TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Here’s a tip for any Premier League manager plotting a way of disrupting and defeating Angeball: copy Gary O’Neil’s blueprint.
Wolves aren’t the only team to have beaten Ange Postecoglou‘s Tottenham this season, but they are so far the only ones to have done so twice. O’Neil’s side were deserving 2-1 winners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, just as they were in the corresponding fixture at Molineux in November.
Spurs fans could be forgiven for thinking they’ve seen this particular movie again and again. Since Wolves earned promotion to the Premier League in 2018, no other team has beaten Spurs more times in their own stadium than the men in gold (or red on this occasion) with their four wins level with both Chelsea and Liverpool. They are to Spurs what Spurs are to Manchester City, an irrepressible nuisance.
The latest victory was especially impressive given how comprehensive it was. Besides a 20-minute spell after half-time when Spurs were on top – a period that coincidentally included Joao Gomes’ match-winning goal – they were superior where it mattered; in both boxes.
After the game, O’Neil praised his players for executing “four key parts” of his gameplan to a “near enough perfect” level. Here’s a look at how Angeball was conquered by Gazball.
Low block defence
Spurs registered more shots on goal than Wolves (15 to 12) but had almost half as many shots on target (four to seven) and struggled to carve clear-cut opportunities all game.
Ben Davies created three chances, as many as James Maddison and Son Heung-min combined, and squandered their best chance with a miscued header in the fourth of five added minutes at the end of the second half.
Even when Spurs extended their record of scoring in 37 consecutive league games through Dejan Kulusevski, the goal came through individual brilliance on the Swede’s part rather than as a result of a well-worked move.
Wolves defended deep and in numbers to restrict Spurs’ opportunities to get to the byline and play cut-backs into the area which has become their trademark goal under Postecoglou.
“We knew that we would be able to press aggressively sometimes and would have to be in a really compact low block and try to make the spaces as small as possible for them,” O’Neil explained.
They successfully narrowed the pitch, funneling white shirts into the middle to such an extent that they were almost piled on top of one another. Spurs completed 638 passes in total, but were often forced to go backwards and sideways as Wolves’ crab-like defenders shuffled diligently across to fill gaps in their own third.
Target Spurs’ set-piece weakness
Wolves became just the latest team to benefit from Spurs’ vulnerability from set-pieces with O’Neil delving into Pep Guardiola’s playbook from City’s FA Cup visit last month.
Spurs have conceded eight goals in their previous five games and half have come from corners or free-kicks delivered directly into Guglielmo Vicario’s penalty area.
Joao Gomes profited on Saturday, just as Jack Harrison, Jarrad Branthwaite and Nathan Ake have done in recent weeks and barely had to move to evade his marker before thundering a header past Vicario.
The Italian has been criticised for not being strong enough when coming to claim corners, but he was blameless on this occasion as slack marking and static movement from his outfield teammates proved Spurs’ undoing.
Conceding from dead balls is starting to become a major issue for Spurs.
Precise counter-attacks
“We were able to counter-attack well for one thing which we know we are going to be able to do,” said O’Neil before hinting that his players had worked out “details” to hurt Spurs in such situations.
Virtually every team that Spurs have faced this season have managed to evade their high line at least once in a match, but Wolves were able to sprint in behind it on numerous occasions, mainly through the exceptional Pedro Neto.
The winger dashed from the edge of his own box to virtually the byline at the opposite end before lifting his head and picking out Gomes to calmly smash home the winner. And all from a Spurs corner.
Wolves created a near identical opportunity less than 15 minutes later again through Neto, but this time Emerson Royal was able to get back in time to block Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s goal-bound effort.
At times, Spurs’ opponents have been guilty of squandering golden opportunities from fast breaks, and while Wolves were unable to maximise all of theirs, they executed a few with pinpoint precision. Largely thanks to Neto, who will be a man in demand this summer.
Bypass the press
Wolves also managed to play their way out effectively from their low block position and escape Tottenham’s high press.
They largely did this by creating angles for each other and making quick, direct passes, rather than launching the ball forward aimlessly and inviting another wave of pressure.
The left-sided combination of Toti and Rayan Ait-Nouri were particularly adept in that regard, with the former registering an 85 per cent completion rate and the latter 81 per cent.
“When Tottenham pressed us the lads were able to find really good solutions in the structure to cause them problems in possession as well as just on the counter,” said O’Neil.
Spurs’ pressing wasn’t as coordinated as usual with Destiny Udogie’s dynamism out of possession particularly missed, but Wolves spotted that and used it to their advantage. Other clubs will no doubt be taking notes.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/uOrWm75
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