Three Tottenham Hotspur Takeaways from Win Over Stoke

Tottenham Hotspur did enough to advance past Stoke in the Carabao Cup just a few days ago, here are a few things HotspurHQ is taking with us from the game.

With every match in a football season, you can learn something, good or bad, about the team. Against Stoke we saw a few players remind us of what they can do for Tottenham given the opportunity. We were also reminded, that there are still some things that need to be addressed as the team looks to progress. So here are our HotspurHQ takeaways from the match midweek.

Dele and Winks Bring Something Different

Often in football, when a substitute is brought into a game, the announcers will talk about a like-for-like substitution, where the new player is bringing the same basic skill set to the game. However, with both Dele Alli and Harry Winks there are currently no other like-for-like players on the Tottenham roster and both showed that on Wednesday.

The Runs of Dele Alli

When through balls or long balls are played to Heung-Min Son or Steven Bergwijn, the idea is simple, as Son and Bergwijn are just fast and can outrun a lot of players. To this end we often see Son or Bergwijn pick the ball up near midfield and then drive with power and pace toward the goal. However, when there is a ball through or over the top to Dele, there is rarely much green between Dele and the goal by the time he gets on the end of the ball.

Dele does not make runs over the top, Dele Alli makes runs into the box ala a Frank Lampard. Sometimes Dele is considered a second striker for Spurs, although he is rarely a target man. Rather, Dele has incredible timing that is based on smart movement at the right moment. If you look at the chances Alli had in the box, all came off runs timed with the pass.

Done correctly, Dele’s movement can make other players look like magicians – ask Christian Eriksen. While it is easier to play a ball into space and let the players with power and pace run on, a team needs both kinds of runs for success. Until Tottenham can find someone to replace those runs from Dele, he is going nowhere and given the runs he made and the chances the movement created, he is going to get more opportunities.

Harry Winks Passing Machine

There were players who had more passes on Wednesday at Stoke than Harry Winks, but none had a ball as nice as the one Winks played in for Gareth Bale’s goal. The real issue with Winks and his playing time at Tottenham are all the things he is not. Winks is never going to be a defensive enforcer and is simply not athletic enough to cover for the wingbacks. Additionally, Winks does not have timing of Dele or the ball skill of a Tanguy Ndombele to dribble around people.

What Harry Winks does have, which unfortunately not enough others on Tottenham have as well, is the ability to pass the football flat out. Whether it is a five-foot back pass or a thirty-yard chip into the box, Harry Winks has it all in his toolkit. Right foot, left foot, forwards or backwards, you need to make an accurate pass my money is on Winks.

While the limitations on the defensive side of the ball mean that Winks cannot and should not start every match, his ability to distribute the ball and get the blood circulating for the Tottenham possession means he should be playing more than he does.

Sometimes criticized for not forcing the issue more, with how Tottenham have been playing, a little patience on offense with the ball is a good thing. The range of passing Winks possesses brings something that no one else on Spurs does and as such should be getting the man more opportunities in the weeks to come not leaving the club in January.