ExtraTime Talk

Tottenham Hotspur recently lost 1-0 to Arsenal in a Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The defeat left Tottenham in the 13th position with four points from four matches.

The loss was even more disappointing considering the fact that Arsenal was missing the services of Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice in the match. Tottenham has now lost three successive north London derbies at home, which is a pretty bad piece of statistics for them.

In this article, we will take a look at three things Ange Postecoglou can do to revive his team’s fortunes:

Tottenham Hotspur Playing With a 4-2-3-1 Formation Instead of 4-3-3

Tottenham usually plays with a 4-3-3 formation. Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison played as the central midfielders against Arsenal, with Rodrigo Bentancur being the holding one. However, with that formation, the Spurs are a bit more vulnerable to counter-attacks than they should be.

This 4-3-3 allows Tottenham to be more fluid and adventurous in their passing. However, keeping the defensive frailties in mind, Postecoglou should probably make his team start with Pape Matar Sarr alongside Bentancur. Kulusevski should replace Brennan Johnson on the right flank, as the latter was not very convincing against Arsenal. Maddison should be playing as the No. 10 in that line-up.

In that way, Tottenham should be more competitive and more robust defensively. Matar Sarr is a decent passer, too. Hence, by having him in the team, Tottenham will still continue to be quite a threat offensively.

Involving Dominic Solanke to Play More Ground passes

Solanke’s inability to score a goal on his debut for the Spurs was subject to a lot of criticism. However, it has to be kept in mind that he scored 21 goals in 42 matches last season. Moreover, he was up against the best back-four in Premier League against Arsenal.

Hence, the criticism he has got seems to be a bit harsh. However, he should be ready to get himself involved more often in ground passes with the wingers and the No. 10. With Tottenham Hotspur’s fluid style of play, Solanke cannot afford to always wait for the crosses to come to him. A lot of aerial balls were played to him against Arsenal, but most of those crosses were ill-directed and some of them were consumed easily by Gabriel and William Saliba.

Defending Set-pieces Better

Arsenal was not the only team that hurt Tottenham through set-pieces. Much has been said about Tottenham’s weakness in defending against set-pieces. Both Christian Romero and Micky Van de Ven are good in the air, but there needs to be more application on their part while defending aerial balls.

The same goes about Tottenham’s goalkeeper Gugliermo Vicario, who should marshal the six-yard box better than he has been doing. Postecoglou has himself said in the past that he did not focus too much about opposition’s set-pieces, but those words seem to have come back to haunt him and his team. It remains to be seen whether his team manages able to learn from the mistakes of the past.