After a long summer of speculation, Tottenham Hotspur put in the kind of performance that warms the hearts of fans versus Manchester City, what can we take away from the win?
It was an emotional day for Tottenham Hotspur and its followers. As the ongoing speculation over Harry Kane was put aside for 90 minutes Nuno Espirito Santo’s Spurs stepped up and gave the kind of performance needed to beat a good Manchester City team. One game – no matter how important – does not make a trend, however, we can still take a few things away from the match and the Tottenham Hotspur performance.
Santo’s Spurs are Organized
We saw the 4-3-3 in the preseason and for the most part, the Spurs kept to that formation on Sunday. What was particularly interesting about the shape of the formation was how narrow both Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn were to Heung-Min Son.
As Son worked to cut angles and force Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake to pick one side, where Bergwijn and Lucas cut the passing angles for the entry pass.
The effort by the front three meant the ball spent a lot more time at the feet of fullbacks Joao Cancelo and Benjamin Mendy than it did Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish. Keeping the ball out of the middle of the park made it more difficult for City to break between the lines defensively.
Tottenham defense organization ran throughout
It was not just the disciplined, compact nature of the front three and that stood out for Tottenham defensively. The interchange that occurred among the midfielders and fullbacks kept Spurs’ shape intact.
Instead of running after the ball and leaving holes, the team communicated defensively, maintained their positioning, and worked hard to win the ball back. The plan and organization were clear, the effort to do it was even better.
Besides the organization here are four more things that stood out about the Tottenham performance.
Four more takeaways from Tottenham win
Maybe it was just a series of unfortunate events or how the team approached the game. Whatever it was last season, Tottenham struggled defensively on and off the ball. The team had a hard time playing out of the back and lacked the communication and awareness to make up for any lapses. There was none of that on Sunday.
Tottenham defenders are better than advertised
While most assumed when ready Cristian Romero would step into the starting line-up, after Sunday Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier may have something to say about that. Likewise, the team has spent the better part of the summer being connected to new right fullbacks when Japhet Tanganga may be the answer right now.
Sanchez did not put a foot wrong on the day and outside of one poor clearance, Dier was the strong leader he has shown he can be. Sergio Reguilon had a relatively quiet day but so did Riyad Mahrez. The point is these defenders can do some things and instead of players just replacing others, we may end up with the kind of competition for spots that makes a team great.
Spurs have to improve in the final third
Tottenham did enough on Sunday scoring the only goal to win. However, they were also fortunate as a couple of opportunities in the first half could have broken the other way and given Manchester City a goal. Even late on City had a couple of half-chances, which could have made Tottenham pay for not being more clinical.
In the first half, Tottenham could not figure out what to do when they go into the final third. Instead of balls going into the box or half chances being taken at goal, play just seemed to die. In the second half, these breaks and opportunities were at least played to their conclusions but not always well.
Steven Bergwijn missed a golden opportunity to make it 2-0, which was the most obvious example of when the team could have done better. However, Lucas and Son both played their fair share of poor balls and made their fair share of bad decisions in the final third.
The good news is that the balls were often there, they were just off by a bit. The players showed a growing understanding of where each other will be on the pitch so the decision-making and performance can only get better.
Tottenham fans gave as good as they got
Both the players and the fans took about 15 or so minutes to get into the flow of the game, however, once they did, there was a clear connection. Tottenham players were clearly feeding off the fans and likewise, the fans were feeding off of the players.
As the Spurs showed with each tackle, duel, and run they were going to play hard, play aggressive, and go for the ball, the crowd responded in kind. Each tackle and ball recovery was applauded as much as a shot. The good defense was being recognized and the players gave the crowd more of what they wanted.
If Tottenham can keep up the energy and effort, regardless of the name on the back of the jersey, fans are going to love this Nuno Santo team. It was a big win and a nice start to a tough early stretch of games.
Fabio Paratici is a different football director
One of the things I noticed on TV was the bearded buy in the suit sitting among all the players constantly talking and motioning with his hands. This man, sitting next to a bald man who seems to be growing in animation himself was of course Fabio Paratici and he was sitting next to Steve Hutchin.
These two men are in charge of the football team and there is no better place for them to be than with the players. Think we were the only ones to see Bryan Gil applauding Tanganga being subbed off while Harry Winks and Ben Davies sat looking upset at Matt Doherty getting the call? Nope, so did their bosses boss.
Despite the joy and excitement of this win, we do know Tottenham is in the middle of a rebuild and there is no better way to understand what the team needs than getting up close and personal. Paratici is clearly both a serious businessman and a serious fan and having both at the wheel is a good thing for the team.
Those were a few of our takeaways from the first match, what stood out to you?