Vlad Chiriches arrived at Spurs after a curious on-off-on transfer saga involving Steaua Bucharest’s imprisoned owner.
The 23-year old Romanian international is probably the least well known of our seven summer signings, making him the most intriguing.
Whilst finding it easy to write about what Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli, Etienne Capoue and Christian Eriksen would bring to Spurs having seen them play often. Analysing Vlad Chiriches proved a little more difficult, due to only seeing fleeting glimpses of him in the Europa League last season.
So what will Vlad Chiriches add to the team and how will he change the Spurs backline?
Vlad Chiriches defensively
The natural place to start with any defender. Vlad Chiriches is a solid player who is excellent at both tackling and intercepting the ball.
The most interesting thing about watching him play is how he comes forward to meet the attacker, making his challenge as the ball arrives at the offensive player’s feet.
This allows him to steal the ball, and then initiate attacks by driving forward or by pinging a pass, as we’ll look at more in a minute.
Arriving just as the ball does takes great timing, which would make you think that he fouls quite often. However, in six Europa League matches last season, he committed just 3 fouls whist making 14 tackles and 16 interceptions.
Vlad Chiriches going forward
Arguably the most exciting part of his game is when he is in possession of the ball. Vlad Chiriches is a real quarterback from deep, but he also steps out of defence and in to the midfield, sparking attacks.
A defender who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, he can quickly start transitions forward. This ability to not only stride up the pitch, but also to be able to pass is something Andre Villas-Boas wants from his back four.
There’s a famous clip doing the rounds of his overhead kick against Molde in the group stages of the Europa League last season. Whilst it’s an awesome finish, demonstrating his technical ability and a real eye for the ball. The move all starts with Chiriches striding out of defence and delivering a pass in to wide forward, Adi.
For a defender to be this far up the field is reminiscent of an old school Libero. These were free defenders or sweepers, but just like them, Vlad Chiriches often can explode in to the opposition half with the ball. This catches them unawares and creates overloads from the additional player arriving in an area further forward than expected.
Once he has driven up the field he can then deliver a through ball, such as he did to Adi above and as he does here for Raul Rusescu after another lung-bursting run.
Vlad Chiriches passing
The second way he quickly initiates attacks is through passing over distance. Vlad Chiriches is able to play long passes to his wingers or wide forwards with both feet, whether he is at left or right centre back.
What’s more, he can deliver the ball accurately when he does go long.
Against Molde in the Europa League last season, he was operating from the left side of the centre back pairing. He pinged several balls quickly out to his right back to get the play moving.
In the last 32 of the same competition, he lined up on the right side of the centre back pairing this time against Ajax, as Steaua played a 4-3-3 formation.
A diagonal pass from right to left this time found wide forward, Iasmin Latovlevici, running in behind Ajax right back Ricardo van Rhijn to open the scoring.
Vlad Chiriches is a not only danger to quickly transition the ball from defence in to attack through dribbling, but he can also move it accurately by passing.
Powers of recovery
Exploding forward with the ball or passing it out from the back can mean you are susceptible to be out of position or to turn possession over. There is definitely an element of high risk and reward to his game.
Vlad Chiriches can be guilty of this, but has the necessary speed to recover. What’s more, he seems to read the game well and appreciate where the danger is going to be.
Here he is pressed by the opposing forward causing him to pass the ball straight to an attacker.
He doesn’t panic though and his patience and reading of where the ball will be played allows him to win it back.
His speed of recovery is shown after misjudging and getting underneath a header, as the ball bounces free for the attacker to get in.
However, Chiriches shows his a great turn of pace, as he is able to race back and make a last ditch challenge.
On one hand you have the up side of a player who is able to bring so much going forward. On the other, you have to accept that there will be some repercussions at the back.
Vlad Chiriches is not exempt from these moments, but seems to have good powers of recovery when they happen.
Where will he fit in?
Vlad Chiriches usually lines up on the left side of the centre back pairing for Steaua Bucharest, but can also operate from the right, as he consistently does for the national team.
This ability to play on either side will see him switch depending on whom Andre Villas-Boas pairs him with.
What will be interesting is just how much licence our centre back pairing are given to move out from the back line this season.
Jan Vertonghen and Younes Kaboul both have the ability to burst forward, as highlighted by the Belgian’s goal and assist in Swansea 1 Spurs 2. Vertonghen’s first goal for Tottenham in Man Utd 2 Spurs 3 at Old Trafford also showed his ability to drive up the pitch from deep.
Andre Villas-Boas’ system is based on players being able to switch position, whilst keeping the balance of the formation in tact. This is important, especially with his love of quick transitions, which AVB talks about in the biography “Special too” and where he believes the game in the Premier League is won and lost.
With Etienne Capoue or Sandro as the deepest lying midfielder, this would give licence for either centre back to move forward. The defensive midfielder would then drop in to the back line to cover and keep the formation balanced.
How Vlad Chiriches will change the Spurs back line
Of all the signings in this transfer window, Vlad Chiriches is the most intriguing due to his ability to play similarly to an old school Libero. Sparking moves forward from the back is a very valuable asset in the modern game and he becomes another point from which to launch an attack.
He is extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet and when he does burst out of the back line it can be devastating. His ability to pick a pass or execute a dribble that turns defence quickly in to attack, will give opponents an additional headache to worry about.
Although solid defensively, he does sometimes overplay. This can be a concern, especially at a higher level of football where forward and midfield pressing is savvier. However, he does have an excellent ability to read the game and his speed often gets him out of jams of his own causing.
Vlad Chiriches might be the least well known of our seven summer signings, but he may just become a cult figure at the Lane.
God help him at Stoke when those high and long balls pour in from the sky!!
we need a versatile player that is young and skillful.a intelligent team can swop positions and confuse the opposition.bright times ahead
Indeed, very interested to see how our defence plays this season.
Ahhh the old “cold, wet and windy Wednesday night at the Britannia” test.
Excellent piece of work. Chiriches is absolute quality, Dawson is our liability and should be fourth choice.
Thanks. AVB rotated our centre backs often last season and i see him doing the same this. Daws looked quite nervous against Woolwich last weekend and played as if under pressure for his place. Interested to see if that continues after last season, which saw him as first choice after he was on the verge of being sold.
walker has to be drop. Walker can beats a player doesnt mean anything end products are just crap. giving away needless foul when he gave away possessions. all he have posses is pace and thats about it.
Your analysis is spot on! I’m a Steaua fan and I know what you said fits him perfectly.
Thanks Yonoots, anything else you can tell us about him?
As a Romanian I am sad that Marica goes to Spain (where he’s going to waste his talent) instead of joining Chiriches, but I am happy that Tottenham Hotspur F.C. gave him this amazing opportunity. He will not disappoint, however he needs to play the big games as well, because he can give a lot of strength in the midfield, and that makes all the difference in tough games. I think it will take some time for the team to get used to his play style and back him up when it goes up in the field by himself, he’s a very offensive defender.. if there is such a thing. What he usually does, it tries to overload the midfield and give a good pass to a striker. By the time the opponents recover he will be back in his post. If the strikers are sleeping, and the chance is good, he will go all the way up.
Great comment Tales, offensive defender is an excellent phrase too!
What I think is that Vlad needs to find his pace and his place as well.
The most important of all, he needs to understand that he is in a top team now.
He is not in a team where he plays the main instrument anymore, as a manager I would be frustrated with a £8 million player that tries to score goals, instead of passing to higher value strikers.
It’s great he has “Vlad signature” incursions in the mid-field, but I think he should be more focused on defense and accurate passing, that’s what the manager expects from him. If he tries to scores goals at this stage, when he didn’t prove himself as a defender, he will fail to impress.
Just to add to my previous comment, Marica didn’t come to Tottenham Hotspur F.C mainly because of Adebayor’s return. Marica now signed with a modest team in Spain, such a waste.
Very accurate and accurate analysis. A couple more thoughts: he does not hesitate to shoot from a distance and has scored in the process. Sometimes, he needs to pick the simple pass, however, it is his unpredictable dribble and the bursting forward which makes him such an exciting lad to watch, and something that will add value to Tottenham. Give him some time to adjust; he will only grow in stature. Peace!
Very nice analysis, spot on. But I would add something: he has big problems with high balls, that’s his weakest point. I don’t know why, because he has the height, maybe he’s scared of getting hit in the head by the other player??? If there was a place where he could learn to overcome this is England :). If he manages to improve on this, he will be one of the best defenders in the world.
What must be said is that Chiriches is a very good player when he knows his teammates well. If he blends well in the squad, then he will become more confident and of course more useful. If his team is playing under a lot of pressure, he can be the player who calms things down with good tackles and brilliant forward runs resulting in midfield overloads or venomous counterattacks. You can really see these things in the Steaua – Ajax game where he recovered a lot of balls which resulted in good Steaua counterattacks. He can also shoot well, as seen in games against Concordia or Ajax. The only bad thing about him is that his heading is weak defensively as well as offensively (He is virtually useless in the opposition’s six yard box). Sometimes he can get careless, but at this level it won’t be the case. Hope these facts help you.
A Steaua fan.
Thanks Tibikus, hoping he goes on to be a big player for us!
Good Luck Chiriches
He did a great job against Anzhi, especially in the second half against the likes of Lacina Traore.