Mauricio Pochettino stars in Tottenham’s win over Ajax
A tale of two halves, Tottenham looked to be exiting the competition in the first 45 minutes, but a tactical change from Pochettino helped deliver one of the biggest moments in club history.
After going 2-0 down on the night and 3-0 on aggregate, Spurs needed a miracle to progress to the Champions League final. Mauricio Pochettino made a brave substitution at half time in hopes of changing the match in his side’s favor. He sacrificed a midfielder in Victor Wanyama to bring on Llorente and told his team to start playing it long.
#thfc replace Victor Wanyama at half-time for Fernando Llorente.
— Hotspur Related (@HotspurRelated) May 8, 2019
It was a stroke of genius as Llorente completely turned the match on its head. Ajax had been killing Tottenham in the midfield, with their triangle passing cutting Poche’s men apart on numerous occasions. As soon as Fernando was introduced however, Spurs bypassed the Ajax midfield and took them out of the match.
Llorente was also able to remove both Ajax center backs from the game, especially Daley Blind who had a torrid second half trying to beat the 6’5″ striker to the ball. This also allowed for more creative freedom for Sonny and Lucas, as they now had the option of going wide and not being a target themselves. The Spaniard won header after header, using his size and strength to back off the Dutch defense.
While Fernando Llorente has struggled this season to score, his hold up play has proven vital on more than one occasion. Wednesday was no different as he was able to play flicks and passes at will to his teammates. Pochettino recognized the lack of physicality in the Ajax team and exploited it perfectly.
As the game began to boil over when Spurs searched for the winner, Pochettino made another pair of key substitutions, bringing on Erik Lamela and Ben Davies for the fullbacks Rose and Trippier.
It was a return to first team action for Lamela, having been injured since the tie against Dortmund. He brought some needed pace and technicality to the side and also helped up the creativity. Rose made way for Davies as he was losing his head after a long match and did not need to be carded.
On the winning goal, Llorente once again made use of his body and flicked on to Dele for the eventual Lucas goal. This style of play bullied Ajax all night and worked exactly as planned.
Harry Kane may be fit for the final and if so Llorente may have to work again off the bench. Liverpool have seen this tactic numerous times, but trust Poche to have a another game plan ready to go.