Nine points out of nine, this is very good. Two wins away from home at St. James’ Park and Old Trafford make it even better. It is perhaps testament to the long term fitness work conducted by Pochettino and his staff that the majority of players so far have hit the ground running despite their disruped pre-season and has clearly offered us an advantage over sides like Manchester United.
What is especially pleasing however is that we’ve achieved the points haul that was arguably expected of us. Whilst the performance may not have been entirely convincing at Old Trafford, the fact is, we should’ve have beaten this United side, and we did. I would say that, normally, a result like this would offer us a vital advantage in any potential title race however I’m a believer in statistics and they’re saying that United really aren’t impressive so I won’t be surprised to see other sides take points here as well. Still, a good result for Spurs and a real show-stealing performance from Lucas Moura to boot.
In the absence of Dembele, Pochettino has, thankfully, begun to play around with our formations and has begun to pack the midfield with extra numbers. Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have been entrusted with deeper starting positions and so far it’s not affected the team’s or their own attacking performances. Pochettino has utilised the 3-5-2 and 4-4-2 diamond so far this season which has somewhat compensated for Dembele’s absence and offered an insight into Moura’s and potentially Son’s roles this season as second strikers. The incorporation of a second striker in our starting lineup is something I’d been hoping for and predicted in my previous piece and it’s without question that Moura’s dynamic running without the ball has eased the pressure on Kane to lead from the front.
The addition of another striker on the field could offer a potential salvation for Fernando Llorente. His stature and ‘back-to-goal’ playing style lends itself more towards playing with a partner Or, maybe it won’t, we won’t know until we see however it’s clear that his role as a lone forward in previous systems hasn’t shown any indication as to why we paid £15 million for him!
I’m undecided as to where I stand on the whole Toby Alderweireld situation. It’s obvious how good he is and how much he improves the team when he plays for us and we are undoubtedly a stronger side when he plays. However, he’s going next year right? And for considerably less than he could’ve gone for this year? Obviously I woudn’t have been happy to see him leave to another English side and we’ll never know if we could’ve organised a move for him to a side like Bayern or PSG who seem to be the only sides rich enough and potentially interested enough to agree to a deal. I am also happy to see Toby still here because of his aforementioned quality so why the hell am I questioning his situation? It’s perhaps because I wonder what good his situation may do for us after the current season. While he’s here and in the manager’s good books, he will start because he’s that good however next year, he’s leaving, isn’t he? We already have his replacement and successor in Davinson Sanchez who (likely) will be here next year and for many years after, so is it sensible to limit his development time on the pitch? By not selling Toby this year, we’re also missing out on many millions of pounds in transfer fees after his release clause kicks in next summer. In my mind, Alderweireld staying and playing regularly this year only makes sense if one or two situations arise. Firstly is if he has a change of heart and commits his future to us beyond next season without agreeing to any release clauses and secondly, if we win the Premier League this year. Both situations seem unlikely to me and are perhaps dependant on the other and it seems the situation we’ve allowed ourselves here is one where we’re always going to experience some hurt no matter what the outcome.
One situation I am decided upon is the one concerning Hugo Lloris. I respect the argument that it’s a personal situation where we’ll never know why or how he ended up in this situation that frankly belies his character and there may be extenuating circumstances (a la Livermore) however there must be some repercussions. To lose the captaincy was an absolute must for me. His actions put his own and other lives at risk and quite simply, to not remove him as captain trivialises the whole ordeal. I don’t follow the argument that his loyalty to the club demands loyalty in return as firstly, where do we draw the line? Would he have had to have killed someone before he’d lose the captaincy or starting spot? Secondly, in my opinion he’s not yet demonstrated any loyalty to the club, only to Pochettino. It’s been made clear that after his second season, Lloris was ready to jump ship and it’s only because of Poch’s interjection that he’s stayed and I’m almost certain that once Poch moves on, so will Lloris. This whole ordeal all makes for a rather disillusioning experience and only services to remove previous goodwill towards the club and the player.
Onto something more positive, I was able to attend my first u23s game of the season last night as our youngster took on Arsenal at the Emirates. Whilst is was a rather toothless performance from our makeshift side, the atmoshpere from the away support was inspiring, singing nearly non-stop for the enitre 90 minutes and it made for an entirely enjoyable experience.
What was disturbingly apparent however was just how far off a number of these youngsters are from first team football. Whilst, unfortunately, a large number of the side will clearly never be at the technical level expected of first team players, those that may be (i.e. Skipp and Lyons-Foster) have a long way to go before they are physically ready to play in a Pochettino side. We already know how hard it is for senior and already physically mature players to nail down a starting spot in Pochettino’s side which suggests it will be at least another two or three years minimum’s worth of work and preparation before any of the current side are ready to make the transition.
Why that’s disturbing is related to our recent transfer failings and with no additions coming from outside the club, we become more reliant on those from within and quite simply, there is no one ready to make the jump. It does make the loan moves of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Onomah all the more puzzling as I feel both could’ve proved to be useful squad additons to the side this season considering the aforementioned transfer woes and system changes. Whilst it’s good that both have secured regular football for next season, I don’t believe it will serve them well next year in terms of securing a squad space at Spurs. Pochettino’s system and regime is SO demanding that the only true way to acclimatise yourself with it, is to live it, much like Winks did for three long years. As it stands, both will have to spend the entirety of next year’s pre-season re-acclimatising themselves with the Argentine’s demands and by that time, I feel we’ll have acquired more significant first team additions, to the point where I feel both will be surplus to requirements and most likely, moved on permanently.
I’d like to believe we’ll make additions in January as, if we don’t, we’ll have awarded other Premier League sides 18 months to make additions and improvements to their sides during which we will have been inactive. Allowing 12 months is already bad enough and we’ve been lucky so far that the recruitment of the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal haven’t done too much damage to our top four chances.
Tomorrow we travel to Watford whose early season schedule has allowed them to mask their rather limited attacking displays. Whilst they’ve been somewhat impressive defensively, they havent yet faced a side with an offensive quality much like ours and I fully expect another away win tomorrow.
Apologies for the rather lengthy opinion piece, I must make the effort to comment on such matters individually and closer to the time. I do hope you’ve enjoyed this piece however and I’ll do my best to get back to providing informative tactical pieces in the near future.
lukeballsburgess 