Tottenham Show Promise Against Stoke but Are Again Undone by Defensive Frailties
WHITE HART LANE, London — The start of the football season is full of good intentions. Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's home match against Stoke City, head coach Mauricio Pochettino's revolved around shoring up his team.
"We have reinforced our defence significantly this summer," he wrote in his programme notes of new signings Toby Alderweireld, Kieran Trippier and Kevin Wimmer. "We need to be more solid and we believe these additions will help us in this respect as we look to improve and reduce that gap with the top four."
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Although they lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the season opener, the focus with which Tottenham defended was a sign improvements might be in the offing. New man Alderweireld and fellow Belgium international Jan Vertonghen mostly kept on top of things in central defence. Kyle Walker got the better of Ashley Young out right, while they defended as cohesively as a unit as Spurs have in some time.
A lack of organisation and unity were key issues behind the north London club conceding the most goals of any team in the Premier League's top half last season. Sometimes as a result of Pochettino mixing things up too much in his back four, other times because of just plain iffiness on the pitch.
The Argentinian rightly pointed out in April, Spurs' leakiness was not just about the defence, and that was true again as they blew a two-goal lead—earned by Eric Dier and Nacer Chadli in the first half—to draw 2-2 with Stoke. The defensive promise of the first weekend again cast into doubt by a particularly poor six-minute spell.
The first was pretty much all on Alderweireld. Joselu turned him too easily, and his panicked attempts to keep up resulted in the penalty Marko Arnautovic calmly converted with 78 minutes played.
Alderweireld and Vertonghen's woeful acknowledgement of Mame Biram Diouf's presence was the deciding mistake in the build to Stoke's equaliser—the latter inexplicably looked behind him rather than focus on what was clearly his man. But they had been left in a bad way by their team-mates' poor protection.
Nabil Bentaleb and Christian Eriksen tamely closed down Stoke's attempts to return the ball following an Eric Dier clearance. Allowed time to look up and pick out Diouf, Stephen Ireland's cross was weakly challenged by Walker too.
"We had the better chances and the game was good for us," Pochettino offered in his post-match press conference. "After the goal I think we conceded some chances, we gave them the opportunity to score and then 2-2, very disappointing."
He acknowledged some missed chances that might have put the game to bed. It was clear, though, the Spurs boss' frustrations lay in his team's allowing Stoke to regain a foothold.
"Yes, we conceded a lot of crosses and they got some chances," he admitted of the gathering momentum that preceded the away side's restoration of parity. "We need to improve in this area because I think today was too much, in the last 10 to 20 minutes we conceded too much."
Stoke undoubtedly upped their performance in the second half. Manager Mark Hughes praised how Joselu and Ireland offered "that little bit more ball retention in key areas of the field" after their arrivals off the bench. "That allowed us to have a platform to really put some pressure on Tottenham, and in the end, they went under due to that pressure."
Still, for all the Potters' second-half improvements, it was hard not to feel Spurs had blew it. The concerns that have now re-emerged about their defence will be all the more galling because the team had shown so much promise in an opening hour they deservedly edged. Something the goalscorer Dier noted afterward (see below).
Tottenham's football positively sparkled at times. The interchanges between their front four did not always hurt Stoke, but the fluidity of their movement kept them guessing. At the turn of the half, it facilitated a thrilling two-minute salvo from Harry Kane.
A Ryan Mason run into the box was picked out by the striker's superb pass. When the central midfielder's shot was blocked and Stoke went on the attack through Ibrahim Afellay, Kane was there to dispossess him with a perfect sliding tackle. Spurs quickly regrouped, the frontman came short for Ben Davies and then played another terrific ball down the line from which the left-back crossed for Chadli make it 2-0.
After the interval, Kane carried on where he left off. He led the charge for Spurs and was denied from close range by Jack Butland in the 52nd minute.
Kane left shortly after the hour mark because, said Pochettino, of tiredness. Consequently, he did not want to risk him—Hughes said he did not notice Kane leave but admitted he was glad he did. It was a contributing factor in the turnaround in momentum, as too was the departure of the typically energetic and positive Mason.
They were not alone in performing well prior to then. Dier again suggested he may thrive for Spurs in central midfield with a little more practice, looking more comfortable in possession than against Man United and combining well with Mason to deny Stoke space in the middle of the pitch. On the right side of midfield, Mousa Dembele worked his socks off and was one of the few pushing Spurs on with any conviction late in the game.
However, as was the case last season, it was again the academy men Kane and Mason who offered the best glimpses of how good Spurs might be. Brave and skilful, tough and relentless—their combined desire was conspicuous by its absence late on.
A Tottenham education is far from the only factor anyone needs to succeed in this team. The likes of Eriksen and Hugo Lloris have shown that more than enough in recent times.
Danny Rose will surely be back for Leicester City next time out. His more aggressive style and its accompanying urgency was missed against Stoke. The more recent teenage signing—the eager-to-please and more dynamic Dele Alli—would surely have been a better bet than the mercurial Erik Lamela as a replacement for Kane to ensure Spurs' energy levels remained high in the last half-hour.
The arrival of Clinton Njie—confirmed by the club on Saturday—in attack will give Tottenham a much-needed alternate option in attack too, one that will hopefully allow them to rest Kane without fear of falling apart again. However, Pochettino also agreed signing another centre-forward would still be helpful.
But Spurs' overall performance again highlighted how much better they have been over the last year or so when their young players are prominent.
It is not a perfect solution—Bentaleb has notably had a rough couple of weeks. But with players such as Tom Carroll, Alex Pritchard and Andros Townsend yet to feature this season, the hunger they and likes of Kane and Mason bring to proceedings may just paper over the cracks of a foundation that is still in need of cementing.
From there, Tottenham could begin to show they are capable of fulfilling the top-four aspirations Pochettino has for them.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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