Weekday Analysis: Spurs ⚪️ Spurs have suffered their first defeat of the PL season. But, despite the good start, the Bournemouth game highlighted some issues... Here's a look at Spurs' attack under Thomas Frank 🔎
RHS reliance ➡️ Iraola's side based their entire press around forcing Spurs to play football through the left. Iraola clearly knew how limited they were there, compared to the right, so all of their players made sure to shape Spurs down their weak side.h Every single Spurs goal in the Premier League, so far, has originated from their right hand side. Now, on the one hand, that shows how well Pedro Porro and Mohamed Kudus are getting on as individuals. However, I think it also shows two other things: ▪️That Spurs LHS has struggled ▪️ And their RHS is thriving mainly just down to the individuals Let's start with the left, as it should (hopefully) be resolved soon. In Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson, Spurs haven't had a left footer on that side so far. Nearly every time Spence has received the ball, he's ended up passing backwards. That's because it's not as natural for him to turn, and play a pass down the line with his left. Johnson, meanwhile, has attempted three dribbles so far without succeeding in any. He looks painfully ineffective off the left. This should, in theory, be resolved by the return of Udogie, and the arrival of Simons though. Simons may well play as a 10, but he also likes to drift out to the left and take players on. It should balance Spurs out going forward 👍 Still, I do feel like Frank hasn't really done much to make the LHS work so far. Sure, you can say it's just down to waiting for the right players to arrive. But it's not like Spurs have tried to surround Spence or Johnson with players to build combinations. They've left them isolated, which only exposes their awkwardness on that side. And this was best shown against Bournemouth. Iraola's side based their entire press around forcing Spurs to play football through the left. Iraola clearly knew how limited they were there, compared to the right, so all of their players made sure to shape Spurs down their weak side. In this game, Porro got just 45 touches, down from 66 against City. This is something @htomufc noted too.
But what of their right side? Okay, there is stuff to like 😆 Frank's tactics are based around building up through a deep back four, with Porro given enough space to get his head up and play channel balls. Porro excels at playing this pass, so it's a good idea to create opportunities for him to play that pass. It also helps that the man he's playing those passes to, Mohamed Kudus, has been exceptional so far. Not necessarily in terms of goal output, but in: ▪️receiving the ball as a wide target man ▪️ and dragging Spurs forward For the former, Kudus is capable of backing into defenders and bringing down high balls with confidence. He's just a really strong footballer, and it's a crucial part of the Porro-channel-ball strategy working. The second part is down to Kudus' quality 1v1. Take this sequence against Bournemouth as an example. Kudus starts inside his own half, takes it past two players, dodges another incoming challenge and reaches their penalty box.
@AlexanderBrkr I’d argue the midfield lost is that game. Sarr pushed too far up, Palhinha dropped in between Romero and Van De Ven. Bentancur was doing the job of a 3 man midfield on his own, just the wrong setup with the wrong personnel from the start and Frank never figured it out.
@AlexanderBrkr I like spence. But one of my all time pet hates is full backs playing on the wrong side. In possession it's fucking hopeless. Unless you happen to be 2 footed, which 99% are not.