Tottenham are rendering classic tactical descriptions obsolete

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LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 14: Eric Dier of Tottenham Hotspur attempts to get past Daley Blind of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at White Hart Lane on May 14, 2017 in London, England. Tottenham Hotspur are playing their last ever home match at White Hart Lane after their 112 year stay at the stadium. Spurs will play at Wembley Stadium next season with a move to a newly built stadium for the 2018-19 campaign. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) /

No where — from the team sheet to where the players stood on the pitch prior to the opening whistle to the passing combinations throughout the match — was it clear how exactly Tottenham were playing in the 2-1 win over Manchester United Sunday.

Well, one thing was clear: Tottenham were playing very well. But for a brief surge in which United scored in the second half, this was Spurs’ match through and through.

From back to front, United rarely found space to operate, and could hardly catch their breath between assaults on their backline. Pochettino engineered a game that could only produce one result: a Tottenham win.

Breaking Pochettino’s triumph down into component parts proves to be surprisingly difficult though. It starts at the most basic level when we ask ourselves a simple question: what formation was Tottenham playing in?

Nine times out of ten, you can guess how a team will play by the players named. Two strikers, two centre-backs, two full-backs? That sounds like a 4-4-2. Three central midfielders? Probably a 4-3-3.

That doesn’t mean that teams play rigidly to these descriptions, but it gives you an idea of what that team intends to do in a match, and how effective they will be at doing it. A 4-4-2 offers a lot on the flanks going in both directions, for instance, while a 4-3-3 might be a great option to use against a 4-4-2 if you want to dominate the center of the pitch and thus the most valuable passing lanes.

For much of Pochettino’s time at Tottenham, the tactics were easily guessed at before every match. He played a fairly narrow interpretation of the 4-2-3-1, a formation that came into vogue at the turn of the century that offered a good amount of flexibility. With two central midfielders sitting deep, the top four were free to drop back, push forward or swap roles comfortably atop a firm defensive foundation.

Even as Pochettino used that shape to challenge for the trophy in 2015/16, opposing sides were slowly working out its weaknesses, particularly in attack. Crowd Christian Eriksen through the middle and a lot of Spurs rhythm gets disrupted. Keep the full-backs occupied and Spurs suddenly lack all of their width.

Though Spurs began 2016/17 unbeaten through 12 matches, six of those were draws resulting from a strangely impotent attack. Clearly something had to change.