Tottenham Hotspur played the game Burnley forced upon them Monday evening, but still managed to win by finding a way to cope and preserve the mark of a champion.
Three points are three points, Jose Mourinho reminded fans of that postgame noting that the three points earned in the 1 goal win at Burnley were the “same points as 6-1 at Old Trafford” Tottenham had earned a few weeks ago before the break. Noting that this was not a game to score five or six goals facing a team with aggressive strikers and a stout defense. In the end, Mourinho’s tactics paid off as Tottenham Hotspur won ugly, beating Burnley at their own game with a set piece goal.
Different Game Different Opponent
Since the Premier League season kicked off in mid-September, Tottenham Hotspur have played two road games prior to Monday evening, winning by a combined score of 11-3. Those 11 goals scored at St. Mary’s against Southampton (5) and at Old Trafford against Manchester United (6) had fans feeling like every game was going to be a goal fest. However, both Manchester United and Southampton play with a high back line and try out score the opposition.
Burnley on the other hand take a more measured approach, with a deeper back line and a couple big, strong attackers that keep pounding away at the defense. The idea is that eventually through consistent defending on the one end and the long balls on the other, a one goal victory can be had. Burnley certainly executed their plan and nearly to perfection.
Burnley played even more long ball on the evening they had been coming in. As noted in our preview Burnley averages about 75 long balls out of their 400 or so passes each game, slightly under 20%. In the match with Tottenham Burnley only had 364 passes and an astounding 87 of them (24%) were long balls. With that many long balls, Eric Dier – back in and side – and Toby Alderweireld had to be ready, along with the rest of the XI.
Tottenham Defensive Approach
The Tottenham defense took a bend and not break approach with all the Burnley long balls. Rather than battle for everyone, Spurs mixed up dueling in the air, with holding a firm line, and playing the defender behind the striker. Tottenham did okay in the air winning more aerial duels on the night than Burnley 27 to 26 and Toby Alderweireld left with a bandage and likely some stiches as a result.
The offside trap worked very well for Spurs on a couple occasions, finding Burnley offside four times. None of those four times were more important than at 20 minutes when Barnes got behind the defense and beat Lloris. Fortunately, the line had been excellent and the lineman correctly flagged Barnes for offside. While the offside trap and the fighting for balls worked defensively, playing behind the attacking player did not.
Far too often in the match either Chris Wood or Ashley Barnes were able to get the ball at their feet with their back to goal. When they are near midfield this is not a problem. When they are in the attacking third this can cause trouble. Too often in the match Dier or Alderweireld found themselves just outside the penalty box on the attackers back, facing away from their goal. Once into the feet of Wood or Barnes, the strikers could distribute and create problems.
Moving forward, Tottenham need to work to prevent that ball into the feet as hard as they work to win the ball in the air. A more confident Burnley team might have made Spurs pay for this weak spot in the defending given the 13 shots they had on the night. Fortunately, the defense was more focused overall and pulled it out thanks to Harry Kane clearing a ball of the line.
Tottenham Take the Points
Ultimately, the defense did enough to keep Burnley at bay. Whether it was Hugo Lloris coming out to collect the ball or Moussa Sissoko running back sliding in to cover, Spurs did their job. As Mourinho noted, it was “not the football you want to play” rather it was “the football that Burnley push you to play” and if “you don’t cope with it you are in trouble”.
Spurs found a way to cope with that pressure and went to more of an intricate passing game on the night versus the longer balls trying to get over the defense. While Spurs did play 61 long balls on the evening, that was only about 10% of their 595 passes. In other words, a different approach was needed.
I would not call Tottenham’s passing game tiki taka, as it was far from that, but there were clear efforts to work the ball with shorter passes moving mostly through Tanguy Ndombele in the middle of the pitch. Those shorter, quick passes worked through the Burnley defense. The longer passes simply just did not work, and the through balls that have paid dividends all season were not there.
Maintaining possession and continuing to push eventually led to more opportunities and finally, Spurs hit the target with the well worked corner kick scored by Son Heung-Min off another Harry Kane assist. Mourinho commented how following the goal the team “felt calm” and in command, knowing they were going to leave with the three points, as opposed to the draw, which Mourinho called a “loss” to West Ham.
To person who made up the “you cannot win them all” saying, maybe Tottenham and Spurs fans should adopt the “you cannot win them all pretty” mantra and simply enjoy the ride. The ultimate glory is not found in one match, but rather in the prize found at the end of the long climb to the top, a climb Mourinho has made before and we need to just follow.