Tottenham Tactics: Breaking Down the Approach of Harry Redknapp and His Team

In the end, the Tottenham Hotspurs' Wednesday night was not an altogether bad one.

Rafael van der Vaart's injury time goal salvaged a point against Stoke City, while Chelsea's loss to Manchester City means Spurs losing at Stamford Bridge this weekend is not the disaster it might have been.

Whilst Arsenal did finally overtake their north London rivals into third place, that has felt like an inevitability since Spurs lost to Everton two weekends ago, now at least Harry Redknapp's side are in sight of the season-ending run-in they can focus all their energies on as they seek to finish above the Gunners.

Spurs do however have some issues, and as Redknapp himself put it after the Stoke draw, "we just seemed to have lost our way a bit."

As Spurs endured a rough early Spring this time last year, anyone pointing a finger at Redknapp and blaming him for his side's troubles would not have been entirely out of line. To do so this time around would be a little unfair in some respects. After all, there is only so much you can do from the sidelines and he would have been as frustrated and perplexed as any supporter at the way Spurs capitulated against Arsenal a few weeks ago, the performances that in effect heralded the recent woes.

With that said, there are some areas Redknapp needs to address whilst he and his coaching staff take a step back and look at their own approach, or they risk Spurs' season completely petering out.

From set-pieces to who should be deployed in attack, here now is the break down of the tactics, team selections, and formations of Harry Redknapp and his Tottenham side.

The Lack of Imagination in Dead-Ball Situations

Set-pieces are something that immediately spring to mind when thinking about what is going wrong with Tottenham right now.

The team's inability to create goals from them was not a major problem when they were finding ways to score elsewhere. But in recent tight games when goals have not been so forthcoming and they have needed to force the issue against well-organised opponents, the failure to create even any in-direct opportunities from dead-ball situations have left Tottenham looking an almost one-track attacking side.

From the outside looking in, you would have to wonder how much planning goes into their free-kicks and corners. At the former in particular you will often see at one time or another in a match one of Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Younes Kaboul, Luka Modric, Jermain Defoe and Van der Vaart taking a turn.

The Dutchman has some ability here and Defoe can certainly strike a ball well, but Bale is still living off a free kick he scored against Arsenal in 2007(!), whilst the others might be able to score from there in training, but have been so frequently off the mark they too should really stay away.

You can overlook the occasional poor free-kick; perhaps what is most frustrating with Tottenham here is their decision making in this area. Rather than always look to get a shot off, why not work on some set-plays to give the opposition something to think about?

At corners Spurs have attempted to vary it up and deployed a short corner, usually involving Van der Vaart and Modric, working the ball into an angle where they might be able to swing in a more dangerous cross or tee a team-mate up for a shot.

Too often though, imagination is lacking in those instances when the ball is crossed in directly (if it makes it that far!), with the runs being made by Tottenham's attackers too predictable for Premier League defences well used to dealing with aerial attacks.

The Defence That Is Obviously Not Getting Enough Sleep at Home

That competency on the defensive side of things is far from a given, as Tottenham has been demonstrating with alarming regularity of late. Both at set pieces and in open play, a lack of concentration and awareness has infected a Spurs defence that for much of this season had been organised and difficult to get through.

Hopes that the Arsenal debacle was a one-off have been dispelled by defensive displays in the past three matches (especially against Manchester United) that undermined the efforts of those further up the pitch (with the consistently solid Brad Friedel also granted an exception here).

Spurs' back line are too often falling asleep when it matters most, and notably they have been caught out by poor, often non-existent marking.

Kaboul was criticised for the ease with which Leon Osman turned him before setting up Nikica Jelavić in Everton's 1-0 win. More at fault however was Ledley King who opted to move towards Osman, who was already being tracked by Sandro, rather than mark Jelavić. That allowed the Croatian enough time and space to place his shot beyond Friedel's reach.

Cameron Jerome's goal for Stoke was the product of a team lapse in concentration and the forward was able to reach unchallenged to tap in after Spurs failed to deal with a free kick. Against United it was Modric initially caught unaware from a throw-in, but then even from there Spurs looked nowhere near ready in dealing with the attack that led to Ashley Young putting the Red Devils two-up on the way to a 3-1 win.

You have to look to the coaching staff too in failing to prepare their team adequately in some instances.

United's first goal in that game saw Wayne Rooney get the better of Kyle Walker from a corner moments before the interval. They had been given warning earlier in the half from a corner when the striker beat his full-back marker to the ball then. Making a change in-game to who marks who might not be so easy, but how Spurs to begin with had gone into such a situation with their full-back marking England's deadliest striker is baffling.

What has caused a previously solid looking defence to waver is uncertain. King and Kaboul were very dependable together up until February, but the Spurs captain has looked especially below-par of late. Frustratingly, some of these problems may have been prevented.

Michael Dawson's season-ending injury against Stevenage was the latest unfortunate blow for a player who has been cursed at the most inopportune of moments these past couple years. But even had he not gone down there, Spurs had already suffered from Redknapp's decision to drop him prior to the Arsenal defeat.

After returning from injury in the new year, Dawson had been growing in form, putting in a typically brave and selfless display to help deny Liverpool at Anfield before a superb marshalling job against Newcastle's dangerous strikeforce as Spurs thrashed the Magpies 5-0.

Redknapp often speaks highly of Dawson, but he clearly undervalues him, as demonstrated in his selection of Kaboul ahead of him for the north London derby. It was unlucky that prior to then, injury had caused the Frenchman to miss out for weeks having been in the team since the season's beginning.

But Dawson had come in and shown why he should be a regular fixture in the side. With him you not only get a (very underrated) well-rounded defender, but also a fully-fledged leader who will throw himself in front of anything and give every last drop of energy to keep the opposition out.

There is no doubt Tottenham have been missing this kind of presence, someone to complement the more-measured styles of King and Kaboul. With him gone for the campaign's remainder, they will have to get back to basics some other way.

The Missing Fluency in Attack

"We're not playing with quite the same fluency that we were a few weeks ago", Redknapp told Sky Sports after the game. "It's difficult to put your finger on it really but we just don't seem to be shifting the ball around like we did."

Tottenham are undoubtedly missing being able to use both Bale and Aaron Lennon in their midfield. Whilst the likes of Niko Kranjcar can certainly contribute for a game or two, Spurs' play is so dependent on the speed provided by their wingers that when it is gone for too long they have no failsafe to revert too when they aren't having any luck elsewhere (especially with the problems at set-pieces).

It does make you wonder why Redknapp once more let the pacy and skillful Andros Townsend out on loan when he could have been doing a job for his parent club right now.

If Spurs can get their main two wingers on the pitch at the same time again (fitness permitting), you get the feeling that Spurs will click again going forward. Despite Redknapp's concerns, in their last three games (barring the first-half against Everton) they have actually been playing pretty well in midfield.

Sandro and Jake Livermore were superb against United, with Lennon a constant threat on the right that afternoon. Against Stoke, Modric and Scott Parker controlled things in midfield with Bale especially looking lively (with the Welshman crossing for van der Vaart's equaliser).

What needs addressing is the best way to take that good work in midfield and turn it into chances and goals in the final third. The solution to that is most certainly not Louis Saha.

The French striker has proven in his time at the Lane already he is a good finisher, but the problem is, he is very little else besides (if Roman Pavlyuchenko had been given the sort of game-time Saha is he wouldn't have wanted to leave, and the Russian was a superior player for sure). When things aren't going for a team, as they aren't with Spurs of late, you need more from your strikers.

Defoe was guilty of this in seasons past, but has addressed this superbly this year and been a player transformed. Emmanuel Adebayor is a different kind of forward to the Englishman, but is similar in that he looks to contribute more than just waiting for chances to come to him.

So how can Spurs find that missing-link and regain the absent "fluency" described by Redknapp?

Well besides being able to deploy two speedy wingers again, doing so will not be easy. Without Bale and Lennon both being available Redknapp also stated his desire for his team to be more "patient."

"They get carried away with the crowd at times and started playing from back to front to quick. We're a footballing team that plays and people have got to be patient. They can't worry about the crowd being inpatient because we had lots of passes.

"You can't lump the ball forward against Stoke because they have two centre-halves who are good in the air. We had to just be patient. With 30 minutes to go, we just panicked a bit and started playing too quick."

It is nice to see Redknapp has realised the futility of the aerial game (too often used last season in its design to get the best out of Peter Crouch), and he is right in saying his team are sometimes too desperate to force a chance.

Another criticism of Spurs is they can be too ponderous with the ball, but this is a tad harsh when you consider how often teams sit back on them, "parking the bus" in Mourinho-speak. Redknapp's instinct for patience is a correct one, but he must then emphasise in his team the need for constant movement to make the most of this.

Whether you have two up-front or are using a player like van der Vaart just off a main forward (this writer leans towards the latter), you do not want that pairing waiting for the ball to come to them. With the supporting midfielders you need to give the opposition something to think about

When Spurs are at their best in situations where the opposing defence has dug in, it has been when they have had players pulling defenders out of place and opening space for others. Most of Tottenham's best chances against Stoke came that way, and it was how (for example) they beat QPR late last year in a similar type of situation.

Saying that, they could do with developing that killer-instinct in the final-third. So plenty of extra shooting-practice at training might not go amiss...