Positional Battles Are Heating Up as Tottenham Hotspur Maximise Their Depth
One of the themes of the early season for Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino was the importance of preparing his squad for demands to come. The hope was that preparations made at the beginning would pay off throughout a fulfilling and successful campaign in domestic and European competitions.
"Today, when you look at our squad, we have the possibility to play in different ways," he told Tottenham's official website at the close of the transfer window. "That is important because we have different alternatives across the team in order to compete in all competitions."
Pochettino will be pleased with how he has been able to maximise the depth of his playing staff so far. It is still early in this process, but the team's increasingly confident performances and the competition for places informing them will create belief that it is something they can sustain.
Seeing where Spurs' positional battles stand compared to the eve of 2016-17 makes for a mix of the expected and the surprising.
Certain areas of the team are as reliably consistent as they were when driving the preceding Premier League title challenge that has created so much expectation this time around. Others have seen variation according to the different impacts made by new signings.
Fortunes for holdovers from last season have contrasted, too, while a new crop of academy prospects have gotten their first taste of the senior game.
Much could change throughout the Tottenham team beyond this point. But as the club game takes a pause for the latest international break, this is a good time to take a more detailed look at how things look right now.
Goalkeeper
Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris' performance in the 2-0 win over Manchester City reiterated just how important he is to the north Londoners' cause—if anyone needed reminding.
He repeatedly stopped Sergio Aguero, anticipating the striker's runs into the box and also doing enough to deflect one near-post effort away via the woodwork. Lloris denied substitute Kelechi Iheanacho from close range and saved shots from Raheem Sterling as Spurs shut their visitors out.
Lloris had been playing solidly enough before the team's final fixture ahead of the international break. But this unbeatable outing from the captain saw him firmly at his best.
Backup Michel Vorm will have watched on approvingly, albeit with a hint of frustration.
The Dutchman had deputised for Lloris after the first-choice keeper got injured in the season opener against Everton. He was as commanding as he has ever been in a Spurs shirt, doing particularly well to keep his side in the game against a dangerous Liverpool attack.
Losing his place will have jarred a little. But he knows his role, and Lloris' playing so well makes things a tad more tolerable.
On-loan third-choice Pau Lopez has yet to make an appearance even on the bench. Alfie Whiteman, just turned 18, was the alternative to Vorm for the EFL Cup win over Gillingham.
Centre-Back
"I don't like to speak about names, because for me the collective is the most important, the squad," Pochettino told his pre-Manchester City press conference when asked about the good form of Toby Alderweireld. Yet while the boss would not go into specifics about the defender's work, he made it clear that anyone he selected at any given time was there on merit.
Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen have played every Premier League and Champions League match so far this season and have deserved to, as well. Save for a below-par night in the loss to Monaco (although Alderweireld did score Spurs' consolation goal in a 2-1 defeat), they have been tough, organised and close to fully engaged in keeping opponents away from their goal.
Like last season, central defence is a position at which Pochettino is looking to maintain consistency.
Familiarity is conducive to unity in such a confrontational, temperamental area of the pitch. Others in the team have changed around them, but the Belgians are, along with Lloris, establishing a core resistance.
Watching them deal as well as anyone has with Aguero will have made for pleasurable viewing for Spurs fans so used to the striker ripping their defence apart in the past. That the team has conceded only three in the league so far, and none in open play, bodes well for the continued health of the partnership.
Cameron Carter-Vickers has joined Kevin Wimmer in providing backup for Alderweireld and Vertonghen. Unexpectedly, the teenager has even been selected ahead of the Austrian on the bench.
Both started together against Gillingham and will likely have to make do with domestic cup appearances while the others are fit and in form.
Full-Back
Given the more taxing physical demands he places on them, Pochettino's sticking with the formula of partial rotation of his full-backs is understandable. Providing width in the opposition half as well as defending their own flanks, even the fittest of them can benefit from a day off now and then.
Kieran Trippier is once again having to bide his time here at right-back, with Kyle Walker carrying on where he left off with England at Euro 2016. He has been formidable defensively, dominating his international team-mate Raheem Sterling in the win over Man City, and he has quickly adjusted to new combinations further forward.
Trippier played fine in his two appearances against Gillingham and CSKA Moscow but will have to up his game even more to move ahead of Walker permanently.
At left-back, injury to Danny Rose has allowed Ben Davies more opportunities to play.
Like the aforementioned centre-backs, he had difficulties against Monaco but was much-improved as Spurs secured their first Champions League win against CSKA. In the league he has been dependable and provided good support for Heung-Min Son out on the left flank.
Rose returned against Man City and is likely to remain ahead in the pecking order post-break. More than ever, though, he will know he has to stay on his toes or risk being replaced by Davies.
Centre-Midfield
One of Tottenham's most important players of 2015-16, Mousa Dembele's season hasn't really got going. Suspended for the first four league games, he came on against Monaco and started against Sunderland before getting injured in the latter match.
Although Dembele's dynamism was missed in more tentative Spurs performances early on, some strategic tweaks and good performances of others have shown they can get by without him.
We will get to those adjustments in a little while. In terms of personnel, the main man here has been Victor Wanyama.
The summer signing from Southampton is coming off a great week, performing excellently in the wins over CSKA Moscow and Southampton. Earlier on he played alongside Eric Dier, but with the Englishman used elsewhere and recently injured, the new man has since been handed the running of the midfield.
Wanyama has excelled with the responsibility. He is as combative a player as Spurs have had in a long time, and against City his passing and forward choices suggested he is gaining in confidence too.
Another coming on in leaps and bounds is Harry Winks.
This season the 20-year-old has made his first Premier League and Champions League appearances, as well as his first start for the club in an influential outing against Gillingham.
Tom Carroll also did well in that fixture, but it is the latter player whom Pochettino has looked to in helping the team see out matches and earn points. Winks' maturation may join the return of Dembele in ensuring Pochettino does not abandon the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation completely.
Attacking Midfield
When Walker went off against Liverpool and Dier moved to right-back, Dele Alli was moved back into central midfield to work with Wanyama. He had played the position early on in his Spurs career before Dembele's resurgence there, and a good shift against the Reds reminded of his ability to play in a less offensive role.
Since Dembele got injured against Sunderland, the lineups Pochettino has fielded on paper have given the impression that Alli would continue there, especially against the intimidating attacking weapons boasted by Pep Guardiola's Man City.
Instead, that game proved the mini-culmination of Pochettino's changing formation to something closer to a 4-1-4-1. If anything, Alli got even further forward in a particularly aggressive display in which Wanyama was the only real protective presence for Spurs' defence.
Along with the great form of Son—up until this last fixture playing left-wing—and the good use of Moussa Sissoko as a battering ram out right, it has changed the perception of what Spurs' attacking midfield can be and may become. The key tenet of relentless engagement on and off the ball will not differ, but how they get there may do so.
Mainstays Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela are still involved and performing well enough, too. But they are no longer guaranteed the same minutes with Pochettino looking to make sure Spurs do not become predictable in attacking areas (compare this to centre-back, where such reliability is key).
With Josh Onomah and new winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou impressing in their appearances, too, not to mention an eye-catching cameo from 17-year-old Marcus Edwards against Gillingham, keeping opponents guessing could become a key characteristic of this multifaceted side.
Centre-Forward
In appraising Son's recent great form compared to a tough first season with the club, a lot of people overlooked his appearances leading the attack. Late on against CSKA Moscow and from the start versus Man City, he has reminded or made aware what a good option he is leading the line.
That Son is being used there again is a product of the recent injury suffered by striker Harry Kane.
Last season’s top scorer was just settling into the new campaign, netting twice in two games, when he was hurt in the win over Sunderland.
For now it has temporarily halted earlier experiments using Kane in conjunction with new striker Vincent Janssen. The partnership was full of industry but had not quite established a working creative element.
Janssen has continued to work as hard as anyone since then but has not quite found his finishing touch yet. With Son perhaps moving ahead in the battle for game time up top, by the time Kane returns another approach in the Spurs attack could be in the offing.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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