Pochettino on Tottenham’s Win: One of the Best Performances So Far
Mauricio Pochettino describes Tottenham’s win over West Brom as one of the best performances he has seen this season after 21 league games in the books.
In the context of “one of the best performances so far this season” Manchester City was the standard for the longest time this term.
It’s not hard to see why too. It was a big match-up with two clubs playing some good football leading up to a first-place against third-place clash early in the 2016-17 campaign.
The Citizens came into White Hart Lane having won six straight league games and were unbeaten in nine consecutive matches in all competitions to begin their season under Pep Guardiola.
Spurs meanwhile had won four in a row in all competitions too.
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Long story short, Mauricio Pochettino out-coached Pep Guardiola, on his way to a stunning 2-0 upset over one of the early-season favorites to win the Premier League.
Again, this was the highlight of Tottenham’s best win this season. Though it would be topped two months later when Spurs would host Chelsea.
A team that had won 13 straight league matches and were seeking to add another one to record the longest winning streak in the Premier League.
Because the Blues had no problems in dispatching opponents one after another, while maintaining 10 clean sheets in the process, it wasn’t difficult to predict a tough battle.
Of course, that didn’t happen. And just like a dominating performance against Man City back on October 2nd, Spurs did the exact same thing on their way to victory over Chelsea on January 4th.
If beating Manchester City and Chelsea were two of the biggest wins Tottenham have recorded this season, what makes yesterday’s win against West Brom’s one of the best performances so far this season?
Strictly speaking, it all comes down to the way in which Mauricio Pochettino’s players fully took control of the game from start to finish and completely dominated the Baggies.
Based on the post-match statistics, this was not a close game at all.
Spurs dominated possession with 73 percent compared to West Brom’s 27. Shots-wise, it was very lopsided as Tottenham recorded 21 shots, had 11 on target and scored four goals.
The Baggies on the other hand didn’t attempt a single shot during the first half. They would end the match with three total shots, but none of them were on target.
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Statistics can sometimes skew a game from looking worse or close than it actually was. But in this case, without looking at the numbers, it was evident that Spurs were unstoppable from the opening whistle until the final whistle.
Against a Tony Pulis-coached West Brom team that has a very stubborn defense and is difficult to breakdown, Saturday’s 4-0 win over the Baggies was a thorough thrashing as much as it was a statement win.
It’s why Pochettino has claimed that yesterday’s victory was one of the best performances he’s seen so far.
And not only that, this dominate win signified that Spurs can be considered title contenders with a seven-point gap separating Chelsea at first place and Tottenham at second.
“I’m very proud,” Mauricio Pochettino began. “The effort of the players was amazing, fantastic and we played wonderful football.”
“It was one of our best performances so far and I’ve only good things to say.”
“It was difficult to break them down last season and they are a very good, physical team but the way we played it was impossible for them to stop us.”
“We pressed a lot and we competed again like we did against Chelsea and Aston Villa. That was great and a good sign we’re improving.”
“We’ve learned a lot from last season and we’re more mature, that’s a good thing to show we can compete for the big things in the future.”
One key factor that Pochettino mentioned leading up to Saturday’s fixture was playing with patience. Now it might not have looked like Spurs were patient with their approach and everyone ruthlessly attacking West Brom non-stop for 90 minutes, but that’s what Tottenham actually did.
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“We spoke a lot during the week. One thing that was important was to be patient and then our position on the pitch was going to be key to keeping possession and trying to find the space to create chances.” Pochettino added.
“Another face of the game was the spirit to try to recover the ball, to press high, to run a lot and that’s how we prepared.”
“The players delivered and I thought it was fantastic how they played, it was an amazing performance and an amazing result.”