Team Pressing & Pressing Concerns Against Swansea

Tottenham came into this game off an impressive result against a less than impressive team in Georgia. Andros Townsend after a strong performance in the Europa League tie  and thanks to injury to Aaron Lennon, was given his first start at White Hart Lane against Swansea.

The starting line up consisted of Etienne Capoue (who also filled in for Jan Vertonghen when the Belgian went on his forward runs), Mousa Dembele and Paulinho in midfield. These three physical players pressed Swansea in a congested middle third, and limited the oppositions’ time on the ball. Michael Laudrup and previous Swans managers have maintained a desire to play neat football with short crisp passes and the team pressing of Tottenham did not allow for this to happen. Swansea could not control the play in the early stages and were often forced back deep into their own half misplacing many passes.

With this congested midfield the Tottenham full backs got a lot of joy going forward. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker created many opportunities with overlaps, with the latter having more success with his crosses. With Pablo Hernandez often cutting inside Tottenham needed to hold their width to exploit gaps. Ben Davies was often left two on one, Nacer Chadli drifting in with the ball and Rose on the overlap. Chadli also offered defensive support to his full back and tracked back to reduce the attacking space on the Swansea right hand side.

[linequote]Swans managers have maintained a desire to play neat football with short crisp passes and the team pressing of Tottenham did not allow for this to happen[/linequote]

However, for all the great pressing and marauding full backs Spurs still lacked creativity in the final third. Townsend and Paulinho had attempts on goal, however most were speculative. Townsend in particular created chances for himself dribbling infield with the ball from the right. I would say that he looked selfish and often went alone when better options were available. Quite contrary to Lennon who typically keeps wide and crosses, often to poor standards, Townsend offered more variety in his attacking play.

Soldado made great movement throughout the game but looked isolated. In the 20th minute he made a diagonal run taking two Swansea defenders with him allowing a Paulinho to have a long ranged effort. He was not however able to get shots away from open play. Playing with a midfield of Dembele, Paulinho and Capoue offered little in terms of creativity and passing vision. Leaving Glyfi Sigurdsson out of the starting team was probably to disrupt the specific Swansea style, against other teams though either he or Lewis Holtby will need to play in a number 10 position to allow Roberto Soldado to get through on goal and trouble the opposition keeper from inside the box.

[linequote]Quite contrary to Lennon who typically keeps wide and crosses, often to poor standards, Townsend offered more variety in his attacking play[/linequote]

This was a solid victory against a side that plays some great football. However, we must connect the midfield with Soldado more effectively. Be it with a new signing, Sigurdsson or Holtby creativity and direct vertical passing needs to be implemented more in the final third. On the defensive side Spurs coped very well with Hugo Lloris keeping another clean sheet and Capoue shielding the centre backs excellently.

With the North London derby coming in September we need to build on our impressive defensive displays against a top 4 team in a passionate fixture. Also, perhaps with the aid of a new signing, we need to create more chances for Soldado in open play. All in all though, a comfortable victory this week and 3 points well deserved.

[author name=”Jai B” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1659352356/IMAG0018.jpg” twitter=”Jai_B” tag=”JaiB[/linequote]