Why Kaboul Is Under Most Pressure for Tottenham Following Loss to Man City
Ahead of Saturday's 4-1 loss to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur's Younes Kaboul laid down a pre-match challenge for his team.
"We need to repeat the same performance as we produced against Arsenal," the centre-back told Tottenham's official website. "In these big games we need to do something to show everyone what we are capable of."
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Sadly for the Frenchman, from a defensive perspective, his side failed to repeat their north London derby effort. The defender's display was particularly erratic, to the extent that there will be notable pressure on him to get things right in the coming weeks.
Selected by head coach Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham's new club captain, Kaboul's performance in the aforementioned 1-1 draw with Arsenal suggested that the responsibility was settling well with him. He led by example that day, diligently clearing just about everything that came into his sector.
Against Southampton the following week, there was an almost-costly slip-up late in the game, when an unmarked Sadio Mane stole in behind him. However, Kaboul had been solid enough in Spurs' 1-0 win that holding that against him would have been unfair. Clearly a part of Pochettino's plans, the hope was that the new skipper's mixed early season form was on the verge of turning into something more consistently satisfying.
Disappointingly, Kaboul's worst tendencies of poor concentration and rash decision-making came to the fore this past weekend. It is unlikely he will lose his place for Spurs' next Premier League game with Newcastle United as a result, but it is under deserved scrutiny.
The 28-year-old was not alone in having a tough time with the movement of the Man City attack and the individual skill and technique of players such as Sergio Aguero and David Silva. His defensive partner for the day, Federico Fazio, and left-back Danny Rose were both notably caught out by a quickly taken free-kick in the build up to the home side's third. Midfielders Etienne Capoue and Ryan Mason were twisted and turned every which way in their attempts to protect their defence—even with Spurs attacking well, periods under pressure were inevitable against the champions.
The breaking up of the central-defensive partnership of Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen did not help Spurs either, regardless of whether the decision was because of the latter suffering fatigue from international duty or a strategical one. The Belgian's composure at the back had blended well alongside his team-mate's more eager style in recent games. The absence of that reassurance—the knowledge of a partner's positioning and instincts—added an unhelpful degree of uncertainty to Spurs' work at the back.
However, Kaboul was his own worst enemy at points in the first-half.
Perhaps it would be harsh to criticise him for not sticking close enough to Aguero for his opening goal. The quick-footed striker is a hard man to keep track of, especially from the position he put the defender in.
His failure to learn from the need to keep Aguero close was concerning, though. Ten minutes after that opener, Jesus Navas' cross found the Argentine completely free in the box, with the nearest-placed Kaboul ball watching. Hugo Lloris was required to make a save, but Aguero could easily have made it 3-1 to City right then.
Kaboul went the complete other direction in the 32nd minute when he chopped down Silva to give away the game's second penalty. He understandably did not want to grant the nippy Spaniard too much room to operate in as he entered the penalty area, but he had to be smarter than lunging in on someone so tricky with the ball at his feet (he was saved by Lloris for the second time, the Frenchman stopping Aguero's penalty).
There was better work from Kaboul at times, the kind that makes it easy to see why Pochettino wants him in his defence—and what also makes the poorer stuff so frustrating.
He used his strength to get in front of Aguero when he threatened through on goal shortly after the interval. He also read the game well to make a number of interceptions before the ball reached the Spurs box, as well as clearing ones that did cross that line (four and seven respectively, as tallied by Squawka).
Being beaten by a better team or a quality player is acceptable. That is football. But the problem with Kaboul is, too often, he is not even in the game to begin with.
See Raheem Sterling's opener for Liverpool back in August and James Morrison's winner for West Bromwich Albion in September—while not discounting the effort from both of those players, they were considerably aided by Kaboul choosing to watch the ball instead of staying alert to their movements.
He is not alone in doing this. For instance, Eric Dier was also caught out by Sterling for that goal. But as the leader of the defence and team in general, Kaboul has to be better. He knows this, he said as much in the call to arms recounted at the start of this article.
Kaboul should keep his place for the Newcastle game, and his performance against Manchester City could prove to be an aberration. A bad day brought on by the changes beside him and superiority of the opposition.
Better has to be forthcoming from Kaboul, though. With the competition he has around him at Spurs, he will not keep his place just because he is the club captain.
Vertonghen's stock has gone up every time he has been absent in the last couple of months, while young Dier's clear talent as a defender will be called upon again centrally at some point. Prior to his sending off, Fazio had equipped himself decently, coming out of defence to stop City in their tracks on a few occasions. Vlad Chiriches will be eager to fight his way back into the team too.
As the captain of a talented young side seeking to prove itself under the management of Pochettino, Kaboul has a potentially career-defining opportunity right now. It would be a shame to see it go unfulfilled because he kept looking the other way.
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