How Well Did Tottenham Play With Two Strikers?

Tactically speaking, Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday was an innovation.

The club first hinted at the possibility of using two strikers on the pitch simultaneously when they bought Vincent Janssen this July. Last season top scorer in the Eredivisie was too good to simply be backup to Harry Kane this term. He was always going to play a bigger role.

His substitution on the second half of Tottenham’s pre-season friendly against Inter hinted at what that role would look like. With Kane dropping deeper, Janssen led the line. He was the end point to the club’s attacking thrust forward.

On the surface, Janssen’s inclusion didn’t do much to change Tottenham’s shape. Kane essentially operated in the same role Dele Alli occupied last term. His time was divided between creation and execution, while Érik Lamela and Christian Eriksen worked the channels alongside him.

That’s where the similarities end, however. While Alli is certainly aggressive, he isn’t a striker. Kane remains a potent threat even when he’s not leading the line.

Kane’s “deeper” role isn’t all the much different than the role he plays normally however. For such a prolific striker, Kane spends an awfully lot of time setting up play and participating in Tottenham’s high press.

If Janssen’s inclusion doesn’t change much about Kane’s game, then what about the rest of the attack? Does Alli’s absence hurt?

Not really.

Tottenham - Premier League - 20th August 2016 - Football tactics and formations /

The key is having Lamela and Eriksen switch flanks. Typically they operate from the right and left respectively, cutting inside to crowd the center of the pitch. On Saturday they were tasked with the opposite: stay wider, assist their full-backs and stretch Palace’s midfield and defense.

This was especially true of Lamela. With Andros Townsend threatening to maraud down Tottenham’s defensive right, having Lamela supplement Rose’s efforts was vital. The pair both contained Townsend directly and effectively cut off his service.

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The man who most benefited from the formational switch was likely Wanyama. After a performance against Everton that looked too conservative in attack, the big Kenyan turned in a performance that more closely resembled that of Mousa Dembélé, the man he’s temporary replacing.

Wanyama completed the most passes of anyone on the pitch, and not just in deep midfield. He had freedom to roam, cutting left and right to create and stifle overload situations while so pressing forward to fill whatever space left open in Tottenham’s wider play. His winning goal came off a corner and thus didn’t come as a direct result of these efforts, but it was just reward for a much improvement performance.

In truth, the formational switch wasn’t a complete success. Eriksen’s influence dipped dramatically from the right. Both his passes and chances created plummeting compared to their usual team-high. It’s entirely conceivable that Alli is brought on to play in the right midfield role in future incarnations of this system. The 20-year-old might not be the playmaker Eriksen is, but he would be more comfortable overall with operating in a wider area.

Next: Tottenham: Pochettino Always Wanted Two Strikers

Tottenham’s two-striker system is still very much evolving. It will be many more weeks before we see its full potential. Our brief glance of it on Saturday is enough to tell us that it’s viable though. Against opponents like Palace who operate with more width, it might even be the preferred formation going forward.

With Liverpool coming next week, it seems likely that Pochettino opts to return to Alli if only to add more bulk to the midfield in a counter of Jürgen Klopp’s press. With Janssen waiting in the wings, though, Tottenham look like they have added a new, potentially deadly tool to their arsenal.