Three Things We Learned in the Tottenham Hostpur LASK Draw
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Hotspur went on the road to Linz and ended up in a 3-3 draw with LASK, along the way, we learned more about Spurs and where they are going.
It was the second time this season Tottenham have given up 2 goals within the last 10 minutes of a match. I suppose one could say Spurs were fortunate that each time the game ended in a 3-3 draw, rather than a loss. The point from the draw was enough to send Tottenham through in Europa League, so what did we learn in a lackluster performance from Tottenham Hotspur?
Son Replace Kane, Who Replaces Son?
With both Harry Kane and his understudy Carlos Vinicius injured and out for the match, José Mourinho went with South Korean Son Heung-Min as the forward. This has been done before for Spurs last season when Kane was injured, and Tottenham did okay. And while there were times things did go right today, the problem was not so much Son could not replace Harry Kane, it was that no one replaced Son.
Heung-Min Son was the target man, and he did sound overall. Son managed to maintain possession better than most Spurs on the night, earning free kicks, holding the ball, and playing it back to get third man running opportunities. The problem was there was rarely ever a third man running. Son tried to chest the ball down to Lucas Moura early off a long ball. However Moura was slow to read the play and it was intercepted.
On another occasion Son held the ball, but Bale ran by so closely to him Son never had an angle to pass. The one time someone truly ran off his hold-up play was when both he and Bale where in on a through ball, which the Welshman misplayed in the end costing Spurs what would have been an insurance goal. Many will be quick to say it was because Kane was out, but Son played the Kane role about as well as anyone in the world could have. The problem was no one stepped into the South Korean’s place to serve as his foil leaving the attack a bit underwhelming.
Bale has Bought In at Tottenham
There have been questions about how much Gareth Bale is playing and how fit he is and how much he has left in the tank. While those are all valid questions, there really is one that matters more to José Mourinho, which is if Bale is giving 100% effort on the pitch. We may not be able to say every Tottenham player gave 100% effort all the time on the evening, but Gareth Bale sure did.
On the first goal of the evening LASK scored, Bale had raced back and was helping defend one of the players in near the edge of the box. Although he – nor anyone else – stepped back up to contest the long-rang bomb from Michorl he had hustled back. That was not the only example of Bale racing back defensively.
Within a few minutes of each other Bale had raced down one end to help Matt Doherty defend and then was applying pressure on the offensive side. Ultimately Bale won a tackle near the corner flag and got possession back for Tottenham. However, as was the case for both he and Sonny most of the night, the support was just too slow in arriving for anything to really come of it.
We have yet to see – and may never will – the best Gareth Bale has to offer from a footballing standpoint but we have seen it from the effort perspective, which is really important for the team, the coach, and the player. One must believe that eventually all that effort starts to pay off as Bale is still just too talented a footballer for success not to happen.
If You Build it, They Will Come
José Mourinho was rather defensive in his substitutions, bringing on Eric Dier as an extra defender and Serge Aurier as a winger. While Aurier ran his butt off in his few minutes on the pitch and Dier really did nothing wrong, these were both conservative and defensive moves. Yes, I know José Mourinho is known for being a defensive coach and Spurs defense has vastly improved this year.
However, by bringing on Dier, Sissoko, and Aurier for Ndombele, Lo Celso, and Bale Tottenham were going to lose more possession than gain it. So, in a game where Spurs were already on the back foot and short on the ball, we shifted to a team and formation that was even less possession oriented and more defensive. That inability to possess the ball guaranteed more pressure. More pressure will eventually lead to a mistake and it did today. In a game where Tottenham needed to see out the match they played to hang on. Spurs zigged when they needed to zag.
Had Spurs brought on Harry Winks instead of Eric Dier, the backend would have been more protected instead of just bigger. Tottenham would have gained more of a footing instead of digging more of a trench. This was LASK not Chelsea or Manchester City. Essentially, in playing not to lose that is exactly what Spurs got as a result, not a loss. José Mourinho does not make the wrong move often, but today felt like the wrong one and it cost Spurs two points.