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Toby Alderweireld Happy to Be Back with Tottenham

By Alexander Balano

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 07: Tottenham Hotspur's Toby Alderweireld applauds the fans at full time of the UEFA Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and PFC CSKA Moskva at Wembley Stadium on December 7, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Craig Mercer - CameraSport via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 07: Tottenham Hotspur's Toby Alderweireld applauds the fans at full time of the UEFA Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and PFC CSKA Moskva at Wembley Stadium on December 7, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Craig Mercer - CameraSport via Getty Images) /
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Toby Alderweireld’s return to Tottenham’s starting lineup will further improve their offense as well as continue to make their defense impenetrable.

For nearly two months, Toby Alderweireld was nursing a knee injury that involved nerve damage. What was thought to be a quick recovery that would only see the Belgian international miss at least one week of football was more than that.

Tottenham didn’t suffer defensively with the 27-year-old missing seven weeks as Eric Dier filled in admirably. Though, Spurs’ form took a major down turn following his absence.

It’s was difficult for the Belgian center-back to watch as he was recovering but what’s done is done. He’s just happy to be back after all this time.

“I’m very happy,” Alderweireld said (via Spurs’ official webiste). “It was a tough two months because it’s not been a usual injury, but I worked hard so as soon as the muscle and nerve starting working again, I could be fit to play again.”

“When you are injured at Spurs you have to work very hard! That’s a good thing, because when you are back, you are fully fit. I put a lot of effort in and I’m happy to be back. I just want to help the team in the next few weeks.”

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“It was difficult to see the team play in the Champions League and big games in the Premier League as well. You want to try to help the team but that gave me a reason to work hard and come back as quickly as possible.”

Seeing Spurs pick up two wins in 11 matches during Alderweireld’s absence was also largely due to Harry Kane suffering an ankle injury, and Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli not playing up to their usual standards. However, what was also missing was Toby Alderweireld’s ability to stretch defenses with punts up the field.

Yesterday CSKA Moscow had to defend every inch of Wembley’s spacious pitch.

Diagonal balls like the ones Jan Vertonghen hit on a number of occasions to Christian Eriksen are what Alderweireld specializes in and helps Spurs catch defenses in transition when they go on a counterattack.

In a way, long balls can help mix up a team’s offense instead of the tried-and-true formula of playing from the backline and passing all the way up to the forwards.

Because of Spurs varying their passes up, CSKA was forced to defend long balls over the top, diagonal balls to the flanks and crosses to switch the play up. All of this, plus the simple passes, one-twos and backheels made it very difficult for them to stop Tottenham.

Next: Kane, Winks, Alli Discuss Tottenham's Win at Wembley

Literally, the Russian side spent more time defending and clearing the ball than going on the attack. Sure, CSKA opened up the scoring before Spurs did (missed opportunities will do that), but eventually the amount of pressure they had to deal with prevented them from opening up their offense to score an equalizer.

More than anything, this is a part of Tottenham’s game that has been missed since Toby Alderweireld was sidelined with an injury. With the Belgian defender back, Spurs’ offense looks set to improve even further and become a major threat once more.