Christen Eriksen strikes at the death yet again to send us to Wembley, as it finishes Sheffield United 2-2 Spurs (agg 2-3) in our Capital One Cup Semi-Final.
What a game, with some amazing goals and incredible drama! There was so much going on in this match as it flowed back and forth in what turned out to be a classic cup-tie with an epic theatrical twist in the dying seconds.
It all centred on a number of themes. Pressing, getting players between the lines, exposing our left back and the play of Stambouli, Eriksen and Dembele.
Press for success
Right from the off there was good pace and tempo to the match as we tried to pressure Sheffield United early through our front players. The Blades were content to sit back and looked to hit on the counter, but they were often hemmed in as we tried to close them down or force them to clear long.
With Mousa Dembele put in at the number ten position, we had a player who is very strong when engaged 1v1 against an opponent and has the ability to recover the ball. Backed up by Benjamin Stambouli, we had two levels of press to contain Sheffield United from getting out.
I’m not a massive fan of average position diagrams, but our one from the game showed how aggressive our front six were in their half, but also how they were swarming in central areas.
An early opportunity saw Dembele track down and strip the ball at the halfway line. He surged forward and fed in Harry Kane for a shot.
This pressing was catching Sheffield United trying to move up the pitch and allowing us to then get men between the lines and run in-behind. Kane had several opportunities to latch on to through balls as he was fed in, finding his shots saved, go just wide or skim the outside of the post.
Countless times Dembele and Stambouli won the ball back, with both immense in the first half for us to control possession. Alongside them, Ryan Mason was also feature hoovering up stray Sheffield United passes and long balls. Mason had 6 interceptions, with a vital one on our first goal, which I’ll get to in a second.
Between the lines
The result of our pressing and Sheffield United trying to get out saw us then get men between the lines from the resulting turnovers. The Blades were forced to come and play a bit more than the first leg being the home team, but don’t underestimate the size of the pitch involved in this also. Sheffield United have a much bigger surface than the Lane and the increased playing area allowed us to use the space.
There were countless examples of getting loose between the lines in transition, especially on Eriksen’s winner, but the key man was often Erik Lamela. The Argentinean was presumably put in the side to have another run in-behind threat without Nacer Chadli and he was often open.
An early example saw the excellent Dembele move the ball out to him quickly from defence, allowing Lamela to release Harry Kane to run in-behind again.
Later Lamela got loose between the lines again to free Kane once more, as the striker pinged the ball off the outside of the post.
Just one more example, from the many, saw him in this space to release Ryan Mason, who was denied a glorious opportunity by a tremendous goal-saving tackle by Jose Baxter.
Free kick frenzy
The pressing and resulting ball recovery, followed by quick movement of possession forward saw us win a number of free kicks in dangerous positions around the penalty area. No more so than on our opener.
Quick closing down saw Sheffield United having to clear long out from the back and Ryan Mason was first to the ball to intercept it. He played it to Benjamin Stambouli, who was free between the lines, allowing the Frenchman to surge forward at the Blades’ defence. This forced a late challenge and foul from Michael Doyle.
Eriksen’s resulting free kick was simply sublime. The man is a master of dead ball situations. The trajectory, curl and pace on the ball meant it was un-saveable, but the placement of Eric Dier on the other end of the wall as a decoy was also a masterstroke.
Dier put himself on the opposite side of the Blades’ wall and as Eriksen ran up he ducked to fake as if it was going over his head. This meant that Mark Howard took a step to this side, leaving a window for Eriksen to aim at. The strike was so precise that even without Dier’s decoy movement it would have gone in, but the whole routine looked fresh from the training ground and was so pleasing to see.
Going one for one, we had a further three free kicks around the edge of the Sheffield United penalty area, all resulting from runners surging forward and being fouled. Eriksen put his next two in to the wall and Kane saw his Ronaldo-esque side foot ‘knuckleball’ effort saved.
Subs change the game
We were a goal up and in control of the game, but substitutions changed the flow of the match.
Nigel Clough made two as he sought to get extra attacking power to go for it. Mauricio Pochettino brought off Mousa Dembele, which changed the tide entirely.
Dembele had been fouled surging forward on one of his many driving runs minutes before and it was difficult to tell if he was injured or not. He seemed to be moving freely enough, but on a yellow card, Mauricio Pochettino replaced him with Paulinho.
Dembele’s strength, dribbling, ball recovery and even quick forward passing had seen him as a pivotal figure in the match. His removal saw us loose control in hemming Sheffield United in with a power player at the number ten position. Suddenly the Blades were able to get out much easier and they were doing it with longer balls forward and quick switches in play from side to side.
Blades in the left back zone
The removal of Dembele saw our midfield swarm become little more than a buzz as Sheffield United took advantage of our left side. Christian Eriksen was drifting infield from this flank and this was leaving Ben Davies exposed.
We’d had a real scare very early in the match, as Jamal Campbell-Ryce got in-behind Davies to cross the ball. Michel Vorm lost it under challenge from Stefan Scougall, but our keeper racing back cleared the resulting loose ball off the line.
Sheffield United had been able to get in-behind as our full backs had obviously been instructed to get up tight and jam their wingers. In the first leg at the Lane, we’d sagged off them and Campbell-Ryce used his pace to light up Ben Davies on several occasions. Here he was able to turn quickly and leave Davies behind, but Kyle Walker was also playing tight to his man and picked up a booking from being caught wrong side.
The early scare apart, the ploy to jam their wingers worked for much of the match. This was until the removal of Dembele, coupled with Stambouli starting to tire and Eriksen being caught centrally, all combining to allow Davies to be picked on.
Their equaliser arrived as the ball was quickly switched across the field to Ryan Flynn. With Eriksen caught centrally, this left two Sheffield United players running at Davies’ left back zone.
Despite sprinting, Eriksen was unable to get back goal side, causing Davies to hesitate about whom to pick up. This allowed Flynn to get forward in to a crossing position from where he delivered a wicked ball that skimmed through the six-yard box. Che Adams was loitering at the back stick and his calm first-time finish back across Vorm levelled the scores.
Two minutes later and Sheffield United were ahead in the game and level on aggregate. The ball was sent long once again, as it was fired in to Jamie Murphy who was matched up on Davies. Ben forced him out and back up the line, but this left him forward and out of position.
Eriksen was covering in-behind him, but on seeing Davies go forward, he also got attracted up the pitch towards the ball.
One pass took both players out and allowed Murphy to run in-behind, pulling Jan Vertonghen out from his centre back position.
Vertonghen should’ve stayed on his feet, but went to ground, allowing the cross to come in. Adams took a touch and saw his shot deflect wickedly off Eric Dier, but in to the back of the net, making it Sheffield United 2-2 Spurs on aggregate.
As if to add insult to injury, Sheffield United almost went 3-1 up on the night. Again the switch in play of the ball to the Sheffield United right back caught Eriksen centrally. With no cover in front to help him, Davies was once more pulled out, allowing a runner in-behind to be found with a through ball. Fortunately Louis Reed could only fire his effort over the bar.
Even if a little late, Mauricio Pochettino bringing Danny Rose on to put infront of Davies at the end signalled that our coach wasn’t going to let us be exposed here again.
Eriksen time
With the scores tied on aggregate and Sheffield United on a wave of momentum, you could’ve been forgiven for thinking that it was all about to go Spursy. It sort of did, but in a way that we’ve become accustomed to this season, as Christian Eriksen time rolled around.
The Dane has struck four goals late in games to pull us through this season and with extra time looming, he stepped up to save the day once again.
It was a goal that combined much of what we did well on the evening. Pressing to win the ball back in midfield, shifting it to a player between the lines and then hitting a runner in-behind.
Kyle Walker pushed up to recover the ball in midfield and moved it forward to Benjamin Stambouli who found Harry Kane free between the Sheffield United lines of defence and midfield.
Kane, who had so often been the man on the move in-behind the Blades’ defence, picked out an exquisitely weighted through ball for Eriksen this time.
The Dane was as a calm and collected as an assassin, letting the ball run across his body before guiding it back towards the far corner, leaving the keeper with no chance. It was a fitting way to even the game up at Sheffield United 2-2 Spurs and send us to Wembley with our clutch man coming through for us once again.
Sheffield United 2-2 Spurs overall
“In football, you need to kill and score when you have the possibility and if you don’t, it’s a difficult game,” said Mauricio Pochettino after the match. We failed to press home our advantage in the first half when we were in control, but once more the determination to play to the end shone through.
Winning the tie away from home with the opposition on the crest of a wave of momentum was another impressive show of determination. To also do it in the manner that Pochettino wants us to play with pressing and vertical passing was equally commendable.
We’re off to Wembley! It feels so good to say that again. We’ll face a tough team in Chelsea who will want revenge for the mauling they received on New Year’s Day. Christian Eriksen said that “we are not afraid” and with his late game goal scoring heroics, Jose Mourinho’s men will have plenty to worry about.
Final score: Sheffield United 2-2 Spurs (agg 2-3).
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Great analysis.
I just noticed that Spurs are playing Fiorentina away, just 3 days before the cup final. Chelsea have no-one to play for 8 days prior to the final. This is a very tricky situation and Spurs need to kill the Europa League tie off in the first leg at home, so they can get away with taking their second string team for the away leg.
It would be a disaster if Spurs took all their first team players to Italy, just before playing in the cup final. But if Spurs only gain a slender lead from the home leg then Pochettino will have some massive decisions to make.
That is a massive concern and i’m sure Mourinho won’t be making a big deal about it like he would if it was his team that had to do that.
Mark, excellent analysis. I also saw Dembele coming off as the turning point, along with Davies being exposed more. And as you point out, not only both their late goals but another attempt came from there. But a long time Spurs fan over here on the Left Coast was adamant that Townsend played, or rather did not play his part, in the comeback after coming on. Walker, who often drifts off his man when the ball comes in from our left, he says was left exposed because Andros did not track back. And sure enough, he’s not to be seen in the frame on both their goals. He also attempted a fancy drag back on the sideline, got beat and didn’t track his man on another occasion. Did you catch that? Also, as much as we love ‘Arry and how he’s going to grow and develop, he had 8 or so shots on goal, maybe two were saved. The difference between a top, top striker like Aguero and Kane, is that Kun buries those chances, and that’s why we’re not killing off teams. And why we’ll continue not to do so until Kane develops, and/or we get help for him. Keep up the great work, mate! ;)
Great points Ashley. I did notice Townsend not tracking back, but the concern was Eriksen leaving Davies exposed which was the supply line. During the match, it appeared our wide players (Eriksen/Lamela and then Townsend) were tasked with tracking the Sheff Utd full backs. Eriksen was busting a gut to recover from roaming in to the centre to track Flynn and Lamela was doing the same with Harris. When Townsend came on, he seemed to be casually jogging back as Harris didn’t go forward, i guess he thought he had done his job. The problem was that Adams was introduced in a sort of wide forward role and Sheff Utd effectively went 4-3-3. On both goals, no one really picked Adams up. Townsend didn’t track as i presume he thought he was doing his job and covering the FB. Walker was pulled inside covering the centre forward’s movement, leaving Adams free loitering in the corner of our area to sweep in a score twice. The finger could be pointed at Townsend for not recognising this, but if he was carrying out his instructions of tracking the full back, then the blame should really go to the coaching staff for not changing his orders.
I don’t know if Ashley was referring to my posts on the gruaniad, viz:
“Townsend – fresh on the pitch doesn’t track back to cover Adams who scores with Walker having had to tuck inside… 2 mins later Adams is completely free on United’s left wing again, with Townsend making no effort to make up the 15 yards, eventually the ball again falls to Adams who scores – Townsend who was ambling back, suddenly realises…. lazy or ignorant of the tactical needs?”
martytothero didn’t agree…
Townsend has been playing well recently. What explains the habit of the typical Spurs fan to fasten on to the weaknesses of young players who have displayed promise but clearly have some way to go? For Townsend, see Walker.
— to which I added:
Townsend has been playing better, hasn’t lost possession as much as he was doing, improved his crossing, and the penalties have been good. He has tremendous potential. I was just alarmed that having watched the first Shefield goal, he let it occur again, one lapse is understandable, two points to a serious defect either in his awareness, or in the coaches instructions to him.
—
I suspect you are right, he was covering the full back – but with an extra man free on his side, I was coached to get back on that extra man…
Zaph, mate, no I didn’t see your comments (it was another Yiddo at SF Spurs) at that site, but I do now and well put…we have to support our lads wearing our colors, but nothing wrong with wanting more from them or waking them up…am sure MoPo and his crew saw what you and I saw about Andros. Do we just have some dim players, do instructions go in one ear and out the other, lol? Because sometimes you just have to wonder. Hello, wakey, wakey! COYMFS! ;)
Many thanks for yet another excellent article, Mark. Your insight into tactics is always informative and entertaining.
As you say, it’s pleasing that the Pochettino-instilled determination, pressing and vertical passing were on show and are becoming increasingly evident as our players continue to learn to adopt MP’s methods. He frequently makes the point – although the critics and the “we want Champions League NOW” mob don’t seem to understand – that these are young players who will keep on improving as they mature and develop together as a team. Having to cope with determined opposition up North on a freezing, wet January midweek night in front of 25,000 fired-up Sheffield fans would have been alien and daunting to some of our lads (particularly Lamela and Dier) and it will have been invaluable experience for them. The fact that they did cope and didn’t fall apart, like some previous Spurs teams, is hugely encouraging for those of us who have the patience to allow MP the time he needs to mould a side with the character, skill and team tactics to consistently play the exciting, successful football we all want to see. If, along the way, he can instil in his players the mentality to “kill the game”, it will do my nerves the world of good!
Great post Whitehotspurs. The conditions weren’t easy and it’ll certainly be character building for a lot of the players, especially the younger lads. It’ll also be good for team bonding to get through to a final, and heck, maybe even winning it would go leaps and bounds to developing a team unit that is resilient in believing what it is doing and how it should be done.
Great write up.Must mention the Sheffield fans who really made it an occassion over both legs. Always wonder why they have such passion compared to their neighbours. Still I guess it’s the same with us and the Ars***e.