Tottenham Need to Trust in Their Defense Against Southampton

Tottenham and Mauricio Pochettino know exactly how Southampton will play during Sunday’s penultimate Premier League match.

It’s a situation that would be familiar with many of Tottenham’s opponents this season. There’s no questioning about how exactly Pochettino’s team will try to frazzle defenses that oppose them. A dogged pressing game combined with some clever movement. The problem, of course, is that knowing what you’ll be facing isn’t the same as knowing how to deal with it.

While Southampton might not be able to make the same claims of potency that Tottenham can this season, they are still a side that knows what they are good at and try to play their game as often as possible.

What makes Ronald Koeman’s team good isn’t too far removed from what makes Pochettino’s Tottenham good. A deep-lying central midfield pair create a firm foundation atop which a mix of four attackers can confidently close down balls and exploit the oppositions mistakes. The four that Tottenham will face on Sunday — Steven Davis through the middle with Dušan Tadić and Sadio Mané out wide and Shane Long at the point of the formation — represent a cross-section of attacking talent broadly similar to the one Tottenham thrived on so much so season.

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Though there might not be a precise one-to-one individual comparison possible with those four Saints players and Christian Eriksen, Érik Lamela, Dele Alli and Harry Kane, there is a congruence in the blend of playmaking, attack and control present so high up the pitch.

For Tottenham, this multi-faceted approach means that opposition attacks can be cut off well before they become a threat, then quickly converted into advantageous situations against a defense stuck between gears. Southampton’s pressing game might not be quite as fundamentalist as Pochettino’s take, but the basic principles are all still there. Quick transitions anchored in the playmaking efforts of Tadić and Davis and capped with the lethality of Long and Mané.

As well-known as this basic construction might be to Tottenham’s attack, it’s still a set of concepts that the defense struggles with at times. Not too many teams out there are capable of reaching quite Tottenham’s heights, but their record against those sides that are is damning. A makeshift effort by a determined Anderlecht side resulted in a 2-1 loss earlier in the season, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool have held Tottenham to draws this season and, of course, Borussia Dortmund pummeled Pochettino out of the Europa League just weeks ago.

All of which would seem to be reason enough for Tottenham to play a more balanced match against a currently hot Southampton side. Koeman’s boys have earned consecutive 4-2 victories and have only lost to eventual league champions Leicester since the beginning of March. Away from home at White Hart Lane, they will be anxious to find space behind an over-eager Tottenham team and test Hugo Lloris’ goal.

Knowing how crucial a win would be, and how potentially damaging a loss might be, might compel Pochettino to have his team play in a manner similar to the one that bested a similarly space-hungry Stoke side back in April. There, Tottenham were less anxious to maintain possession and control, and much more willing to absorb Stoke’s attempts at pressure and choose their moments. They scored four goals from a relatively meager six shots on target that night, while conceding precisely no goals on the other end.

Next: Who Lines Up for Tottenham Against Southampton?

Leaning on the midfield and defense like this has also proven effective before in defending leads earned in the first half. It’s a more conservative approach, but one that can be effective with the right tools in attack. Tottenham would do well to embrace it.