The right flank became a tactical battleground as the Cherries gambled and lost with it ending Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham in our Premier League clash.
Eddie Howe caused plenty of problems through his initial setup. However, the tactical reshuffle of Mauricio Pochettino exposed the weakness down Bournemouth’s left side. Three goals ensued as it ended Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham.
Bournemouth attacking trio
Eddie Howe needed a fast start to knock us on the back foot and he got it.
Howe’s initial tactical setup was bright and wanted to hit hard. Without the ball they were quick to close down as they used their twin strikers of Callum Wilson and Lys Mousset to press our centre backs. However, Howe also brought pressure from the outsides with Junior Stanislas and Adam Smith, whilst Dan Gosling pushed up from central midfield.
The objective was to stop us playing out, but also to push us towards the sideline. Hemmed in by the constraints of the pitch and Bournemouth numbers, meant that moving the ball out was difficult.
Bournemouth complimented this pressure by looking to strike quickly when they had the ball. The Cherries rapidly looked for any kind of pass in-behind our back line in order to use their two strikers. What’s more, Junior Stanislas racing in off the left wing joined the pair.
The trio caused no end of problems. Junior Stanislas hit the bar from an early fast break that saw a two on one. The trio was then overloading our backline as Bournemouth took the lead.
Bournemouth trio tells
Howe trying to flood our defence with three fast runners was complimented by his approach on the Bournemouth right. Shifting Adam Smith to right midfield to be aided by Simon Francis at full back gave them a solid base to supply crosses. The pair often ganged up on Danny Rose and did so to take the lead.
Rose had a mixed game, but his impetuous move to try and jam Smith as he received the ball saw him burned. Smith spun and was away in to the space. Whilst this was going on, the Bournemouth attacking trio was assembling in the middle to cause problems. Mousset and Wilson had occupied the centre backs, and most importantly, drawn Serge Aurier in on the cover. As a result, Junior Stanislas was free at the back post.
Smith’s cross in to the box sailed straight to Stanislas who made no mistake with his finish. Bournemouth had sought to overwhelm our back line by bring three attackers and their plan had paid off with the lead they craved.
Stanislas on the left
Junior Stanislas had been key in Bournemouth’s attack. Racing off the left wing he had hit the bar and then scored the go-ahead goal.
However, Stanislas was also a key in defence, as his attacking moves frequently left space for us to exploit. Stanislas’ play often left him late getting back in to position. Therefore, full back Luke Daniels was left with an awful lot of space to cover. Eriksen was dragging him inside whilst Aurier was free on the outside.
The result was Serge Aurier had room to run in to and a tonne of good crossing opportunities. Aurier’s delivery is poor though and he produced a rather characteristic one completed cross from eight attempts. However, the one completion was key in getting us back in to the match.
Spurs re-shuffle
The injury to Harry Kane caused Mauricio Pochettino to reshuffle. Pochettino’s substitutions have been well criticised of late due to their timing. Without our talisman, Pochettino was forced to make a change and it was a stroke of genius. The switch solved a number of problems and gave us the platform to win the game.
Erik Lamela was introduced for Harry Kane as Pochettino went to a 4-3-3 formation. The move solved the following issues.
Firstly, Christian Eriksen dropped in to a three alongside Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama. This shift solved the issue of bringing the ball out against the Bournemouth press. Three central midfielders dropped in between Davinson Sanchez and Jan Vertonghen to simply have more players than Bournemouth could bring pressure.
Secondly, Nathan Ake had been trailing Harry Kane everywhere as Bournemouth sought to mitigate his influence. With Son Heung-Min, Dele Alli and Erik Lamela now all buzzing around the back four, Bournemouth’s defence struggled to pick up.
The key for Tottenham was that Bournemouth didn’t adjust in time. The space down the right for Aurier remained. The result was that three of our four goals ensued from this reshuffle now being able to attack Bournemouth’s weakness.
Tottenham right-sided raids
The tactical re-shuffle by Pochettino paid almost immediate dividends as Aurier finally managed to complete a cross. Junior Stanislas was caught forward pressing. Once more, Serge Aurier was left in a foot race with Charlie Daniels and torched the slower left back.
Aurier whipped in a dangerous ball that bounced in front of Dele Alli who killed it superbly past the onrushing Asmir Begovic. Running in off the opposite flank saw Dele arrive completely unmarked at the perfect moment, as Bournemouth’s defence failed to pick him up. Bournemouth 1-1 Tottenham and we were back in the match.
Tottenham continued to make chances from the right, but Aurier failed to deliver another ball in to the box of real quality. However, after the interval, we then added a second as space down the right saw Aurier heavily involved, as our newly created front three confused the Bournemouth defence once again.
Moments before the goal and Eddie Howe, who had seen his team overrun, was ready to make a change. Harry Arter stood on the touchline. Howe clearly signalled his intentions to even up in central midfield as he raised three fingers. However, he couldn’t make the change as Son scored and altered the position of the match.
The goal started with Christian Eriksen once more playing a peach of a pass. Junior Stanislas had been caught forward and was trying to recover his position. Eriksen was therefore in space to loft the ball over Charlie Daniels to sneak Aurier in to the space beyond him. Quickly play was moved back across as Tottenham had their front three neatly around the Bournemouth back four.
Dele Alli was in space down one side, Son Heung-Min the other. Son cleverly pulled off in to the space on the right beyond full back Charlie Daniels. Having started the attack on this side, it was finished here. Dele lofted a beautiful ball back towards Son. His scuffed scissor kick bounced the ball in to the back of the net and now we had the lead.
Set pieces seal the match
The score was Bournemouth 1-2 Tottenham and Eddie Howe scrapped his plan of a midfield three with Harry Arter. Instead, Howe introduced Jordon Ibe, Josh King and then Jermain Defoe as he went all out for the equalising goal.
The match was sealed after two set pieces. Both didn’t go Bournemouth’s way.
Callum Wilson had the ball in the net, but only after pushing Davinson Sanchez in the back. Then an ill-advised short free kick saw possession turned over.
Son Heung-Min had nicely positioned himself close to the ball and was slow to retreat. As a result, Bournemouth passed square rather than chipping the ball in to the box. The Cherries’ centre backs were caught forward. Son therefore had the freedom of the Bournemouth half of the pitch to run in to and cooly finish.
Eriksen’s interception and outlet pass were a poignant summing up of the unheralded work in his afternoon. Son’s finish to beckon and fake a pass to Erik Lamela as clever as his initial positioning to hinder the free kick.
Right-sided raid wraps it up
There was still time to make the score Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham as another right-sided raid paid dividends. By this time, Kieran Tripper had taken Serge Aurier’s place at right back, with the Ivorian moving to left back.
Moussa Sissoko found Trippier in space on the overlap down the right, as full back Charlie Daniels was caught in-field once more.
Trippier’s cross was palmed up in the air by Asmir Begovic. Serge Aurier arrived at the far post to nod in to an empty net from a difficult angle. Aurier slid away celebrating to make the score Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham and ice the game.
Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham overall
A difficult start to the afternoon saw us dig ourselves out of a tough situation. The loss of Harry Kane was a big one, but the tactical reshuffle by Mauricio Pochettino was perfect for this match. After the change, we could move the ball out easier and expose the advantage we had down the right with Junior Stanislas leaving Charlie Daniels exposed.
The win came at a price. The loss of Harry Kane could have a massive impact on our season. What’s more Dele Alli and Danny Rose both limped off to give us potentially further headaches.
The game’s key players were Christian Eriksen and Serge Aurier. Eriksen once more put in a stellar display in spite of moving in to a deeper midfield role to carry on pulling the strings. Serge Aurier continues to excite and frustrate in equal measure. Brilliant at exposing space, but a woeful final ball needs work on the training ground.
Final score: Bournemouth 1-4 Tottenham.
MOTM: Christian Eriksen.
Hi Mark,
Thanks again for thoughtful analysis. I was concerned about this game, there was much riding on it with the possibility of moving ahead of Liverpool and maintaining the fifth place point gap. It seemed like the perfect Spursy situation – maybe I’m being a bit harsh. This was a great team effort and makes me wonder about the Kane effect – sometimes having a player of his ability causes teammates to play at a diminished level because they can always count on Kane! I’ve coached teams with this issue and they would rise to the occasion when the star player was out. We’ve seen this before when Kane was injured. I believe it also causes issues for the opponents tactics, they don’t know what to focus on if Kane is out.
Not much to criticize but I think there’s a bit of an issue with long balls to Son, he’s not going to win those yet they try anyway. I thought Lorente should have come on as an outlet around the 70-75 min.
Always enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark, very good point about the other players rising up when they don’t have the star player to rely upon. To bring Lamela on was a great call by Poch. Llorente would’ve seemed the most obvious choice, especially with us getting in to so much space for Aurier to put in crosses for him. To go for Lamela showed that Poch was thinking much more about the bigger picture. The question remains though that if Poch can pull off game-changing subs like this in the first half, why does he usually wait so long to make changes?
I agree about Lamela being the right sub at that point in the game. My reference to Llorente is more about later in the game when the defense needs a long ball outlet to relieve pressure. I think he’s reluctant to make changes until late because of his loyalty to the players – he has a great relationship with them and earned their trust by installing a merit based system. Poch probably feels that by subbing a started out early he is undermining that trust – it’s as if he is showing his level of faith in the team by not subbing.
This is very frustrating sometimes!
Yes i think there was an opportunity for Llorente coming on later in the game to relieve pressure. At the time of Kane’s injury a case could’ve been made for Llorente to come on given the crossing opportunities we were getting. However, Poch was shrewd in the Lamela sub and dropping Eriksen deeper.
Poch is showing faith in the team to get out of situations or to push through. The Juve game was evidence of that. I wonder if he does actually have faith in Llorente and if he’ll go with him against Swansea this weekend or if the trio of Lamela, Son and Dele will get another airing?
Any team wound miss Harry, but we do seem to be more fluid without the classic no 9, and with 433 we play a bit more like city, fast with lots of movement. Add Moura to that mix and I think we will cope. Don’t get me wrong, we all want Harry back but we are a lot more than “the Harry Kane team”!
We definitely are more than the Harry Kane team. It’ll be interesting to see how and if a fluid front three can break down a deeper lying team like Swansea if we go with that setup.
Great work as usual Mark.
After all of the teeth gnashing after Letting The Old Lady off the hook mid-week, we need to celebrate the qualities of this squad and our Gaffer.
This was a must win game and it was never going to be an easy assignment.
Now another big game in Wales – we have to go all out to lift the Cup no with Citeh and Scouse out of play.
And the then a massive opportunity to finish off Chelsea at the Bridge after the break.
Harry is a concern of course, but plenty of silver lining in a dark cloud as suggested by Mark in his analysis.
Lamela and Son will be key factors in the short term – and surely Lucas gets a run on Saturday.
Cheers all
Really curious to see what Poch does in the Swansea game. They play with a back three so I’ll like to see if Poch matches up with 4-3-3 or if he tries something different. Will be a fascinating watch given the formation chess match Poch and Carvajal duelled our last time.
Rightly said about celebrating the bounce back ability of Poch and the team. Before we may well have folded coming off the back of such a big disappointment, but testament to Poch and the lads for showing that we are made from stronger stuff these days.
Is it only me or does this side move faster and better without Dier? Vertonghen and Sanchez both played far quicker and passed forward more than in past weeks.
If ManU come knocking with their reported £45million for Dier, Levy should grab it and run.
Way, way overvalued.
Likewise poor old Danny who is now beyond his best, it seems.
He was simply awful against Bournemouth.
I thought we moved faster when Eriksen was deeper. His range of passing was akin to having a deep lying playmaker and got us moving in to attacking zones quicker. I wouldn’t sell Dier. Highly talented and versatile footballer that we’re lucky to have.
Danny Rose i’d be tempted to listen to offers as long as we can get a replacement ie Sessegnon. Rose just seems to break down every time he comes back and for all the good that he has done, I do wonder if the injuries have caught up with him and will they ever allow him to be the same player? Now could be the right time to sell given that he’s almost 28 and his stock is still high. Another injury ravaged season next campaign and his market value will fall considerably.
OK Mark… we”ll agree to disagree on Dier!
But with you on Eriksen playing deeper but I doubt he would if Dier played CM. My issue with Dier is his over-casual and predictable sideways passing. AND there’s a dangerous error in his game almost every match because of it. The talent is there but he needs to be more intense. So similar to John Stones except Stones will break into a run every now and then.
When Spurs are criticised for playing slow and predictable, it’s Vertonghen, Sanchez and Dier playing swapsies at funereal pace and setting the tempo for the team. Meantime, the opposition defence re-organises its lines.
I’m not a speed freak but I abhor predictability.
On the positive, glass-half-full side, though, how improved is Eriksen in his defensive work which I always called him on a year ago? Poch has done wonders to make him the complete AM.
Let’s hope he can do the same with Marcus Edwards.
Agree that we must go in seriously for the Fulham lad – but they are in the box seat for the negotiation so the Chairman will have to be at his brilliant best.
The sale of Rose should just about cover the purchase price; surely Broadway has been on Poch death row since “that” interview.
I’m worried about Toby – he is worth 150k a week and we won’t be paying that!
So if we have to let him go (cry me a river) it has to be the next window to get something north of the 25mill supposed buy out clause the year after.
Big Jan doesn’t sound like he is going anywhere, so another proven CB to add depth, with CCV and Foyth for cover should have our defence sorted.
Wing backs would be covered.
I’m also a fan of Dier so wouldn’t be entertaining any offers.
I think a new experienced Box to Box Dembele cover is also crucial to look for, plus another pacy forward who can score goals.
An undiscovered Rashford from the provinces would be nice.
Harry and Sonny have scored two thirds of our PL goals this year so we need some options!
This lot looks good to me.
Modders anyone?
On day release?
Hugo
Vorm
Gazza
Jan
Davinson
*Toby clone
CCV
Foyth
Trips
Aurier
Taff
*Sess
KWP
Vic
Dier
Dembele
*Dembele clone
Winks
Eriksen
Dele
Coco
Sonny
Lucas
Harry
*Sonny clone
Out
50 mill – Toby
40 mill – Broadway
20 mill – Sissoko (crowd funding?)
10 mill – Vinny
120 mill
In
40 mill – Sess
30 mill – Toby clone
30 mill – Moussa clone
40 mill – Sonny clone
140 mill
Minus 20 mill
Thoughts?
COYS!!!!!
I don’t think we’ll sell all those, but the Alderweireld situation doesn’t look good. I hope we’re not keeping him out of action purely so he doesn’t get injured again and then can’t be sold. I hope that it really is for his own good and that he’ll be back for the team as he’s a vital player.
Danny Rose I’m really concerned that he may not be the same again. He’s continually breaking down and selling while he still has good value might be the best option. If we can get Sessegnon then great, otherwise I’d be in for Ben Chilwell or Ryan Bertrand, a great buy especially if Southampton gets relegated.
Sissoko needs to go for whatever we can get, but Janssen may have a future with us. The back up role to Kane is so difficult to fill and at 23 I wouldn’t write him off just yet.
I think we should match the 433, it works for the personnel we have available. You’re right Mark with Ericsson deep lying we move the ball quicker and more effectively. But put simply if we match the formation, player for player we are so much better. No need for Poch to over think this one!
4-3-3 is a good option as Swansea have been playing 3-5-2 so would keep their centre backs busy. That would push Eriksen deeper which may not be a bad thing against their three man midfield. The alternative would be to go 3-5-2 or the 3-4-2-1 that we saw so much of earlier in the season.
I’d like to see us start with 3 in front of Chris and fly out of the blocks to get a vital early goal. Then the Swans have no option but to play – into our hands.
I’m tipping a statement from Lucas here.
Hear you loud and clear re Vinnie, I like him but he hasn’t set the world on fire in Turkey due to injury – and he has no World Cup in which to showcase himself.
He is an interesting one.
Happy to keep and persevere – the Chairman will probably vote to keep him from a financially pragmatic POV!
COYS!!!!!
I think Vinnie just needs some goals adding to his game and he’d be quite the backup for Kane. It’s tough to sit for so long watching Kane and then come off the bench or be dropped in for a game. However situations like we have now with Kane out, a firing second option is a real luxury. Janssen’s all around game is good and he seemed to be getting better at the back end of last season. His hold up play and passing in to others was really good, he is as strong as an ox and aerially good, he just needed a few goals to go in. If we can get half of the production of him in Holland he’ll be a decent second option.
Nice squad ambitions Toby4eva but you’re going to have to change your moniker if your recommendations go through!
Crowdfunding made me laugh, though I’m not one of the Sissoko haters. I think he’s done well for us this season and fulfils a role of being a fast and strong bastard just before the final third. He tends to make things happen in his own bumbling way and has played a part in some of our stunning victories this season.
I love Foyth on the evidence so far and as he develops the future CB pairing of him and Sanchez is dreamy.
Weird thing about Rose is his crossing seems to have gone to shit. I would have thought that was something you didn’t lose? Was he always shit at crossing and I’m just misremembering?
Same is true for Aurier, but he does have a charming relentlessness about him. I can see him improving massively under Poch. MOTD were saying he has all the defensive awareness already and the crossing part is easier to teach. Let’s hope so!
Annoyingly Chelsea and United are now looking at the FA Cup as the only trophy too. I know we can beat United but surely it’s time for us to beat Chelsea in a cup game?
Cheers Erik
Quite seriously, Toby is the best central defender with two working knees that I’ve ever seen, so it actually hurt me to write that.
He is a gem of a footballer.
I primarily love the fact that he does the basic stuff absolutely right, with not a hint of ambiguity in his defensive decision making (queue massive hoof into the 38th row when there is a remote sniff of trouble).
Oh, and did I mention the 60 metres bullet passes onto Dele’s chest?
go to drool.com for more….
But we won’t meet his wage demands, he is in the Autumn of his career and he has to cash in on his potential personal value.
I’m working on a new handle unfortunately…
“Kane and Able” might be ok for 12 months.
Agree emphatically re Chelski.
We effectively have a Cup Final against them in a fortnight. If we beat them at the Bridge we are nailed on for another lucrative CL campaign at our new digs.
Kinda imperative for multiple reasons.
That is shaping up as a classic.
They will be hurting big time after their Messi Mauling and will be eating raw meat every night until that game.
And there is every chance we could again meet them in a FAC semi – again!
We have to lift this Cup!!!
COYS!!!!!