Tottenham’s Aggressive Wing-backs Make the Difference

Pinpointing the pivot point in the Tottenham team that earned a record-denying 2-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday is surprisingly tricky.

There were quality performances all over the pitch, and it’s possible to make a case that one of several Tottenham players were the key man.

Dele Alli, of course, leads that list. It was his two goals that earned the win, after all.

Second to the young Spurs star would be the three players who made up Mauricio Pochettino’s revamped back-line. Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen did something that 13 teams tried and failed to do before them: they prevented Chelsea from scoring.

Those players deserve the lion’s share of the attention as the glow from the win still lingers. There remain two more that seem overlooked however.

Danny Rose and Kyle Walker should be — and often are — considered the best full-back pair in the Premier League. Over the years their games have matured and broadened to the point that it’s not out of line to say that they are the most irreplaceable components of Pochettino’s Tottenham team.

Which isn’t to slight either Ben Davies or Kieran Trippier, Rose and Walker’s respective backups. That pair are fine rotation options. Neither can be said to possess the depth of understanding of Pochettino’s game as much as the men they understudy.

As Tottenham’s sole source of width in most games, Rose and Walker are given two immensely important roles. Both players’ leaned on their offensive game in their early years — Rose originally came into the side as a winger — but since last season they both have developed a knack for tracking back and keeping Spurs’ flanks well guarded.

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It’s the two players’ attacking threat that is most often brought to bear when Pochettino fields three centre-backs however. With cover in behind them, both Rose and Walker enjoy a bit more freedom. They can push forward, defend higher up the pitch and — perhaps most importantly — keep opposition defenders pinned back.

That latter point is what made both players so crucial against Chelsea. Like Tottenham, the Blues under Antonio Conte have adopted a rough 3-4-3 system that is heavily reliant on wing-backs for width and additional attacking threat.

Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso, like Rose and Walker, might not be the names that first come to mind when you consider Chelsea’s dominance, but they’re just as important. Their attacking nous — similar to Rose, Moses began his career as a winger — means Conte can count on as many as five or six attackers when in possession.

Unfortunately, defending is still necessary even in a more advanced role like wing-back. For Rose and Walker, this doesn’t present much of a challenge. Moses and Alonso are more used to opposing full-backs pushed back on their heels, unwillingly ceding space as they try to defend.

Defending against the likes of Rose and Walker, then, put them in an unusual position. Though he’s an experienced full-back, Alonso simply couldn’t keep Walker pinned back into Tottenham’s half. With virtually no defending experience prior to this season, Moses was forced into brash challenges and aggressive marking to keep Rose in check.

Doing so didn’t prevent either Tottenham wing-back from influencing the game. Walker’s positioning on the right helped create both of Dele’s goals, for instance.

Their most meaningful contribution was, in a sense, negation. Their aggressive play meant that neither Moses nor Alonso were able to get forward all that often on their own. To do so would leave Chelsea’s defense exposed to Tottenham’s customary quick and deadly transitions. There is nothing Rose and Walker like more than open space ahead of them.

Next: Tottenham Were Competitive and Showed Character

Even when Chelsea went 2-0 down and felt more compelled to go for it, Rose and Walker held their own. The result throughout the match was that Diego Costa — with 14 goals to his name so far this season, easily the league’s most dangerous striker — found himself isolated atop Chelsea’s formation. Even Pedro and Eden Hazard couldn’t help much as they were either tracking back to contain Tottenham’s wing-backs or also left cut off from any drive forward.

There’s no quantifying the value of Rose and Walker in this sense. They at once add value to Tottenham and deprive the opposition of the same. Without them it’s easy to imagine this Chelsea match ending very differently.