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Tottenham’s tactics waste Watford chance

By Barrett Rouen

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 30: Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur in action during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at Wembley Stadium on April 30, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 30: Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur in action during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at Wembley Stadium on April 30, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /
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Against Watford Tottenham took the chance to change their tactics and was punished for it.

Tottenham have played in versions of 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 and in between so far this season.  Against Watford, they took the chance to change their tactics and slipped up at the first opportunity of the season.

Generally speaking, the beginning of the season is an incredibly important time to maximize points and build momentum.  Besides the obvious that it’s the beginning of the season, many things play into your hands.  The players are more rested, yes I know the World Cup happened, but even two weeks off on a beach in Ibiza is better than no break at all.  None of the cup competitions have started yet and there are full weeks in between games that are played in better weather than the entire rest of the year.  It’s a perfect time to get things going before the snow, wind and rain make the games all that more full of risk and chance and Tottenham have wasted a golden opportunity here.

Watford are not going to be at the top of the division at the end of the season.  They don’t have half the quality that Spurs do and Tottenham should have won this match 3-0 or more.  It is a trouble that Hugo Lloris was injured in the run-up to the match and teams always miss their captains but at some point, Tottenham will need to be the club that stops making excuses for themselves.

Though it was described in the papers and in the pre-match commentary as a 3-4-3 Tottenham were more in a 3-5-2/Conte’s Italy hybrid formation.  With Harry Kane serving at the top of the formation Pochettino took the opportunity to play Lucas Moura as his partner.  The partnership has potential but looked uncomfortable at best.  Moura is playing with a great deal of confidence at the moment and it’s true his industry is much the reason for Watford’s own goal but industry and compatibility are entirely different things all together.

Then the midfield which is generally the class of Tottenham’s squad was simply poor and disjointed.  To not get the best out of Christian Eriksen is a crime against football.  He’s a true joy and he and Dembele both neither got their measure on this game at all.  Dele Alli was simply a non-factor in a way that doesn’t truly deserve recognition.

What needs to be said here is that with things going so well it appears that Pochettino, who is still one of the best managers in the division, overcomplicated things with his changes.  The team was playing well and had just beaten Manchester United.  Six days is plenty of time for a team to rest and he could have played very much the same squad.  Experimentation, in this case, should have been reserved for a cup match or a moment in which the team was struggling. Instead, by doing it here and losing to a club to whom Tottenham should be embarrassed (and credit to Watford by the way and no disrespect meant) Spurs’ momentum has been killed dead in the water before a pivotal run of important fixtures.

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