Tottenham Improve Defensively Against Chelsea but Are Still Missing Alderweireld
Toby Alderweireld has been one of Tottenham Hotspur's most talked about players over the last month. It is testament to the defender's status given that he has not featured since their 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on 15 October.
Tottenham's November-concluding 2-1 loss to Chelsea was their ninth match without the injured 2015-16 fan-voted player-of-the-year. Combined with the confirmation of a disappointingly premature Champions League exit days earlier, their first Premier League loss of the season further highlighted his absence.
Like for much of the period, Spurs' defensive display against their capital rivals fluctuated between assured and sudden bouts of panic.
There was no shame in losing to this often brilliant Chelsea side that well-made, finished goals by Pedro Rodriguez and Victor Moses cancelling out Christian Eriksen's viciously-struck opener. Nor was it a surprise given Spurs' hoodoo at Stamford Bridge dates back 26 years (as last season's meeting showed, even form and a superior league position counts for little against such a powerful curse).
Yet, while they can also take some positives from their time without him, the team's defence will be grateful for Alderweireld's return.
Prior to the match, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was hesitant to declare a date for Alderweireld's return but said he hoped the 27-year-old would be available "as soon as possible." Although still working toward full fitness, he could be back in contention for their next home game with Swansea City.
"Yes, it's true that our expectation before was to recover him [sooner] and it's true that we miss him a lot," Pochettino said in his pre-Chelsea press conference. "But we are happy today. He was involved with the squad to do some boxes with the ball."
With Alderweireld only ready for a few training drills, Pochettino could not think too much about the Belgian. Left-back was in more pressing need of attention with Danny Rose suspended and Ben Davies injured.
Against Monaco he had chosen to rest the left-sided Jan Vertonghen, seemingly in mind with ensuring his availability to possibly cover here against Chelsea. Beforehand he was only too happy to keep everyone guessing.
"We played against Sunderland [a 1-0 win in September] with Jan Vertonghen like a full-back, or we can play with [Kieran] Trippier on the left or we can play with Kevin Wimmer, we have different options to play," he said.
"After Monaco we need to assess the players. Tomorrow we have another training session to decide the players that are available to play and we will see what happens after."
That 2-1 defeat at the Stade Louis II was still on everyone's minds.
Their Champions League elimination had been a team-wide failure, a squad-wide one, even. But while the inability to sufficiently impose themselves on Monaco had hurt, it had been their weak resistance to the Ligue 1 side's divide-and-conquer approach that had most undermined them.
Like Vertonghen, first-choice right-back Kyle Walker had also been rested. As Pochettino pointed out a couple of days after, both had been involved in previous losses to Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen so it was not necessarily down to their absence.
Even the normal centre-back pairing of Alderweireld and Vertonghen would have struggled to deal with Monaco's exploiting wide areas via Spurs' narrow midfield setup. Could they have made a difference in stopping the bombardment of crosses and cut-ins to the channel that followed?
Maybe not given Djibril Sidibe's first goal certainly was reminiscent of the issues defending such direct attacks that had been their only area of weakness when both were available, primarily at set-plays. Even the best of defences can only stand up against such relentlessness for so long.
Pochettino's response at Chelsea was two-fold.
Vertonghen actually started at centre-back alongside Eric Dier with Kevin Wimmer shifted out to left-back and Kyle Walker returning on the opposite wing. No real tactical shift here given their usual left-backs' absences, just trusting the defenders to do their job.
As is usual for a coach who so often emphasises the shared responsibility of the whole team to defend, Tottenham were encouraged to get out at the Blues. Pochettino had reiterated prior the need to play with "the same philosophy and the same principles" no matter the formation.
However he did it, there was an extra energy to their hassling that has not been seen as potently since last month's win over Manchester City.
Striker Harry Kane led the closing down as Chelsea persisted in playing round the back from goal-kicks and in other situations (their manager Antonio Conte is on the same page as Pochettino there). The evenly deployed Heung-Min Son, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen followed up with central midfielders Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama alert behind to cover or sweep up any unsettling of the hosts' rhythm by the attacking midfield trio.
Spurs did this excellently for a good 40 minutes. While the back four also stepped forward to plug gaps further up the pitch, they were mostly allowed to focus on keeping their shape and stopping more advanced attacks.
Vertonghen was especially sharp on Diego Costa in the early going. The Chelsea front-man was left on his backside more than once complaining about the physical but fair treatment.
The home side's attempts to go long were dealt with well in the air by Dier. Out wide Wimmer kept things simple shoring up the left and the eager Walker offered a welcome outlet as a point of relief from the spells of pressure Spurs did have to withstand.
After Monaco, it was what Pochettino needed to see from his team, and especially his defence. Boosted by Eriksen's 11th-minute strike, they were not in full control but looked comfortable again in their own skin. That is a must for anyone hoping to get anything against a side of Chelsea's calibre.
The game turning against them hinged on Pedro's goal just prior to half-time.
Chelsea were gaining a foothold by then, notably through the promptings of the influential Eden Hazard. Spurs had been doing enough to keep them out and would have deserved their lead had they maintained it up to the interval.
The confidence boost might have been enough to at least set them up for a renewed second-half charge.
Instead, the move preceding Pedro's curling beauty was a reminder for the need for focus at all times.
There was little they could do to halt the fine passing move that guided Chelsea initially out right. Yet from the point Nemanja Matic sent the ball inside to the Spaniard, they let their previous intensity drop just enough. Wanyama jogged it back in and Dier turned his back, Pedro happily guided his shot past him and the stretching Hugo Lloris.
From there Chelsea gained the upper hand in all aspects of the contest.
Where Spurs had bossed their midfield—outnumbering them to good effect before—N'Golo Kante in particular was able to break through and instigate moves now bypassing them. This included bringing the fluid attacking three of Costa, Hazard and Pedro more into the game. It also led to wing-backs Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses gaining more space down their flanks, no longer having to pitch in trying to regain the ball off Spurs further back.
It was here Chelsea struck for a second time. Dier (see above) expressed his frustration after at the space they granted Moses to convert after the defence had been sucked in trying to shut down the increasingly effective Costa.
The final insult was not more goals against them. Rather it was Conte happily making changes to see out the game, confident his side had Spurs' measure.
Bar a few threatening incursions from Eriksen, Kane and substitute Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, they were dealt with relatively simply. Still, altogether Pochettino was happier with his players' performance than against Monaco.
"If you analyse the whole game, I think we deserve more," he told Tottenham's official website. "I was pleased with how we competed, how we started the game, it's normal to have periods in the game here at Chelsea that are difficult because they push, they are a very good team with good players."
Pochettino's contention "it is difficult to explain" where the game went against them is understandable to an extent. Not necessarily in the specific errors or oversights that led to the goals, but more in the gradual shifts in momentum that facilitated them.
A similar analysis could be applied to the work of Tottenham's defence, and the overall work of the team in this department right now.
You can pinpoint where mistakes are being made in games. Getting an exact handle on issues of balance, shape and concentration that feed into them is trickier and more subjective.
Alderweireld getting fit and a return to the team's most tried-and-trusted four of him and Vertonghen, Rose and Walker should help. His presence against Chelsea might just have made them that little bit more formidable and allowed them to overcome problems elsewhere.
Pochettino will still be working to figure out just how he can improve the whole side. He knows they cannot just rely on one player to make everything better.
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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