Philosophy More Important Than Shape at Tottenham

Is it possible that something is missed by concentrating on Tottenham’s shape over anything else? Recent comments from Mauricio Pochettino seem to suggest just that.

From a tactical perspective, Tottenham’s 2016/17 season is a triumph of pragmatism. Contrasted with last term’s borderline fundamentalist approach to a 4-2-3-1 formation, Pochettino seems more willing than ever to change the makeup and look of his team.

It’s easy to see why. A summer transfer window spent deepening the squad left Pochettino with more options, more ways to exact his philosophy on the pitch.

More choices led to some notable shifts, ones ostensibly designed to exploit a weakness in a specific opposition. We’ve seen two striker systems, no striker systems, wing-backs, three man central midfields and radically free roles given to playmakers.

All of which begs the question: is this an evolving philosophy being implemented with an remarkable dearth of growing pains, or is there something deeper going on here? Sunday’s 4-1 win over Watford provides something close to an answer.

Pochettino’s team was laid out in the tactical shift most often used this season: the back three. Kevin Wimmer, Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier perched up as centre-backs, thus freeing the full-backs to push forward as wingers. On paper this was a clear response to Watford’s preference for a two striker system and their lack of protection in wider areas.

That a Tottenham side shaped in such a way earned a commanding 4-1 win seems to validate how well these tactics worked. Pochettino put his players in the best spots to get a result on the day.

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The only problem with that assumption is that Pochettino happens to disagree with it, at least in principle.

“The formation we choose to play is not important,” he said in a post-match press conference. “Most important is the animation and how we move the ball.

Today was a game where, from the outside, we can see the players were enjoying playing football on the pitch. Most important is the idea, the philosophy, and what we want to do with the ball – I think you give too much importance to the shape.”

What Pochettino is saying here is not that any shape will do, nor that shape is somehow imaginary. Clearly there’s something to geometry if Pochettino continues to fiddle with his team in such ways week to week. Perhaps his comments here could be taken more literally if he sustained last season’s 4-2-3-1 shape. Knowing what we know, though, this simply isn’t some rejection of conventional tactics.

At the root of Pochettino’s speech here is the idea that his core philosophy matters more than formation. The value of these shapes is in how much they allow him to name the players he needs to enact his theory of the game out on the pitch. Does Harry Kane have enough space and time to shoot? Is Christian Eriksen sufficiently liberated from defensive duties to carry the water from midfield on up the pitch? Will Victor Wanyama and Alderweireld have the outlets they need for recycling possession back forward?

A classic understanding of tactics — say, as implemented by stereotypically defensive Italian sides — tends to sublimate the individual in favor of the unit. Coordination and organization more than make up for flair in any given match, or so that theory goes.

Pochettino’s philosophy seeks to liberate the individual players rather than confine them to roles. Yes, his favored high press seems like it should require a good amount of organization. In reality, though, it’s a general idea — close down the opposition, deny them pass options and retrieve the ball — that works as well on an individual level as it does across the whole XI.

The genius of these pragmatic changes then isn’t that they box the opposition in. Rather, these shapes allow Pochettino to squeeze as much quality out of his own team as possible.

Next: Five Takeaways: Tottenham Roll Through Watford

Sunday’s three-at-the-back approach, for instance, leaned heavily on those centre-backs and Victor Wanyama to allow for more freedom higher up the pitch. How else do you field what was essentially a six man attack of Kane, Eriksen, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier?

Asking any one of those players to play in a more defined and rigid role in last season’s customary 4-2-3-1 runs the risk of sapping them of the verve with which they so evidently played on Sunday. In sum, Pochettino’s philosophy — this season more than ever before — is about liberating his players over confining them to dots on a tactical map.