Pochettino, Spurs Trounce Dortmund 3-0 in First Leg of UCL

An unusual line-up and set-up that looked suspect in the first-half produced a dominating second-half to give Tottenham Hotspur a 3-0 lead heading into leg two at Borussia Dortmund in the UCL Round of 16.

After a first-half that left a few folks scratching their heads and asking what Mauricio Pochettino would do at the break to the get his Spurs in gear, Tottenham Hotspur took the game to Borussia Dortmund and will head into leg two of the Champions League in Germany with a 3-0 lead.

The Spurs Line-up

Overall the Tottenham line-up was not all that different than what I had expected and predicted the starting XI to be. The big difference being Juan Foyth getting the starting nod for Spurs instead of Erik Lamela or even Fernando Llorente.

Instead Pochettino went with a three or five back line-up depending on how you look at it, with Foyth and Toby Alderweireld flanking Davison Sanchez, pushing Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier up the wings. Harry Winks and Moussa Sissoko were inside with Christian Eriksen, Lucas Moura, and Heung-Min Son running up front – all in front of Captain Hugo Lloris in goal.

The First Half

At the 4-minute mark, Juan Foyth was tested for the first time and his first couple of touches were excellent, stopping Christian Pulisic and turning with the ball confidently upfield. Like Foyth the entire team started bright, with Lucas Moura just missing an early volley which would have given Spurs a great lift. While the team pushed hard for the first 15 minutes, outside of Moura’s opportunity, things just didn’t quite click for Spurs. Harry Winks stole the ball at midfield and his direct through ball up the middle to Heung-Min Son, just raced past the attacker to be picked up by keeper Roman Burki.

Then came Serge Aurier’s yellow at 11 minutes, with Pulisic going down far too easy in my book. This was followed by Foyth getting caught in possession twice. The first time wasn’t his fault as Lloris, Alderweireld, and Sanchez had combined to put the kid in a bad spot. The second time, he was just trying to do too much, and it almost cost Spurs. Luckily Jadon Sancho had a poor first touch and Toby came and cleaned up the mess.

For about ten more minutes after this Dortmund kind of took it to Spurs, staying on the front foot, dribbling at defenders, and making half-chances. Ultimately Hugo Lloris had to come up big a couple of times and the rebound he left at the 34-minute mark was almost costly. A one handed save on a back-post header just before the half was particularly impressive from Lloris, as he had four saves on four shots on target in the first-half. Oh, and Spurs had zero shots on target and seemed to just be giving possession away.

Second Half

After making no changes at half-time it was going to be interesting to see how Spurs responded. Whatever Pochettino said, put it in a bottle and keep it, because they dominated BVB in the second-half. Taking 11 shots to their 2 and having 5 on goal to Dortmund’s 1. While the possession was the same half-to-half 53% Spurs 47% BVB, the flow of the game was totally different.

In the first half, Sanchez, Alderweireld, and Foyth were playing the ball slowly across the back, allowing pressure and losing passing angles. The second half saw a major quickening in the pace of ball movement as well as a lot more longer passes down the sidelines to our wingbacks, Vertonghen and Aurier.

Pressing from the off, Eriksen stepped in to cut off a pass and push the ball to Lucas Moura. Moura played a one-touch pass out to all-world left winger Jan Vertonghen who took a touch and laid a perfect pass over the defender straight to Heung-Min Son’s foot, 1-0 Tottenham less than 2 minutes into the half. A perfect start, which gave the entire team a lift.

While there was a lot of game left and Dortmund had a few chances, the ease and simplicity of that first goal clearly gave Spurs life and allowed them to continue to take some chances. Vertonghen was defending in the attacking half, as were the center-halves.

As Dortmund sat deeper, content to lose 1-0, the chances grew. Then Davison Sanchez contested a ball into the striker’s feet, in the final third of the pitch. This was just enough to get the ball to Christian Eriksen who quickly rolled it out to Serge Aurier. From there, wing-back to wing-back magic is all one can say. Aurier played a perfect ball in which Jan Vertonghen finished with aplomb. 2-0 Spurs lead and less than 10 minutes to go.

Three minutes later, after just being introduced and clearing a defensive corner, Fernando Llorente deflected an Eriksen corner into the far post, 3-0 Spurs. What could be better? Llorente used his size well there and his introduction looked genius at that point.

Lamela came on for Son, Wanyama came on for Sissoko and two minutes later, the game was over. Spurs won and head to Germany up 3-0 with Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Ben Davies, and Eric Dier all set to return.

Other thoughts on Spurs Win

I know he doesn’t prefer to play out there, but darn if Jan Vertonghen and Moussa Sissoko don’t make one heck of a left side for Spurs. Ben Davies could also sub in behind if we want to see more of Super-Jan, as his celebration indicated, attacking with the ball. Suddenly a position that seemed weak for Spurs is once again, even light a man, one of tremendous strength. The versatility of the Belgian is critical for Spurs’ success.

Davison Sanchez continues to impress the heck out of me. He was solid on the ball and good in the air once again. He played an astounding 117 passes in the game 19 more than any other player on the pitch. I can only imagine how good he will be in two to three years, it should scare the rest of the Premier League and all of Europe.

Juan Foyth was a high-risk reward play, which paid dividends for Spurs. After a couple foul-ups in the first half in possession Foyth was sound in the second. Further, the quickening of the pace played to Foyth’s strengths and he recovered well. Nice to see him play and play relatively well.

Hugo Lloris was outstanding today. Yes he gave up one rebound, but that was really it. Big saves on Pulisic and Sancho stand out and a clean sheet against BVB is something to be extremely proud of.

Christian Eriksen was AMAZING, notice his name was somewhere associated with all three goals!

Big shout out to Coach Mauricio Pochettino who put on some kind of show here today. The line-up was both attack-minded and defensively sound. In the second-half, seeing five defenders across the back in a perfect line was a thing of beauty, as were the three in a line in front of them and two on top. This team is well-drilled and in the absence of brain farts doesn’t beat itself thanks to that clear organization.

The real questions are going to be about integrating some of these players back in. The problem with a deep squad, not that Tottenham is that deep, is keeping everyone happy. With Dier, Dele, Kane, and Davies all returning soon, who will be the odd Spurs out? Skipp can take it, he is 18, will Dier or Winks rock the boat if left out? Let’s sure hope not, as this team looks like one on a mission, hopefully Pochettino can keep that focus clear heading into Leg 2 of the UEFA Champions League and Spurs can push on to the Quarterfinals.