How Did Spurs Win?

Halloween should have finished a few days ago but for Wolverhampton Wanderers it must seem that it got extended when they had played absolutely brilliantly, dominating the game against Tottenham and finding themselves 3 goals down.  Had it not been for an injury to central defensive midfielder Moussa Dembele, Spurs may have not ended up scoring more than one goal in this match.  Being that this position was depleted by injury, the Spurs manager was forced to use Sissoko as a makeshift central midfield pairing with the excellent Harry Winks.

This meant that he could play the combination I have favoured but not really seen in full force and that was the combo of speedy lightning kings Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela and Heung Min Son.  Together with Spurs talisman Harry Kane, it was their speed that caused all sort of problems for the Wolves defense.  Coupled with clinical finishing from Lamela and Moura, it looked like this combo would awaken Maurico Pochettino to a new way of playing.

It was clear that there was softening of the midfield when Dembele left the game but that middle was soft because of Sissoko and he could win the game with the speed kings on the field, especially once the Wolves defense would begin tiring, but having subbed in Heung Min Son, he subbed him off instead of changing Sissoko or replacing the inexperienced Juan Foyth before he gave away two penalties due to that inexperience. 

He has begun using Harry Kane as a makeshift midfielder coupled with his attacking role and while Kane was still managing to get into shooting positions, in many cases he had options to let the speed kings score but Kane will always be Kane and he scores a lot because he misses a lot.  Pochettino's methods requires a Sissoko type player to be a link between his attack and defensive wing men, but he does not seem to see how many times Sissoko loses the rhythm of the side by not having the confidence to make good decisions in the final pass or simply by losing the ball or making an awkward pass that puts the receiving player in trouble.

Trying out Aurier in a holding midfield position may have worked because that would be just as effective as having Sissoko in that position.  How Wolves did not end up scoring five or more goals in this match was down to another reminder to Spurs fans (should they actually need that reminder) that Hugo Lloris is still a world class goalkeeper who is Tottenham's only World Cup winner.  Three times Lloris came to the rescue but Wolves also missed chances that made them look like the pre-Pochettino Tottenham which also was not clinical in front of goal.

Wolves played some mesmerizing football and while they are called Mini-Portugal with so many Portuguese internationals playing for them, they had the pace and flair to trouble Tottenham, especially after Dembele left the field injured.  It also showcases how foolish it would have been to offload Moussa Dembele in the summer and thankfully he stayed rather than take a lucrative contract in China.  They will still need off-load Dembele if that is he does not sign a new contract, but it is the fact that Spurs see him as surplus to requirement which is mind-boggling at this point.

Helda Costa in particular was the Wolves player who will know that his fluffed shot cost Wolves a point and luckily for Spurs Traore of Wolves came on for the last 10 minutes but was way off his lethal best, he was still warming up and getting going when the full-time whistle arrived, much to the relief of this Tottenham team.  That they are just 3 points off Liverpool in the league is a positive for the simple reason that so far they remain a team that looks disjointed.  Taking Heung Min Son off was not a confidence booster for Son - and Son looked utterly dejected as any substitute would that is then himself subbed, and that feels like being snubbed as well as subbed.

This week Real Madrid were hoping that Pochettino would leave Spurs for them in their own particular moment of managerial crisis.  Maybe Pochettino should try his hand at the Spanish giants or even replace Mourinho at Manchester United.  Maybe both of these giants of football will find out that Pochettino is by no means the finished article and is still work-in-progress as a manager.  Pochettino is blessed to have some brilliant players at Tottenham some of whom are grossly underpaid, hence the stumbling block of Christian Eriksen not having signed a new contract as of yet - and if Spurs continue to sub off their best players especially when changing the style of play may make Spurs more effective, is more likely to create disaffection that spreads to other big game players in the squad.

It was good to see for a short while that Moura - Son - Lamela could play with each other and indeed can make up for goals that Harry Kane could only score before and thus a Moura - Son - Lamela - Erikson combination could be most effective so long as there is a strong backline to help solidify the defense and transitions from defense to attack.  The charge against Spurs is also the charge against Pochettino, that neither know how to win against big teams or win silverware or championships.  It will be interesting to see what Spurs do in the January transfer window, but it is clear from the win against West Ham in the League Cup in mid-week that Spurs do have players who can step up, but does Pochettino have room to experiment with new combinations of fast moving forwards, together with solid defense?

One has to feel sorry for the gold and black of Wolverhampton Wanderers and those are the same colours of Halloween, and for Wolves fans it must have felt like the darkness of Halloween has not yet left their club, but the good news is that Wolves is creating some wonderful football and their youngster Gibbs-White looks so promising, especially delivering a pin-point pass that Helda Costa wasted, reminding even Spurs players of the amazing passing ability of Glenn Hoddle - and the good news this week, Hoddle is recovering well from his own heart-attack scare.