Tottenham’s Pochettino Happy with Performance, Not with Result
A draw means Tottenham dropped two points, but against West Brom it’s a good result on the road this early in the season.
If there was one thing that Mauricio Pochettino took away from Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion — the third straight one-all result dating back to last season — it’s that Spurs have maintained their consistency for the past six games during their unbeaten run in all competitions.
Possession, shots and shots on goal, these three categories are the ones that Spurs have excelled at against their opponents. And in the process, Pochettino’s side have won five games and drawn once.
They have outscored their opponents 12 to 2 and picked up four clean sheets along the way.
Granted, the teams Tottenham faced in their current unbeaten streak were Sunderland, Gillingham, Middlesbrough, CSKA Moscow and West Brom. The only challenging team was Manchester City but even they were outmatched at White Hart Lane.
Still, if Spurs want to get into a groove and return to the form they established last year as title contenders, they have to start somewhere. Even if that means beating up on mid-to-bottom of the table teams along the way.
Against Tony Pulis’ West Brom team, the performance Spurs displayed is evidence that they are clearly the better team in their last six outings. But despite outscoring their opponents, Tottenham’s finishing could use some more work with the amount of chances they have created.
Yesterday’s match is further proof that a more clinical finish in front of goal is still needed.
Then again, Ben Foster just happened to have one of those games where a goalkeeper tends to play his absolute best against Spurs.
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“We feel a little disappointed. I think we were much better but in football, you need to score,” Mauricio Pochettino said after coming away with yet another 1-1 draw against West Brom (via Tottenham’s official website).
“In the first half we managed the game completely and created chances but if you don’t open the scoring, a team like West Brom is dangerous from set-pieces and that’s how we conceded the goal.”
“The character we showed after that was fantastic so I’m happy with the performance but yes, disappointed with the result.”
Interestingly enough, all of Spurs’ goals they have conceded in the Premier League through eight games has come off of set pieces. This could say a lot about Tottenham’s defense being impenetrable during open play but spotty on set pieces.
In the three draws Pochettino’s side has been in, all of the goals Everton, Liverpool and West Brom scored was off of a set piece.
From Ross Barkley’s free kick, to James Milner’s penalty and finally Nacer Chadli’s rebound goal after Hugo Lloris made a diving save from a corner.
Middlesbrough also scored off of a corner kick in their bid to draw level late in the game.
Set pieces are difficult to defend due to the chaos that ensues when the ball is in the air and a mass of humanity scrambling around at one specific area. So it’s not exactly surprising that Spurs have been scored on quite a bit from dead ball situations.
Though at the same time, they could do well to clean this up to make it more difficult for teams to score. Which is both obvious and easier said than done.
Next: Tottenham's Dele Allli: We Didn't Give Up, We Kept Fighting
In any event, what’s important to take away from a third consecutive 1-1 draw against West Brom is that teams are having a hard time breaking down this Tottenham team.
It’s a fight for the entire 90 minutes and unless teams can win a free kick, corner or penalty, there’s a slim or zero percent change (at the moment) to score on Spurs during open play.
This consistency that Spurs have been on offensively (dominating) and defensively (impenetrable) is two good reasons why they are sitting third in the Premier League table and trail Manchester City and Arsenal by a single point.