one of which was Ayew’s headed goal. Even as Montero got the ball into dangerous positions on the left and Gomis regularly won aerial contests, the Swans couldn’t do much to get around Tottenham’s defense. Were it not for Kane’s blunder this could have been a very different result.
To their credit, Swansea’s backline put on a decent show as well. While Tottenham managed a whopping 11 shots on goal, most of them came from outside Swansea’s penalty area and thus were easier to manage than balls worked into the box. The ease at which Tottenham players were able to take those shots perhaps says something about the quality of Swansea’s midfield on the day, but there’s no doubting the talent of Federico Fernández and Ashley Williams at the centre-back positions.
Tottenham did manage to break through on two, almost identical occasions though. Dele Alli was charging forward into Swansea’s defense for most of the game, but was only fouled by Swansea twice, once in each half. Both fouls occurred near the left corner of Swansea’s box, and Christian Eriksen scored two breathtaking freekicks as a direct result. Stay tuned to HotSpur HQ later this week as we take a deeper look at these types of goals and how they could help Tottenham this season.
While a lot is owed to Alli’s runs forward and Eriksen’s right-foot, the goals reflected the overall run of play in the game. Tottenham improved considerably in the second half and were probably owed one or two more goals. Were it not for the indecision of Clinton Njie and the selfish tendencies of Townsend, those goals might have come.
In the end though Tottenham owes more to bad luck than anything else. Kane’s error was spectacularly terrible but it’s difficult to control for own goals. Were it not for that misstep, Tottenham would have left Liberty Stadium the victors thanks to another impressive defensive effort.