Why Tottenham Can’t Win Pretty

The sign of a truly good football team, so an old adage goes, is that they can still win even if they play poorly. That’s suddenly high praise for this Tottenham team, who struggled to break down Sunderland in Sunday’s 1-0 win.

By no stretch of the imagination was this an even contest. The numbers — Tottenham enjoyed 74% possession and out-passed Sunderland 4 to 1 — were reminiscent of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. The Premier League will struggle to create such a lopsided effort again this season.
What really made this particularly remarkable was the fact that the two sides colluded in making the match look as it did. That unevenness was, to some extent, by design.

Mauricio Pochettino named perhaps his most direct, attack-minded Tottenham side ever, with both Christian Eriksen and Érik Lamela benched in favor of Heung-min Son and Moussa Sissoko. With Dele Alli playing in a more direct role behind Harry Kane, this was a Tottenham side without a real recognized playmaker. It was as if Pochettino knew that a lockpick wouldn’t work on Sunderland’s barricaded door.

And, indeed, David Moyes went to some lengths to not play football. Or, rather, to play a brand of football that was almost entirely about denying the opposition’s opportunities instead of making their own.

To that end he named three defensively minded midfielders to play directly in front of the defense — which itself featured three centre-backs in four positions — while a front three of Jermain Defoe, Steven Pienaar and Adnan Januzaj waited for often inaccurate punts up field.

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The effect was that the two sides represented puzzle pieces that effectively fit together almost seamlessly, with the only break coming with Kane’s goal in the 59th minute that ultimately decided the game in Tottenham’s favor.

Besides that goal, Tottenham took 31 shots against Sunderland, nine of which were on target. The visitors owed a lot to their keeper, Jordan Pickford, who they already had plenty of reason to have faith in. The 22-year-old is among the most talented parts of an otherwise thoroughly underwhelming Sunderland team.

Sunderland’s gameplan focused on allowing those shots to happen, but ideally from relatively safe positions relative to their goal. That didn’t always work out — Tottenham managed three shots, including Kane’s goal, from in the six yard box, and three others from inside the penalty area. It was enough, however, to frustrate even a dominant Tottenham team.

Were this a one-off event, it would be easy to chop this up to an impressive defensive display from Sunderland. Unfortunately for Tottenham, it was a performance very reminiscent of previous matches this season, including Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Monaco.

Teams who present an organized defense — like Monaco — or even simply a crowded defense — like Sunderland — represent a huge issue for this season’s Tottenham team. Whether Pochettino fields his usual playmakers or battering rams like Son and Sissoko, there’s something going on with the quality of Tottenham’s finishing.

The easy answer here is to point to Kane, who like last season is off to a slow start. His two goals in as many Premier League games suggest some improvement, but both of those goals were poacher’s efforts, the result of Kane being in the right place in the right time. While they were crucial, they were hardly the result of Kane’s usual mix of ingenuity and incision.

With Kane simultaneously being the focal point of Tottenham’s attacking efforts and suffering a slump, the side’s efforts hit something of a brick wall when up against defenses like Monaco and Sunderland. Case in point: Son was a menace on Sunderland’s right flank, sending in multiple spectacular crosses that, one feels, an in-form Kane would have converted with ease. Instead, the balls sailed harmlessly in front of goal or connected with a Sunderland player instead of someone from Tottenham.

It’s that missing final piece that’s preventing Tottenham from looking complete or legitimately competitive.

Unlike last season though, when the club suffered through a similar bout of Kane’s lethargy early on, Tottenham are actually getting results enough to put them third in the league after five matches.

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That suggests that something is fundamentally going right despite Kane’s lack of form, and that the club are bound to hit their stride once Kane comes up good as he belatedly did last term.

Kane’s twisted ankle adds a new unknown to this equation however. With Vincent Janssen presumably stepping into the role, the true mettle of this supposedly improved Tottenham sign will be tested. Can the Dutchman convert those chances Kane couldn’t? Or are those created chances not quite as good as they seem?