Leverkusen Loss Again Highlights Tottenham's Continued Creative Conundrum
WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON—One of the differences between post-match press conferences after European competition games is the presence of a translator. With usually media and journalists from two different countries, the unfamiliar words of each manager needs relaying.
After Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, the wait between questions was a source of frustration for their disappointed manager Mauricio Pochettino. Unable to make as swift an exit as is usually arranged by his press officer, he killed time glancing up at the room's television screens (soundlessly) broadcasting an NBA programme.
Among its subjects were Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook and leader of last season's championship-winning Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James. On a night his team's attack once again struggled to consistently get through and beyond their opponents, Pochettino may have been ruing the absence of similarly skillful, dominant performers of his own.
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One such man in that mould, Harry Kane, was still unavailable as Tottenham made their latest appearance at Wembley.
The striker is back in training after getting injured against Sunderland in October, but Pochettino has gone back-and-forth on just how ready he may be for Sunday's north London derby.
Given his strong record against Arsenal—scoring in every league fixture he has played against them—his return would provide a welcome boost. But even then there is no guarantee the Tottenham talisman will immediately rectify issues in their creative department, chiefly in attacking midfield.
Spurs got by well without Kane to begin with. Pochettino moved from a 4-2-3-1 formation to an even-more positive 4-1-4-1, and his players looked to show they are not reliant on their top scorer of the last season.
Gillingham were comfortably dispatched in the EFL Cup, with Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and youngster Josh Onomah revelling in exercising their greater quality against the lower-league opposition. Heung-Min Son followed that up with starring roles in wins over Middlesbrough in the Premier League and CSKA Moscow in Europe.
The South Korean led the line to good effect in the subsequent win over Manchester City. Pep Guardiola's side were unprepared for Spurs' upfield hassling of them and the fluidity Son's mobility facilitated.
Rather than the springboard for Tottenham's full assault on the season, that victory has been a high they have not yet recaptured.
Four draws in the league and two cup losses, including this one against Leverkusen, have followed.
What has marked all of them is the struggle in front of goal. The issues are evident, but just why they have come about and what can be done to cure them is debatable.
This past week, Pochettino highlighted the "many problems" his players returned with from the momentum-disrupting international break (for instance, the weary Son was not deemed ready to start the first fixture back against West Bromwich Albion following his travels). Speaking to BT Sport after their latest disappointment (via the London Evening Standard's Sam Long), Dele Alli could not identify a specific cause for the malaise.
"We are playing well but we have to finish our chances," Alli, one of Spurs' most prominent players in the position, said. "We have to keep going and make sure we turn it around now. We're not finishing our chances when they come."
In his programme notes for Leverkusen, Pochettino agreed "we are creating plenty of opportunities, we just need to be more ruthless in front of goal." His hope that the game would be "a great opportunity to put this right" did not come to fruition.
After the preceding draw with Premier League champions Leicester City he had pinpointed the attacking midfield, or "second line," as lacking aggression in the final third.
"Because we are a team that dominates, we play well, we have very good plan of the game but then we need to be more determined to score, that means more aggression," he said, something he would continue to stress in his remarks. "We build up from the back very good, the plan is perfect, our position is perfect. But then in the last third we need more, [to be] more clinical, more aggressive, more determined to score."
Tottenham were better here against Leicester than vs. Bournemouth the previous week.
Vincent Janssen started up front and brought the kind of concentrated pressure lacking against the Cherries. He won and converted a penalty, and when the ball came his way, he looked dangerous.
Spurs' crossing was more effective, with both Alli and Jan Vertonghen hitting the bar from centres. Eriksen was able to find some room on and just inside the edge of the penalty area only to find his efforts blocked by committed Leicester defending.
Yet for all the good moments, when Spurs moved the ball quickly and purposely, it was just not enough.
That was the case for the attacking midfield against Leverkusen, too.
In his post-match assessment, Pochettino went back to familiar themes. Less disappointed by his team's attitude than he was in their previous Wembley game against Monaco, he was more perplexed they could not "show our real quality."
"If you don't score in football it's difficult to win, but today no excuse. After two games at Wembley, Monaco and Leverkusen we were poor, they were clinical in front of the goal, we aren't."
As detailed by Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe, Spurs had discomfort dealing with and negotiating sufficiently satisfying routes out of Leverkusen's unabating press. When the Germans won possession, or got forward another way, they consistently threatened to overwhelm their hosts.
Last-ditch defending from Ben Davies, Eric Dier, Jan Vertonghen and others stopped the result possibly being worse. They could not stop Kevin Kampl's 65th-minute winner, though, with Roger Schmidt's team displaying an incisiveness Spurs never matched (see below on the 1:32 mark).
When the north Londoners got behind Leverkusen's attempts to close them down, moving beyond or dispossessing them, there was some positive work
There was greater energy and power about them in transition than in recent weeks—although more room from the sizable Wembley pitch and Leverkusen's less defensive-minded approach helped. Moussa Sissoko looked to get down the right flank as much as possible while, later on, Son (when he was switched from up-top to left-midfield following Janssen's replacement of the injured Mousa Dembele) and substitute Georges-Kevin Nkoudou tried to force their own way through pushing up out left.
In the first half, Eriksen actively sought the ball despite a nominal peripheral deployment. Throughout, Alli attempted to exploit pockets of space in the visitors' ranks and might have won a penalty in one instance, while Dier hit the bar with a free-kick he did get following a lovely exchange with Sissoko.
Ultimately, Spurs needed to offer more to trouble a side of Leverkusen's standard who again belied their current mid-table position in the Bundesliga. The quality, and at times the urgency, was just not there.
Sissoko is embodying a no-end-product player right now. He is good at getting Spurs so far up the pitch, but when there, his anticipation of a defender's intent and subsequent service is inconsistent at best.
Eriksen's effort could not be faulted, especially after Dembele's injury when he adjusted to help out defensively in the rejigged 4-1-4-1. But on the ball, he rushed his choices too often, shooting from long-range when a few extra yards working a better angle could have been gained and misjudging potential through balls for Son.
Alli just could not find the traction he wanted in his attempts to lure Leverkusen's defence out of shape. Not on quite the same page with Son and Janssen, he most of all is missing Kane as a collaborator in these attempts. Erik Lamela's absence has also been felt over the last couple of games after he was one of Spurs' better players against Bournemouth.
It brings us back again to the centre-forward. Whether he is back for Arsenal in some capacity or returns after the international break to take on West Ham United, he may well be the difference-maker for Tottenham.
Pleased as he will be to have such an all-encompassing attacking performer in Kane back, Pochettino is not putting all that pressure on him. He knows the long-term health and success of his team hinges on everyone getting better.
"We don't have too much time to improve that, but we need to lift the players because the players are very disappointed now in the changing room," he said.
"We were poor today, and [in] both games we played here at Wembley, maybe we have not shown our real quality for different reasons, and we need to find out why."
Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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