Watching a game is one thing, but taking it apart – bit by bit like a hooker working on the wallet of a squiffy businessman – is quite another.
Luca Moura‘s goal was superb, however he also worked harder that most to get the ball back.
Now he made 32 challenges – only 12 of them were successful – but there not only still exists such a thing as ‘A for effort’ – this is a contribution that requires genuine effort.
When I hear that so and so player covered 326 miles (or whatever) my first question is ‘did he do anything that actually involved the ball?’
As mentioned on the previous blog, the other area Moura excelled was in recovering the ball.
Again, this is a truly pivotal element of the game one that requires absolute determination and commitment from a player.
No surprise then that Lucas is on level pegging here with Christian Eriksen.
Isn’t unfair to point out that Dele Alli was the weak link in this respect.
If we zoom out from those drilled down stats, and look at influence overall, then we get a particularly strong snapshot of the Spurs side – which for traditionalists geezers such as my good self – was string from the back.
Link play passes are another really important indicator when we’re looking at how the team was actually working together as a cohesive unit.
Toby to Kieran was the biggest outlet from back to front.
Crucially, we follow the links and we find that Tripps then is responsible for the biggest feeds into Eriksen.
Sanchez was busy, busy using Toby and Jan as release points.
This explains why Poch could then reason switching Sanchez for Mousa.
On the other side, it was Vertonghen to Dele Alli.
Let’s just look at Verts for a second, specifically my constant craving – his pass completion rate.
86 out of 91.
Now let’s ask, what Toby did during the war?
Yup, thought so.
He was also demonically good.
So what of Kieran Trippier?
Well, he was also brilliant with 52 out of 61 (most in the final third) kicking into Christian.
This then gave us Eriksen rampaging with 60 out of 67 not just successful but threatening balls.
27 (from 32 attempted) attacking third passes.
So there you have it Maurico.
In no particular order, your best players yesterday were Toby, Jan, Lucas Tripps and Christian.
Whatever bitching has gone on between Pochettino and Alderweireld needs to be straightened out.
As manager, it’s Mauricio’s job to make Toby whole again.
There’s an international break coming up – I suggest wives are packed off for a spa weekend and one of these guys does the right thing – namely load the fridge with beers and get £60’s worth of Chinese food in.
Netflix n’ make it right.
