Liverpool mauling shows Ange Postecoglou’s reckless Tottenham defensive plan needs ripping up
Ange Postecoglou’s first season at Tottenham has shown enough promise to keep fans interested but a question looms over his second campaign: can he plug Spurs’ porous defence while retaining his attacking principles?
Spurs shipped another four in Sunday’s defeat at Liverpool, meaning they have now conceded the most goals in the Premier League’s top six with 58 in 35 games. They still have Manchester City to play.
More worrying is that Spurs cannot plead misfortune aside from injuries, having conceded 60.5 expected goals, a metric in which Spurs sit 14th in the Premier League. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario enjoyed a magnificent spell of shot-stopping earlier in the season, otherwise the defensive record could be even worse.
Roughly a quarter of Spurs’ expected goals conceded have come from set-pieces. This issue did not rear its head at Anfield, but no Premier League club has conceded more expected goals from non-penalty set-pieces than Spurs’ 15.7.
Put simply, improving Spurs’ defence is going to require tactical adjustments, upgrades in key positions, or a combination of both. Doing neither will just yield the same results.
These are some of the moments from Sunday’s game which typify Spurs’ problems.
The burden on Romero and Van de Ven
Paradoxically, Spurs have a poor defensive record but well-regarded central defenders. Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are front-foot defenders who suit Postecoglou’s aggressive intent to squeeze the opposition high up the pitch, with Van de Ven’s recovery pace is exceptional. Romero has looked far more at home in Postecoglou’s system, and was one of Spurs’ best players in defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool. Whether he offers enough stability to be the senior partner in a title-challenging partnership is debatable.
Postecoglou’s system places an immense strain on Romero and Van de Ven (quite literally in the case of Van de Ven’s hamstrings). When Tottenham’s first-choice full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie are fit, they are asked to go forward into central attacking midfield positions, with the centre-backs left to cover the width of the pitch as a two. Unlike Manchester City, Arsenal or more recently Chelsea, Postecoglou does not tuck one full-back in to form a back three when his team have the ball.
While Emerson Royal was forced deeper by the threat of Mohamed Salah, Spurs’ average positions against Liverpool were typical of what we have seen all season. Romero and Van de Ven are asked to cover oceans of space.
Teams have known all season that if they can break at speed, there is space to exploit down the sides of Tottenham’s two centre-backs. Only Newcastle, Luton Town and Manchester United have conceded more shots from fast breaks than Spurs’ 32.
This Liverpool counter-attack did not result in a goal but was symptomatic of this problem. A Spurs attack broke down with five white shirts in the Liverpool penalty area (see below), including right-back Pedro Porro. Rodrigo Bentancur, on the left of the image, barely breaks into a stroll in a pathetic attempt at counter-pressing. Penning teams in and sustaining pressure is something they have to improve next season. Spurs need to give more consideration to their set-up around the edge of the box in case the ball is lost.
Luis Díaz is able to carry the ball into the Spurs half, with Romero and Van de Ven exposed and back-peddling (see below). Top teams who seek to dominate matches will expect their defenders to cope in these situations from time to time, but it happens too frequently with Spurs. Porro is high and his opposite full-back Royal is struggling to recover.
Had Mohamed Salah’s first touch pushed the ball out of his feet, Royal would not have been able to get back and the Liverpool forward would have been in on goal from Díaz’s pass. Bukayo Saka’s goal in the north London derby from a Kai Havertz diagonal illustrates the same point.
Full-back shortage
Postecoglou deserves some sympathy when it comes to the collection of full-backs he inherited, many of whom are really wing-backs acquired for Antonio Conte’s system. Udogie is a real talent and is sorely missed through injury, while Porro has exceeded expectations at right-back. Beyond those two, Spurs’ options start to look very thin.
It was a wretched afternoon for Royal, who was mismatched right from the start against Mohamed Salah. There are parallels with Mikel Arteta’s earlier days at Arsenal, when they missed out on top four in part because the likes of Nuno Tavares and Cedric Soares were playing serious minutes.
Liverpool funnelled 40.9 per cent of their attacks down the right flank, and also targeted Royal with diagonal switches of play over his head.
Royal was at fault for two of the goals Spurs conceded. For the opening goal of the game, Royal is caught ball-watching at the back post and loses Salah for a crucial few seconds as Cody Gakpo winds up the cross (see below).
By the time Royal realises his mistake, the ball is over his head and Salah is free to head Liverpool into the lead.
In the build-up to Cody Gakpo’s header, Liverpool’s third goal, the home team once again targeted Royal with a switch from left to right from Díaz to Salah (see below).
The annoying thing for Spurs fans is that Royal actually recovered and had control of the ball (see below) and the duel after an attempted Salah trick did not quite come off.
However, he dallied before trying to turn out, unaware that Harvey Elliott was pressing from his blindside. The Liverpool midfielder robbed him of possession before standing a cross up for Gakpo.
Final third inaccuracy
Spurs play a game of high risk and high reward, but at present are reaping little reward. Speaking after Sunday’s match, Postecoglou said: “I thought our football was good today. Under pressure they are a really good pressing team and we played some good stuff to get through them and then we get to the front third and nothing would happen.”
Tottenham’s play around the penalty has looked clunky for some time, but this can prove a defensive problem as well as an offensive one.
Not every team must aspire to replicate City and Arsenal, but they are currently the league’s best two teams. Both are focused on settling possession high up the pitch and keeping opponents there. They are very measured and patient in their choice of pass, to the point of being risk averse.
Spurs are more direct, and therefore looser, offering opponents chances in transition. Players such as Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson offer speed and threat, but cough the ball up quite frequently. Spurs are short of a player or two who can hold on to the ball, or even pause on it, in the final third.
There were several examples of this to choose from, but this sequence in the first minute of the second half was stark.
Yves Bissouma did well to regain the ball high up the pitch by catching Wataru Endo out, and the below short counter-attack should really have resulted in a Spurs chance from a three against two.
However, he sells Son short with the pass, who is beaten in the tackle by Jarell Quansah.
Díaz then turns into space (see below), and seconds after Spurs should have had a high-quality chance, Liverpool are off on another counter-attack.
Liverpool benefited from the run of the ball in the middle of the move, but it ended with Salah in this position. He shot tamely at Vicario.
Postecoglou is taking a conscious gamble by committing numbers forward and seeking to attack at speed. If Spurs are not punishing opponents in the moments where their strategy pays off, the gamble looks reckless.
