Tottenham Hotspur’s achilles’ heel

Even though Spurs came away with a 3-1 victory, one part of the team looked shaky. This weak-link was left back Ben Davies.

Tottenham ran like a well-oiled machine against Chelsea. Eriksen, Kane, and Son were relentless on the attack and the likes of Aurier and Sissoko stifled the Blues. Almost every player did their job seamlessly. Almost.

Throughout the game, there was one part of the Hotspur lineup that looked vulnerable. Even though Juan Foyth has only started a handful of matches, it wasn’t him. It was Ben Davies.

Davies was actually quite skillful when Chelsea were countering. He intercepted several passes and made a few steals. However, he was weak when the Blues were plotting in Tottenham’s third and were looking to get the ball in front of goal.

The problem with Davies’ play was that he gave the opposition too much of two things- space and time. Dier and Sissoko defended very positively, pressing players the moment they got near them. Davies did not do this. He instead let Chelsea players choose what they wanted to do and where they wanted to put the ball. All of their most threatening passes came from his side of the field.

This was especially evident in the last 15 minutes of the game. Chelsea caught on to the weak-link and pressed on the left side of Tottenham’s defense. Much like Crystal Palace’s Wan-Bissaka, Willian was able to run wherever he liked around Davies.

This was also true of Azpilicueta, who eventually made a perfect cross to Giroud, who headed it in. Davies gave the attack plenty of time to choose their ideal pass. We almost saw an exact replay of the goal a few minutes later. Azpilicueta again was guarded by Davies and made a cross that was almost put in by Giroud. Chelsea had cracked the code. Good thing they didn’t do it earlier.

If Davies stays in the lineup, teams will no doubt try to funnel their attack through his side. This means Pochettino will have to decide whether he should try to improve Davies’ play in training or sign a new left back. The latter seems more likely.

This is because Spurs are in the title race and any imperfetion will be capitalized on by opposing teams. Imagine Sterling vs Davies or Salah vs Davies. Yikes.

Names like Jordan Lukaku, Eric Bailly, or Alex Sandro have been tossed around as possible replacements. With no signings during the summer, look for Pochettino to fix this part of his team this January.