Tottenham Maintain Third in BPL with Victory over Leicester City

Tottenham Hotspur did their job in traveling to King Power Stadium and beating Leicester City 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, as Son and Dele shine.

Tottenham closed the gap to first place in doing the job 2-0 at Leicester City, as Manchester City fell to Chelsea and Liverpool took over the top spot in the Premier League. A goal and assist from Heung-Min Son and a diving header for his 50th Spurs goal by Dele Alli were enough to hold off the Foxes in the battle between top-half clubs.

Tottenham’s Set-up

Tottenham Hotspur coach Mauricio Pochettino used some rotation from the midweek win over Southampton leaving stars Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen on the bench. This meant starting Dele Alli, Heung-Min Son, and Lucas Moura across as the front three. The group seemed to grow stronger as the game wore on, until Lucas was subbed off in the second half.

The midfield was manned by Mousa Sissoko, Harry Winks, and Eric Dier. Like the front three the midfield was able to interchange across positions. The three did the job in the first-half but seemed to tire in the second half as the game went on.  This seems like a unit that needed some freshening and it just never came.

The back saw some change which brought the pairing of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld together at center-half and saw Serge Aurier and Ben Davies man the fullback positions. And of course, in form team captain Hugo Lloris was in the goal.

Tottenham v Leicester First-Half

The first-half was a fun game of football to watch but resulted in very few real opportunities for either team. In fact, the last shot of the half, was the first shot on goal for either side. Fortunately, for Spurs that shot came from Son and nestled nicely in the top left corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal; more on that to come.

For the first quarter of the game, the best player on the field, offensively or defensively, for either side was Mousa Sissoko. He popped up with the ball in a couple of good attacking positions where he drew fouls for Tottenham free kicks. A free kick almost anywhere in the attacking 1/3 is of value in the top flight, but the angles and straight on are even better, and Sissoko drew both.

Defensively speaking, Sissoko was the last man back on two instances where he was able to halt the Leicester City counter attack. Once up near midfield, starting a counter himself. The second was an impressive sliding tackle just outside the Spurs penalty area. In both situations, Sissoko played the ball and played it well, coming out on top twice.

In the last twenty of the first half, the game began to open. Alli and Lucas played several combinations that came close at times, but never quite clicked. Additionally, fresh from his red card suspension Vertonghen made a few blocks on some Leicester crosses, including a huge block around 26 minutes, when Demarai Gray had gotten to the end line.

James Maddison was bright in the first-half and frankly most of the game for Leicester, but without Jamie Vardy who is out injured leading the line Leicester didn’t muster any shots on goal. That said, Lloris did well to come off his line and well onto the pitch to beat Iheanacho to a long ball.

It was one minute into injury time when Son got the ball a few yards outside the corner of the eighteen. Three touches later the South Korean was celebrating with his mates, as Son drove a beautiful left-footed screamer into the top left corner for a 1-0 half-time Spurs lead.

Tottenham v Leicester Second-Half

There were no changes by either side to start the second half, however, the combination of Son, Dele, and Lucas across the front had clearly gained some confidence from their efforts in the first half. Within the first two minutes Dele was just beaten to a ball on the six by Schmeichel and while the moves, like that one, were still not coming off in full, you could see the momentum building within the Spurs’ attacking band.

Just before the hour mark, Moura played it out to Son up the left side. Son took his time picking his head up and then chipped a nice little looper across the field to a wide open and ready to pounce Dele Alli. And pounce he did, scoring his 50th career goal for Tottenham in style with a diving header. Of course, as we know, when Dele scores in the Premier League Tottenham doesn’t lose. The problem may be Spurs seem to know that too.

The second-half wasn’t the same after Lucas and Son came off in the 66th and 72nd minute mark respectively. They were replaced by, strangely enough, Eriksen and Kane.  The introduction of Kyle Walker-Peters, for the apparently injured Serge Aurier made the game a bit more interesting for the final ten minutes.

KWP had a nice block on a strong attempt from Gray, earned a yellow card on Gray by taking a foul, and hustled back after losing the ball in injury time to draw a foul in the box and relieve the pressure. An adventurous eight minutes plus injury time for the young full back had provided something of note after that second goal.

Spurs and their killer instinct

For the last 30 minutes of the game after the second goal, while Tottenham still maintained control of the game it wasn’t their best effort, in fact they were clearly in second gear. We have seen this before, last week against Southampton, last year against Juventus in the Champions League, and here again today.

Three examples- two where we hold on to a comfortable win, one where we lose and watch our European silverware dreams go down the toilet in five minutes. Bottom line, the coasting to the finish mentality has got to stop. Where is the killer instinct that the flat track bullies used to have? While our press has led to a few opportunities this season, it is not the killer it was a few seasons ago. Heck it isn’t even as good as Liverpool’s right now.

Spurs need to fix this, before another Juventus or that’s right Inter Milan happens. If Spurs win at Barcelona and still don’t advance, they only have themselves to blame for blowing leads against Milan and PSV. In the sports world, champions know how to finish, Tottenham needs to learn to step on their opponents throat when they have them down.

What the Bench?

The lackadaisical mentality in the last half-hour was worsened with the introductions of Eriksen and Kane in the second half. Eriksen and Kane are hungry for Barcelona and Silverware, not padding stats against a toothless mid-table team.

With Skipp and Nkoudou both on the bench and a two-goal lead, I was excited to see some hungry young lads today. Instead we saw Kane walk around and Eriksen needlessly exert himself. This was bad coaching and player management. What were Skipp and Nkoudou on the bench for if not to come on with a two or more-goal lead?

Don’t get me wrong, Mauricio Pochettino has shown to be a tremendous man manager and team manager, there is no one else in the world I want to see managing my club. That said, we need to expand the rotation. Alternatively, if we need to sell Nkoudou, would it hurt to showcase him a little when given a chance? If we must get folks out to get people in, don’t we need to play some of them to sell them?

The Son Continues to Shine

Besides the interplay growing between Dele and Lucas, as well as the reuniting of our Belgian backline; with Trippier and Lamela out and Eriksen and Kane on the bench, the Spurs needed someone to take free kicks. In the first half, this duty fell to Son. He played several strong, deep corners, and can really put some pace on a driven-in free kick. Vertongen just missed a header on a corner. Son wasn’t perfect though, as he blew his one direct effort on goal from a free kick well over the bar.

So, we know Son isn’t perfect, but darn is he playing well and continuing to grow. His second touch on the play where he scored was incredible. He brought the ball under control with his first, then used his second to move the ball out into a perfect position for him to step into a beautiful left-footed strike. Kids at home should watch those two touches and how he set up himself for success.

Hugo, the Belgians and a Clean Sheet

While Lloris got the clean sheet and did have a couple nice plays on the ball, it was not until the 86th minute that he saved a shot on target from the Foxes. He saved a second two minutes later, but it was clear the Alderweireld-Vertonghen pairing were not going to let Leicester City get a clean look at the goal. Seeing the three together again, heading into Barcelona is a welcome sight.

A Big Trip and Weekend

Well mates, this is it, the big trip to Barcelona. Spurs need to win and hope for the best in terms of advancing in UEFA Champions League. Then Saturday Tottenham host fresh out of the relegation zone Burnley at Wembley as the busy holiday schedule continues and the squad tries to build on their best in the Premier League era start of 36 points.