Tottenham Season Review: Pochettino the Pragmatist

If there is one theme that distinguishes the excellent Tottenham team of the 2016/17 season from what came before, it’s Mauricio Pochettino’s willingness to take the pragmatist’s approach.

Though we speak a lot about the 3-4-2-1 formation and how it helped define Tottenham’s season, it took Pochettino nearly half the term to settle on it. It is best to remember 2016/17 for the seachange that allowed that tactical set to rise to the surface.

It would be unfair to say that Pochettino didn’t take many risks prior to this season. He introduced a high press system to Spurs, after all, well before that was the Premier League house style. He dramatically overhauled his roster, culling players who didn’t meet his physical or mental standards. There’s no denying that, after only two years, Pochettino altered Tottenham to its very core.

All that being said, by the end of 2015/16 it was clear that things were getting a little stale. The traditional 4-2-3-1 formation which Pochettino clung to almost invariably match to match worked well with the parts he was working with, but opposing teams were slowly figuring it out. It’s a testament to the majesty of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier and all the rest that it took them that long.

Pochettino saw in the four game slump at the conclusion of that season that some methods needed tweaking. Players needed to be rotated. The bench needed to be accordingly deeper. And Spurs desperately needed a Plan B, or maybe even a Plan C, when it was clear Plan A wasn’t working.

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Last summer’s transfer window provided the first opportunity to act on these demands. Spurs exclusively recruited for depth. None of Victor Wanyama, Vincent Janssen or Moussa Sissoko were being bought to replace anyone in the starting XI. They were meant to give Pochettino different options on the bench for different situations while also providing rotation options for when the fixture list got congested.

Pochettino clearly began the season not planning for if these players were needed, but rather for when. In part due to circumstances beyond his control — such as Mousa Dembélé’s suspension — but mostly to test the limits of his Spurs team, Pochettino began to experiment.

It started with Wanyama paired with Eric Dier in midfielder, then moved on to Janssen and Kane starting in what was, for Pochettino at least, a strange two-striker formation.

Neither of these opening forays were particularly successful. Indeed, Spurs didn’t play with two strikers in any match past the end of August. Nevertheless, Pochettino proved willing to mixed things up.

That trend continued in subtler ways in the months that followed. Tottenham utilized three man midfields, wingers, false nines and inverted full-backs among other innovations from their former relatively rigid 4-2-3-1.

Injuries played a role in these experiments, of course. Were the likes of Kane healthy, then perhaps Pochettino might have felt the need to be so adventurous. Regardless of the motivation though, by December it was safe to say that Pochettino was comfortable with changing things up.

This process continued throughout the latter half of the season, with the 3-4-2-1 being switched with the 4-2-3-1 depending on the players available and the opposition faced.

Next: Tottenham player review: Jan Vertonghen

Indeed, by the end of the season Spurs were playing a hybrid of the two systems, with Eric Dier and Christian Eriksen’s ability to fold into central midfield depending on the phase of play opening up a whole new set of possibilities.

Expect that trend to continue next season and beyond. This season was the first in which Pochettino truly cracked open the play book and began to realize the full breadth of what his team is capable of.