Pochettino Perfect in Tottenham Derby Win over London Rival Chelsea

Tottenham didn’t do themselves any favors in the transfer market this summer but they did the best thing possible to nullify those errors in extending Mauricio Pochettino’s contract.

When teaching the importance of football tactics to children football coaches, athletically inclined parents and simple football students could watch Tottenham’s 3-1 destruction of Chelsea if they needed. It would be a study in attacking efficiency, structure, organization and follow through.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham were so clearly the better team in the match for the entirety of the game that it was not a surprise to see some of Chelsea’s small traveling contingent heading for the exits with more than 10 minutes left in the match. That is how little hope there was in the match. Though it must be said that the blueprint for defeating or at least stifling Chelsea has been well known for a while. Deny Jorginho the ball. Few if any have entirely succeeded in it. That is well reflected by Chelsea’s unbeaten record in the Premier League so far this season.

Where Tottenham improved though was in doing more than simply nullifying the Brazilian-born Italian playmaker. They so thoroughly broke Chelsea’s press that by the time the match reached it’s 60th minute any and all of those skeptics of Sarrismo’s ability to make it in England would have been purring.

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For Chelsea’s strategy to work they need to press teams deep into their own halves. It relies on Chelsea keeping the ball and when they don’t their winning it back quickly. Sarrismo is not really any different from Guardiola’s original six-second defense in Barcelona except that it is coached of course by the Italian and not the Spaniard.

The major flaw in this all though is that it leaves an unbelievable amount of responsibility on the central defenders to not only read the game well but to play it with a level of intelligent decisiveness that David Luiz entirely lacked. Gary Neville was proven right once again and Tottenham cut through the once famously resolute Chelsea defense like Spitfire’s through the fog.

Heung-Min Son was excellent and made Luiz look like a schoolboy in skinny jeans before scoring the third and goal of the match. Before that Harry Kane simply played about as perfect a match as a complete forward can. He held onto the ball when necessary and turned defenders just as often. He made sure to keep them on the back foot by integrating long shots into his game and even scored one that Luiz oddly screened his goalkeeper on. There’s no arguing that Arrizabalaga should have done better but with defenders doing more to harm than help him as Luiz did for the entirety of the match it could be excused.

The first goal was the best example of Tottenham’s seizing on Chelsea’s general lack of cohesiveness. Luiz gave away the sort of foul that would relegate him to the bench at literally any other club in the league and then with a quick and well-maneuvered set-piece routine Tottenham outsmarted the Blues and it was 1-0 in the first few minutes.

Tottenham were decisive on the break and punished Chelsea more often than they failed too. It was the sort of clinical and strong appearance that many in football have come to expect from Madrid’s other team that wears red and white in the last seven years.

There’s really not enough good to say about how thoroughly Tottenham defeated Chelsea and how proud they should be. For the Blues, this will serve as a swift reminder of where they are. They are a headstrong and top-heavy team that is both boisterous and overconfident. Tottenham are a strong and well drilled cohesive unit. For what they lack in money and star power they easily make up in graft, character and sweat.

An excellent performance by all and especially the manager. Tottenham are the best team in London at the moment.