Tottenham Hotspur drew with LASK Linz in Europa League on Thursday evening, here are five things we noticed here at HotspurHQ about the match and Spurs.
We have seen better matches from Tottenham Hotspur this season than what we witnessed Thursday evening in Linz, Austria. Through the mess of a performance here are five things that stood out to us during the match.
Three Issues in the Draw
Passing Problem
The biggest issue on the evening was Tottenham’s inability to maintain possession. Tottenham managed less than 46% possession on the night and a big part of the reason was the inability to string passes together. Tottenham only completed 66% of 407 passes on the evening and not one starter completed passes at a rate above 75% – with Davinson Sanchez leading the team right at 75%.
Tottenham were very direct on the evening hitting 96 long balls and often trying to force passes directly up the middle. The inability to consistently maintain possession left Tottenham overrun in the midfield, despite having the “dream” midfield line-up of Højbjerg, Lo Celso, and Ndombele together for over an hour. This was a match screaming for Harry Winks and some tidy play but Spurs never got it and were stung three times as a result.
Lo Celso in No Man’s Land
As the game wore on, it was difficult to tell if Tottenham were playing with two holding midfielders or one holding midfielder. For most of the 66 minutes Lo Celso, Højbjerg, and Ndombele were together it was hard to tell what the Tottenham formation was. It was obvious Ndombele was forward and mostly obvious that Højbjerg was deep but Lo Celso was neither. Whereas Ndombele was terrific in a deeper role last week, Lo Celso’s role was just unclear.
Lo Celso played a sort of hybrid attacking and defending role on the evening making the midfield a crooked line rather than any kind of discernable triangle. The result was Lo Celso being late to pretty much everything all evening. On the first goal he was late getting back and saw the shot from just a meter away. Even worse, outside of standing next to the wall for a minute in the first half, Lo Celso pretty much never entered the LASK penalty area.
Where is the Width
Presumably, Tottenham are going to play a bit different without a recognized striker on the pitch. However, Son Heung-Min did a solid job leading the line, but he was seriously lacking in any service. Son was targeted by the ball 25 times during the match, but this was primarily hold-up play or balls to run in on. What we did not see were crosses and efforts to get the ball into the box.
On the evening, LASK had 21 crosses which caused the Tottenham defense to work all night long. However, Tottenham managed only three crosses on the night. Neither Ben Davies nor Matt Doherty did much going forward, and it was a Doherty slip/mistake in the attacking half the gave LASK the numbers for the first goal.
All night long, Bale and Lucas Moura pinched in toward the middle as inverted wingers/forwards, but the overlapping play was not there on the outside. Add in the narrow spacing of the midfield and Tottenham were outnumbered on the flanks all evening long and were probably lucky that they were not punished more for some sloppy dribbling and passing from both fullbacks.
Two Cheeky Tottenham Moments
Højbjerg Being Højbjerg
In just the latest example of Pierre Højbjerg doing whatever is necessary to win the ball, Højbjerg was ruthless in the penalty box in the first half to win a corner kick. The Dane was fighting for possession as the ball was moving toward the end line for a corner kick. The attacking player had fallen to the ground near the penalty area and as Højbjerg tracked back he turned and passed the ball off the players face and out of bounds for the goal kick.
It was an example of the intelligent all-out play you get from Højbjerg, but it you kind of felt bad for the attacker who had already gone face-first into the turf, only to then take a ball off the head too. Luckily, it was not vicious in anyway, it was Højbjerg being Højbjerg and the game continued.
Dele’s Penalty Kick
Dele was very quick to grab the ball to take the penalty kick after Steven Bergwijn went down in the box. A lot quicker than he was closing out defensively on the second goal that is for certain. It is not so much that Dele was quick to grab the ball or take the kick or even make the kick, it was the nature of the kick that drew our attention.
While it was not a Panenka, the attempt was kind of a chip of sorts mostly down the middle. The grin on Dele’s face after he grabbed the ball out of the net and whispered something behind his hand to Serge Aurier told us all there was something to what had transpired. Given the situation, either Mourinho will have loved the conviction and confidence or have hated the recklessness of the attempt had the keeper stood his ground.
Dele is already walking a tightrope of sorts with José Mourinho and we will not know if this display impressed Mourinho or not for a few days or even weeks, but eventually we will know. Ultimately, we are glad the ball went in because as it turned out Spurs needed the goal.