• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Spurs Fanatic

Spurs blog for Tottenham fans

  • Home
  • About
    • About this Spurs blog
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie policy (UK)
    • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Home » Spurs Match » Tottenham tactics: West Ham vs Spurs (a)
Tottenham tactics: West Ham vs Spurs (a)

Tottenham tactics: West Ham vs Spurs (a)

15th August 2014 By Spurs Fanatic - Mark

74
SHARES
Share Tweet

West Ham vs Spurs is how we start the new Premier League season, but just what will Sam Allardyce have in store?

The Hammers were a thorn in our side last season, so it’s apt that we get the reign of Mauricio Pochettino underway in east London.

Big Sam will have a few things up sleeve, as he always does, and the celebratory T-shirts and DVDs will be on ice. But there are a number of consistent elements to the Hammers play and also some keys to breaking their defence down.

So, what should we expect and what should be the Tottenham tactics for West Ham vs Spurs this time?

Control of the centre

Whether he goes 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2 or 4-6-0, much of what Sam Allardyce tries to do stems from having extra players in the middle of the park.

This is especially true against us, where he will have a minimum of three, but will try to get four players in here to outnumber anything we have.

Spurs-0-west-ham-3-box-defence
West Ham get four midfielders in the centre.

Whereas this proved effect in Spurs 0 West Ham 3 at the Lane last season and in West Ham 2 Spurs 0 at the Boleyn Ground, this time we will see fire matched with fire.

Mauricio Pochettino is also an exponent of trying to get a fourth body in to central areas to dictate the middle ground.

Our new Argentine coach has his two players at the base of midfield, helped by the advanced midfielder – a natural triangle from the 4-2-3-1. However, he also has a drifting player from the right flank.

This midfielder (Eriksen in pre-season) moves in and out from wide to the middle in order to get an extra player in to the central areas, outnumbering the opposition.

The centre of the park will be very congested on Saturday, control of this zone will dictate who is in charge of the match.

Where West Ham concede chances

The Hammers are a different animal home and away. On their travels they sit much deeper and play more of a counter attack game. At home they are much more aggressive and so can be got at in two ways.

Both start with actually backing off to lure them out. Both Liverpool and Man Utd went to the Boleyn Ground and left with the three points by doing just this.

liverpool-vs-west-ham-recoveries
Liverpool ball recoveries against West Ham.

Both teams sat deep, but also heavily regained the ball in the central area we talked about above.

man-urd-vs-west-ham-recoveries
Man Utd ball recoveries against West Ham.

This then allows them to strike on the counter attack by breaking from deep.

This is something we did very well, before going down to 10-men in the game at the Boleyn Ground last season. Here, the ball was quickly moved to Kane who found Gylfi Sigurdsson running in to the Hammers half. He played in Emmanuel Adebayor who fluffed his lines, but the indicators of how to score were there.

west-ham-2-spurs-0-counter-attack
Spurs quickly counter through Kane and Sigurdsson.

You can see above how far West Ham are up the pitch and this allows them to be got at in two ways.

The first is the quick transition via the long pass.

This can be over the top or to the feet of a player running in to space. Liverpool did this very well, with Steven Gerrard twice finding Luis Suarez on the run to earn two penalties.

liverpool-vs-west-ham-chances
Liverpool chances created against West Ham.

We also carved out some chances this way despite being down to ten men in the match last season.

west-ham-vs-spurs-chances-thfc
Spurs chances created against West Ham.

The second method is to move the ball out quickly in transition to get behind the full backs in order to play short pullbacks or low balls across the box.

West Ham are an incredibly strong aerial team, but once turned and in a foot race, their defence are susceptibile to teams that can get behind them at speed.

We can see that in the Kane to Sigurdsson example above. Man Utd also did that extremely well, especially from Guy Demel’s right back zone.

man-urd-vs-west-ham-chances
Man Utd chances created against West Ham.

The Red Devils’ second goal of that game arrived as Ashley Young got behind George McCartney’s left back zone to find Wayne Rooney for a tap in.

rooney-counter-v-west-ham-2-0
Young is set free to cross for Rooney.

Man Utd’s first goal that day could be argued that they also got in-behind through a quick transition from a long pass. The long ball forward was Rooney’s shot over Adrian’s head from the halfway line.

West Ham set pieces

The Hammers are reknownked for their long ball and crossing. Without Andy Carroll, but having Carlton Cole, this should be their main method of attack on Saturday. But where West Ham are equally as strong is from set pieces, namely corners.

Sam Allardyce teams are well coached on set pieces to cover the six-yard box in order to crowd the goalkeeper, get to the ball first and control rebounds. The rebound control is important as they get a lot of second chances this way.

We saw an example of this on their first goal in the 0-3 Premier League match at the Lane last season. Winston Reid had his header stopped on the line, but then mopped up the rebound, as West Ham had the six-yard box well covered with five players.

Spurs-0-west-ham-3-reid-goal-1-0
West Ham six yard box coverage.

In the return at the Boleyn Ground we also saw a similar event lead to their opening goal.

West Ham once again spread the six-yard box evenly and well. Player 1 gets himself on the goalkeeper to make it as hard for him as possible to come for the ball. Players 2 and 5 are for rebound control and to keep the ball in the six-yard box. Players 3 and 4 attack the incoming cross.

west-ham-2-spurs-0-corner-goal-1-0
West Ham’s corner coverage.

Andy Carroll won the initial header and it flicked off Harry Kane in to the goal.

This is something to watch for in Spurs vs West Ham this Saturday and something that needs to be in the Tottenham tactics. Mauricio Pochettino has been using some zonal defending on set pieces, so we’ll see if this continues and the effect that it has.

But West Ham’s set pieces aren’t confined to corners.

Sam Allardyce usually has a trick free-kick up his sleeve whenever he plays us. Often this involves the ball being moved in some elaborate fashion to or through Kevin Nolan. Having him well marked on any Hammers free kicks is an absolute must.

West Ham vs Spurs outlook

Since taking the reins at Southampton, Mauricio Pochettino is yet to beat Sam Allardyce’s West Ham in three attempts. All three matches were in the Premier League and two of them ended in draws, as both managers nullified each other by attempting to control the central ground.

Therefore, this encounter will be fascinating in the way that Pochettino approaches the game.

His philosophy is one of high pressing and being aggressive. However, relaxing off a bit to draw the Hammers out, then using his vertical passing style on the counter may just be the preferred method here.

West Ham vs Spurs prediction: West Ham 1 Spurs 1.



If you enjoyed this post, please share:

74
SHARES
Share Tweet

Filed Under: Spurs Match Tagged With: Premier League, Spurs, Tottenham Tactics

Previous Post: « What DeAndre Yedlin will bring to Spurs
Next Post: West Ham 0 Spurs 1: vertical passing beats the box »

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Welcome to my Spurs blog!

Tottenham Hotspur tactics and performances have always fascinated me, so i started this Spurs blog. Here you'll find in-depth tactical previews ahead of every Spurs match. Detailed analysis of results afterwards. On the blog there are player and team performance studies.

FOLLOW

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Categories

  • blog (211)
  • Player Analysis (24)
  • Spurs Match (172)
  • Spurs Result (286)

Search Spurs Fanatic

Read on

Kick News - Tottenham Hotspur news
Tottenham News.net
Spurs News
Tottenham Hotspur
WhoScored.com
Guardian Football

As featured on NewsNow: Tottenham Hotspur news
Tottenham Hotspur News 24/7 

Copyright © 2023 Spurs Fanatic · Website by Powred Group Ltd

Don't Miss Out On A Post!
Want to make sure you don't miss an article? Of course you do, you're not daft. So, get new posts delivered to your inbox.
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional cookies Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}