Three Premier League games played. Three wins against the reigning champions and two London rivals. Five goals scored and none conceded. Christian Stellini’s brief managerial tenure at Tottenham could not have gone any better.
Sunday’s 2-0 victory against Chelsea, Tottenham’s first success in regulation time against the Blues in their “new” stadium and in the league since November 2018, had fans semi-jokingly advising Antonio Conte to continue his recuperation from surgery in Italy for the foreseeable future, such has been the success enjoyed by his No 2.
Despite his 100 per cent hit-rate which also includes the 2-1 win in Marseille that sent Spurs into the Champions League last 16 in November, Stellini has frequently given the impression that he will be relieved when Conte does return to work, rather than someone who has caught the managerial bug.
Stellini revealed on Sunday that Conte will be back in north London this week although was unable to confirm whether his return would coincide with Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sheffield United or Saturday’s league encounter with Wolves.
A happier dressing room than the one he left surely awaits Conte given the significant improvement in performances and results since the last match under his watch – a 4-1 defeat against Leicester on 11 February.
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Spurs have tightened up considerably since that horror show at the King Power, keeping back-to-back clean sheets against West Ham and Chelsea to reignite their top-four chances. Spurs are four points clear of Newcastle in fourth place, although the Magpies have two games in hand.
Those shutouts have been welcome given conceding goals has been an issue for Spurs throughout the campaign. They have let in 35 in 25 league games, the worst record in the top half of the table, and surrendered multiple goals on 11 separate occasions, a joint league-leading total along with 14th-placed Leicester City. Their defensive vulnerability has been distinctly un-Conte-like.
Since 2011-12, Conte-managed teams have had the best defensive record in their respective divisions in five out of eight campaigns and never ranked lower than fourth for goals conceded. This season, Spurs are languishing in 14th in that particular table.
Paradoxically, Spurs are also fourth in the clean sheet charts, keeping nine in total. They have either shut teams down completely or charitably let them score at will. That all or nothing approach to defending is summed up neatly in Spurs’ previous six league games in which they have kept four clean sheets but conceded four times in the other two.
Clearly, though, work is being done to make Spurs’ defence harder to breach. It has been too easy for opposition teams to bypass their midfield and get shots away: only seven sides have allowed more efforts on target than Spurs. A possible explanation for that is Spurs have tended to have a numerical disadvantage in that area of the pitch; while most teams in the league use a system with three central midfielders, Spurs have employed a double pivot in 20 of their 25 games.
A noticeable recent ploy to plug the gaps has been to get Eric Dier – the centrepiece of the back three – to play as an anti-sweeper, moving up the pitch rather than back to help reinforce the midfield. It hasn’t always worked, Dier was pulled hopelessly out of position against Leicester, but it certainly did in the wins over City and Chelsea, with the 29-year-old doing an effective job of man-marking Julian Alvarez and Joao Felix. Dier set his stall out early on against the latter, clattering him inside the opening 10 minutes.
Another tactic has been to select more conservative wing-backs. It seems significant that the only occasion in which Spurs have picked their two most attack-minded wing-backs in conjunction – Ivan Perisic on the left and new recruit Pedro Porro on the right – over the past five games was also the only occasion in which they conceded. Since Perisic and Porro started against Leicester, Spurs have used more conservative options in Ben Davies and Emerson Royal and they have both impressed, even combining for the opening goal against West Ham.
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'Stellini in! - What Tottenham can learn from assistant manager's 100 per cent win ratio20 February, 2023The much-maligned Royal, in particular, has been one of Spurs’ best performers, effectively nullifying Willian, Jack Grealish, and Raheem Sterling in recent weeks, while becoming more effective in the final third too.
Cristian Romero’s availability has also helped. The World Cup winner missed the Leicester defeat through suspension and has had a chequered injury record since signing in 2021 but he makes a massive difference to the backline when fit and on form. Romero has only started in 60 per cent of Spurs’ league matches this term but has been present for 77 per cent of their clean sheets.
It is no coincidence that Spurs’ chaotic period of form before and immediately after the World Cup coincided with Romero’s absence. Spurs conceded 11 times in five matches from 23 October until Boxing Day when Romero was either injured or returning from Argentina’s post-Qatar celebrations. They have let in eight in eight since Romero’s first game back on New Year’s Day, keeping five clean sheets.
If Spurs are to maintain their current position in the top four and progress to the latter stages of the Champions League and FA Cup they will need to maintain their defensive solidity. Spurs have tightened up since Stellini stepped in. It will be interesting to see whether that continues under Conte.
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