Tottenham Tactical Analysis: 2-0 win at Newcastle

Let’s avoid hyperbole here: Tottenham struggled against Newcastle in the first half of Sunday’s match, but they were the better side from the start.

Tottenham’s rivals will join with the club’s own legion of doubters in saying that Jonjo Shelvey’s red card in the 48th minute, as well as the two injuries in the first half, decided this game more than anything else.

While that remarkable piece of idiocy on Shelvey’s part certainly heralded the final result, it was not as if Newcastle were pulling one over on Spurs prior to that.

Set aside for the moment what Mauricio Pochettino intended for his Spurs side. Let’s take a look at what Rafa Benítez figured was the best way to beat their guests as St James’ Park on Sunday.

His plan, essentially, came in three parts.

The first involved sitting all eleven men behind the ball whenever Spurs were in possession. That’s a fine choice, even if Pochettino more or less busted that boogeyman set of tactics over the last two seasons. You can delay the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli, but rarely can you stop them entirely over 90 minutes.

The second aspect of the plan went hand-in-hand with the first. It went like this: when the ball was successfully recovered, punt it up field to the strikers as quickly as possible. In attempting to implement this part of the plan, Shelvey recorded only six completed passes in his 48 minutes of play. For a player known for his metronome qualities at Newcastle, that seems like a tremendous waste.

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It was made all the more wasteful by the identity of his targets. How exactly Ayoze Pérez (5 feet, 9 inches) and Dwight Gayle (5 feet, 8 inches) were supposed to overpower Jan Vertonghen (6 feet, 2 inches) and Toby Alderweireld (6 feet, 1 inch) in the air is a genuine mystery. Benitez would have been much better off starting the less prolific but much more physical Aleksander Mitrović, who stands equal with Vertonghen.

Finally, the third — and most effective — part of the plan. When Newcastle weren’t trying to trigger Dele Alli, they focused a good deal of effort in overwhelming Kyle Walker-Peters on his debut.

While the 20-year-old impressed over 90 minutes, Newcastle’s best chances came from his flank thanks in large part to the ingenuity and pace of Christian Atsu. The former Chelsea man was unquestionably the sharpest blade in Newcastle’s arsenal, and Shelvey should have targeted him much more often.

Now, of course, none of these parts were performed in isolation. Tottenham had more than a thing or two to say about how Newcastle intended to see this game out.

The advantage of Vertonghen and Alderweireld’s height already received a mention, but it’s also worth noting that combined they completed more passes than all of Newcastle. Considering that energetic pressing remains about the most effective tactic against Spurs, it was strange that Newcastle didn’t think to stop these two from dictating play from the back.

More importantly, Shelvey’s failure to draw Pérez and Gayle into the match was complicated tremendously by the virtuoso performances of Moussa Dembélé and Eric Dier in the center of the pitch. They smothered both Shelvey and his partner, former Arsenal youngster Isaac Hayden, so successfully that Newcastle likely could not have implemented a Plan B if they tried.

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Tottenham’s attack looked more than a little rusty when faced with Newcastle’s layered defense, but it’s worth noting how much improved the situation became once Moussa Sissoko was replaced by Heung-min Son. If the South Korean were fit enough to start the match, it’s easy to imagine some of those counter-attacks squandered by Sissoko ending differently.

So while Shelvey’s red-card absolutely added coal to Tottenham’s engine, Newcastle were not about to break through. Their tactics weren’t anything Spurs didn’t see every other week for the past few seasons, and all else being equal would not have proved successful over 90 minutes.