How Spurs Lost: Away at Anderlecht

Mauricio Pochettino was furious in the post-match press conference. His Tottenham side has just lost 2-1 to Anderlecht – a team that last time out in the Europa League had managed to lose 1-0 to minnows Qarabag FK. Spurs were overconfident and did not stay in the game physically or mentally after Christian Eriksen’s early opening goal.

“It is not normal that we concede the chance that we conceded,” he told reporters. “We lost our focus on the game and, after 10 minutes, the game changes completely. We need to learn. We are very young but we need to learn a lot. When you are the best team on the pitch after 10 minutes and you believe that you can win the game, you need to win the game. Your focus needs to be 200%. But when you lose your focus, it is difficult to come back.”

As broad a criticism as that is, it’s not wrong. Spurs as a collective unit looked disconnected, unable to capture that rhythm that often sees them through tough patches over the 90 minutes.

Part of that was by Anderlecht’s design. They pressed and closed down Spurs players at every opportunity, especially high up the pitch, and were plenty successful at it. Per WhoScored, Anderlecht nicked the ball off Spurs’ central midfield and backline a total of seven times over the full game.

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By far Anderlecht’s most successful gambit was isolating and harassing Clinton Njie in his first start in a Spurs start. The young Cameroonian was thrust into the striker role as Harry Kane was rested and exhibited much of the same problems he did when he came on for Nacer Chadli at the weekend against Liverpool. His first touch was just loose enough that the Anderlecht defenders closing him down were able to recover the ball with relative ease. He alone was responsible for five of Spurs dispossessions in the game.

Njie shouldn’t be judged on this performance any more than he should be judged by his performance against Liverpool. Being thrust into games for injured players are little or no notice is likely not the career trajectory anyone at Spurs foresaw for him. It hasn’t helped that he’s faced off against the only two opponents so far this season that built their games around the press much like Spurs typically do.

The same excuses cannot be offered to Andros Townsend. Earlier this season when he came on as a substitute against Sunderland and then performed so well in Spurs’ first Europa League group match against Qarabag, he seemed like a player reformed. He stayed wide, stretched the opposition’s defense and provided some crucial crosses from just along the edge of the area. That was the game that Spurs needed then, and he delivered.

It was also the game that Spurs needed against a tightly packed Anderlecht defense. Instead, they got a taste of classic Townsend, the player that was about three times as likely to cut inside into traffic and attempt a low percentage shot from outside the box. Playing such a game as that could be excused if Anderlecht were crowding the wings, but here Townsend had several opportunities to take the ball wide into open space. He could have dragged his marker out wide with him and opened up room for Eriksen or Mousa Dembélé to move toward Anderlecht’s goal.

Selfishness isn’t on its own a negative trait in football. If a player like Cristiano Ronaldo or Eden Hazard is selfish it is usually to the team’s betterment. Andros Townsend is far from that level of quality. More often than not, him playing the game he wants to play hurts Spurs as a whole.

Both Njie and Townsend were the best options on the night in positions they played however. They also weren’t the players who allowed Anderlecht to score both of their goals and manage eight shots on target in total. That comes down to a surprisingly lacklustre game from Eric Dier and some poor positioning from Kieran Trippier on the right defensive flank. Far too often Anderlecht striker Stefano Okaka was able to get a shot off – three on goal – after slipping through Spurs’ typically well-layered defense.

It’s tempting to just shrug this off as a night to forget for Spurs, another lesson about workrate and concentration. In reality, it exposes a lot of the same vulnerabilities exposed against Liverpool on Saturday. For all their talent in pressing opponents, Spurs are surprisingly vulnerable against teams that will press them right back. The very nature of pressing takes teams out of shape and thus can expose wide swaths of space to opposition runs and passes if possession is suddenly lost again. Pochettino and his team will need to find some balance between pressing effectively and defending well, especially if they expect to win the return fixture against Anderlecht two weeks from now.

Next: Who Are Tottenham's Bench Players This Season?

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