Swansea vs. Tottenham: Tactical Review of Premier League Game
Tottenham Hotspur eked out another hard-fought, arguably undeserved away victory this weekend at the Liberty Stadium, beating Swansea City 2-1.
Harry Kane opened the scoring with an early header from a corner, but Wilfried Bony pegged him back. The game stretched late on, and it was Christian Eriksen who made the difference.
Let's take a tactical look at how the game played out.
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Formations and XIs
Swansea City are now firmly entrenched in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Gylfi Sigurdsson behind Wilfried Bony. Jefferson Montero started his eighth consecutive game on the left, while Leon Britton played in central midfield.
Spurs also plumped for a 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 look, with Harry Kane supporting Roberto Soldado and Ben Davies facing his former club at left-back. Kyle Walker returned to Premier League football at right-back.
1. Space Between the Lines
Spurs started quickly with a Kane headed goal from a corner, but the tactical story of the first 20 minutes was the sheer amount of space between the lines.
Neither side did a good job of bottling up the area just in front of their defensive lines, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise to see Tottenham start well given the openness of Swansea's setup.
After Montero tested Walker on the outside and couldn't beat him for pace, the Ecuadorian began ducking inside and running into the space between Spurs' defensive and midfield lines. Sigurdsson found some nice pockets of space too, while Ryan Mason did a good job picking out well-placed teammates going the other way.
While both sides traded blows and failed to gain control of the game, it was very much end-to-end.
2. Wilfried Bony's Movement Clinic
Swansea finally slid into gear after the 20-minute mark, and Bony was key to everything they did. This match should be bottled and shown when teaching youngsters how a striker's movement can truly change a game.
He constantly ran between the centre-backs, ducked inside then out, split the centre-back and the full-back or drifted all the way over to collect diagonal balls. Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen had no idea how to begin stopping him.
The Swans' wide play improved as Spurs began focusing on Bony, and the deliveries—largely from the right via Wayne Routledge and Angel Rangel—were consistently good. With strong supply and Bony a step ahead of the defence in every move, it was up to Hugo Lloris to stave the Ivorian off.
In the second half Bony finally got his goal thanks to a really neat move. Routledge and Rangel combined, the former slipped in behind Ben Davies and the cross was converted at the second attempt.
The concentration of resources on Bony led to more space on both sides throughout, but questions must again be asked of Mauricio Pochettino's deployment of Eriksen as a winger. It's not his position, he doesn't track and he doesn't help. For the goal, Davies was two vs. one and done by a simple give-and-go.
3. Pochettino's Changes
With Swansea level, dominating and pushing for a winner, Pochettino made his moves. The first move was a bit of a surprise—Mousa Dembele on for Roberto Soldado—but on the pitch it made sense.
Kane moved into a lone striker's role, and Dembele came in behind him, adding a bit of physicality to the forward areas in an attempt to create a focal point. Soldado didn't impact the game at all; his runs were ineffective, and Spurs never got hold of the game so they could feed him in advanced areas.
It levelled the playing field a little, and Spurs' snappy midfield found more of the ball. Dembele was by no means perfect. But he did sit deeper, and he's more adept in deeper areas than Kane.
Subbing in Benjamin Stambouli was also key, as he sat in and added bite to the midfield. A turnover from him was key in the centre right before the ball was fed to Eriksen for the winner.
Pochettino's changes didn't win the game, but they did get his side back on the ball. From there, it was another case of Eriksen's brilliance winning a close game in which Spurs did not shine.
