This Beautiful Game we call Football
This was a tale of two tactically very different halves. Anyone who's watched a bit of Dortmund this season (and that's probably quite a few of us) know their MO. Favre has them set up to suck teams onto them, ready to pounce, utilising some very clever, quick and potent attacking players.
And first half our laboured possession, lacking in cohesion from midfield, floundered on the almost non existent hold up play of our two flighty forwards, who continually coughed up the ball, with Aurier doing another one of his impressions of a guy who's won a competition to be out there, saw us play perfectly into Dortmund's hands.They countered swiftly and effectively, exploiting our possession fucked away carelessly, and several times it was just last ditch defending, poor end product or luck that saved us form going behind first half. We didn't have a single shot on target, they had 4. Sancho was causing mayhem, our CB's were all looking like stewed prunes in a mouliinex hairdryer and had us all questioning the rationale of picking Vertonghen ahead of Rose for that LWB role.
The second half, however, was the perfect footballing storm for us. Everything clicked. Poch made a couple of tactical tweaks, had the two WB's be more disciplined, seemed to switch from a 3412 to a 352 with Eriksen dropping in and helping to provide more control and playability in our midfield, and all of those things played a major part into turning this into an almost foot perfect half of football, but what galvanised everything, as is often the case in football, was a goal; And what a beautiful goal it was. Not just in it's final execution, but what made this goal all the more jismic for me was how it began. Pressing. Hard fucking pressing. This is when a Pochettino team is at it's best for me. Moura and Vertonghen put the squeeze on, Eriksen reads it and reinforces it, this time it's Dortmund coughing up the ball, it falls to Eriksen, he feeds Vertonghen, who curls in the most delicious ball to pick out the clever spinning movement of Son who finishes sublimely, using the power and curl of the pass to caress volley the ball into the corner of the net. It was football at it's most beautiful. So perfect, almost preternatural.
That goal was the catalyst that helped completely turn this game 360 degrees tactically. Now we didn't have to pursue the game, we didn't have to try and force it, it was our turn to be clever, suck them in and counter. And with the tactical changes Poch had made, we were now firmly in the driving seat.
This game became a tactical repetition of those Real Madrid, Dortmund, Liverpool at home games last year. The second half of this game followed those blue prints. Dortmund didn't know whether to twist or stick; Vertonghen and Aurier were much more positionally aware and disciplined second half, picking their moments when to advance, Eriksen was now doing his thing, popping up in pockets, quietly going about dictating things. Winks was the rock solid footballing hub of the midfield again (a player who's actually featured in nearly all of those previous games I mentioned) and even Sissoko had one of the best little 10 minute spells of football Ive seen him have in a Spurs shirt.
The second goal was as sexy. I love the way Sanchez steams into the press inside their half and forces their guy to cough it up again, it breaks to Aurier who does the best thing he's done in a Spurs shirt and puts in another delicious cross, this time met by the imperious Vertonghen who smashed home emphatically on the volley, just adding to that "perfect" buzz, as he'd been absolutely outstanding all half both with and without the ball. It's so rare that an unlikely goalscorer like him caps such an outstanding performance with a goal, and a cracking goal at that, it's one of football's nirvanas.
The third goal capped an outstanding second half performance, a rapier corner, zipped in perfectly by Eriksen, was met by Llorente, a Poch sub a few minutes prior.
Tactically we played the perfect 45 minutes of football.
Individual
Lloris - Good game.
Aurier - Awful first half, got his head straight second half and was better, great ball for the second goal.
Foyth - Got himself tied in knots a couple of times first half, excellent second half, both with and without the ball.
Sanchez - Under pressure first half, was great second half, great pressure for the second goal, love the way he uses his pace in defensive match ups.
Alderweireld - Good game.
Vertonghen - First half, Poch's tactics hung him out to dry a bit and Sancho gave him a torrid time. Second half he was imperious, his reading was superb, and he was pivotal in one of the best halve's of football we've played. If only Rose had his composure in forward areas. Such a technically accomplished footballer, so wonderfully fitting that he capped it by smashing home a volley. MOTM
Sissoko - Like a turtle in a windsock first half as the game spun around him, lucky not to be carded a couple of times for very clumsy challenges, but was decent second half, made a couple of runs that ended in a good pass instead of wanging it to oblivion. 30 passes, 81%, 9 forward, 0 Goals, 0 assists, 0 chances created, 4 attacking third passes, 4 tackles, 0 Interceptions, 8 ball recoveries
Winks - One of the few that was good first half, but was even better second. This kid has really improved what he does without the ball. Excellent game throughout. 67 passes, 93.1%, 24 forward, 0 Goals, 0 assists, 0 chances created, 9 attacking third passes, 4 tackles, 2 Interceptions, 8 ball recoveries
Eriksen - Struggling to operate in the hole behind the strikers first half, moved back into midfield second half and gradually set about conducting the orchestra around him, sweet music was made. Great second half. 44 passes, 86.3%, 17 forward, 0 Goals, 1 assists, 4 chances created, 17 attacking third passes, 0 tackles, 2 Interceptions, 4 ball recoveries
Son - I thought he was pretty poor first half, frittered away the few snippets of possession he had, and though he wasn't much more involved second half, he seemed more purposeful, the quality of his movement better, and scored a fabulous goal.
Moura - probably our most disappointing player on the night, completed 12 of 20 passes all game, has an unerring knack of running down blind alleys, but to be fair to him, this central role just does not get the best out of him.
Poch - Love what he installs in this team, even on a bad day he's given this team bollocks, but on a good day we get games like this, champions league music and football of the highest calibre. Great tweaks at half time, even his sub came on and scored two minutes later.
This was a tale of two tactically very different halves. Anyone who's watched a bit of Dortmund this season (and that's probably quite a few of us) know their MO. Favre has them set up to suck teams onto them, ready to pounce, utilising some very clever, quick and potent attacking players.
And first half our laboured possession, lacking in cohesion from midfield, floundered on the almost non existent hold up play of our two flighty forwards, who continually coughed up the ball, with Aurier doing another one of his impressions of a guy who's won a competition to be out there, saw us play perfectly into Dortmund's hands.They countered swiftly and effectively, exploiting our possession fucked away carelessly, and several times it was just last ditch defending, poor end product or luck that saved us form going behind first half. We didn't have a single shot on target, they had 4. Sancho was causing mayhem, our CB's were all looking like stewed prunes in a mouliinex hairdryer and had us all questioning the rationale of picking Vertonghen ahead of Rose for that LWB role.
The second half, however, was the perfect footballing storm for us. Everything clicked. Poch made a couple of tactical tweaks, had the two WB's be more disciplined, seemed to switch from a 3412 to a 352 with Eriksen dropping in and helping to provide more control and playability in our midfield, and all of those things played a major part into turning this into an almost foot perfect half of football, but what galvanised everything, as is often the case in football, was a goal; And what a beautiful goal it was. Not just in it's final execution, but what made this goal all the more jismic for me was how it began. Pressing. Hard fucking pressing. This is when a Pochettino team is at it's best for me. Moura and Vertonghen put the squeeze on, Eriksen reads it and reinforces it, this time it's Dortmund coughing up the ball, it falls to Eriksen, he feeds Vertonghen, who curls in the most delicious ball to pick out the clever spinning movement of Son who finishes sublimely, using the power and curl of the pass to caress volley the ball into the corner of the net. It was football at it's most beautiful. So perfect, almost preternatural.
That goal was the catalyst that helped completely turn this game 360 degrees tactically. Now we didn't have to pursue the game, we didn't have to try and force it, it was our turn to be clever, suck them in and counter. And with the tactical changes Poch had made, we were now firmly in the driving seat.
This game became a tactical repetition of those Real Madrid, Dortmund, Liverpool at home games last year. The second half of this game followed those blue prints. Dortmund didn't know whether to twist or stick; Vertonghen and Aurier were much more positionally aware and disciplined second half, picking their moments when to advance, Eriksen was now doing his thing, popping up in pockets, quietly going about dictating things. Winks was the rock solid footballing hub of the midfield again (a player who's actually featured in nearly all of those previous games I mentioned) and even Sissoko had one of the best little 10 minute spells of football Ive seen him have in a Spurs shirt.
The second goal was as sexy. I love the way Sanchez steams into the press inside their half and forces their guy to cough it up again, it breaks to Aurier who does the best thing he's done in a Spurs shirt and puts in another delicious cross, this time met by the imperious Vertonghen who smashed home emphatically on the volley, just adding to that "perfect" buzz, as he'd been absolutely outstanding all half both with and without the ball. It's so rare that an unlikely goalscorer like him caps such an outstanding performance with a goal, and a cracking goal at that, it's one of football's nirvanas.
The third goal capped an outstanding second half performance, a rapier corner, zipped in perfectly by Eriksen, was met by Llorente, a Poch sub a few minutes prior.
Tactically we played the perfect 45 minutes of football.
Individual
Lloris - Good game.
Aurier - Awful first half, got his head straight second half and was better, great ball for the second goal.
Foyth - Got himself tied in knots a couple of times first half, excellent second half, both with and without the ball.
Sanchez - Under pressure first half, was great second half, great pressure for the second goal, love the way he uses his pace in defensive match ups.
Alderweireld - Good game.
Vertonghen - First half, Poch's tactics hung him out to dry a bit and Sancho gave him a torrid time. Second half he was imperious, his reading was superb, and he was pivotal in one of the best halve's of football we've played. If only Rose had his composure in forward areas. Such a technically accomplished footballer, so wonderfully fitting that he capped it by smashing home a volley. MOTM
Sissoko - Like a turtle in a windsock first half as the game spun around him, lucky not to be carded a couple of times for very clumsy challenges, but was decent second half, made a couple of runs that ended in a good pass instead of wanging it to oblivion. 30 passes, 81%, 9 forward, 0 Goals, 0 assists, 0 chances created, 4 attacking third passes, 4 tackles, 0 Interceptions, 8 ball recoveries
Winks - One of the few that was good first half, but was even better second. This kid has really improved what he does without the ball. Excellent game throughout. 67 passes, 93.1%, 24 forward, 0 Goals, 0 assists, 0 chances created, 9 attacking third passes, 4 tackles, 2 Interceptions, 8 ball recoveries
Eriksen - Struggling to operate in the hole behind the strikers first half, moved back into midfield second half and gradually set about conducting the orchestra around him, sweet music was made. Great second half. 44 passes, 86.3%, 17 forward, 0 Goals, 1 assists, 4 chances created, 17 attacking third passes, 0 tackles, 2 Interceptions, 4 ball recoveries
Son - I thought he was pretty poor first half, frittered away the few snippets of possession he had, and though he wasn't much more involved second half, he seemed more purposeful, the quality of his movement better, and scored a fabulous goal.
Moura - probably our most disappointing player on the night, completed 12 of 20 passes all game, has an unerring knack of running down blind alleys, but to be fair to him, this central role just does not get the best out of him.
Poch - Love what he installs in this team, even on a bad day he's given this team bollocks, but on a good day we get games like this, champions league music and football of the highest calibre. Great tweaks at half time, even his sub came on and scored two minutes later.
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